Web Design Lead For Website for Non Profit Posted: 03/29/2010
Web Design Project Description: We've circulated the ideas for the website among the Board, and are looking forward to receiving proposalsl. We realize that cost vs. features tradeoffs will still need to be discussed, and that it may not be possible for us to implement everything on our wish list at rollout. The proposal should include a reasonably detailed scope of work, so that we each clearly understand what is and what is not included in the development project. You may propose suitable contract language which embodies our mutual understanding and discussions. Section I describes some issues which need to be part of our discussions leading to a mutually acceptable proposal and project plan. Some of these issues are better defined than others. Section II summarizes the needs which the site will be expected to meet, and includes a list of site features. Section I: Proposal elements In addition to specific functional and design elements, we still need to discuss several items, listed below. You will probably have issues you'd like to add to this list as well. Site navigation Our team is still unsure about how the site should be structured, and about site map issues generally. We realize that some of these issues must be clarified before any meaningful development work can commence. Reference to successful sites of organizations with broadly similar missions We would like to take advantage of the experience of other nonprofits which have successful websites, including Joyful Heart (http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/) , Male Survivor (http://www.malesurvivor.org/), others. We are especially concerned that the site offers a positive user experience for the constituencies which are important to us. Technical features We need to refine our needs with respect to email, analytics and a few other things as part of agreeing on a project plan. Project timetable Please propose a project timetable. Elements affecting the timetable are discussed in some of the items below. Security Your proposal needs to address design, configuration and maintenance issues regarding site security. If the CMS chosen is an open source code base this is especially important. WordPress in particular is a big hacker target due to its popularity. Site maintenance For some time the site will be maintained by volunteers, most without extensive experience in managing a rich content website. Part of your proposal should include development of maintenance guidelines and instructions. A good maintenance document should include procedures for backing up databases, updating core software and plug-ins, managing passwords, managing permissions, configuring email accounts and other site administration functions. The document doesn't need to be an instruction manual, and can refer to online or published sources where our administrators can get more complete information. Scope modifications Our agreement needs to address how to handle requested changes in project specifications during development. Please help us with some clear language about included and extra-cost services. Please also include hourly rates which will apply to work done pursuant to modifications. If the work required is extensive we may ask to negotiate a flat rate for the additional work, subject to mutual agreement. Hosting GoDaddy is inexpensive, but may not be the best hosting environment for our needs. Your proposal should include recommendations for hosting, including reasons for your recommendations. You might recommend more than one, based on different cost/benefit tradeoffs. Design The board and volunteer consensus is for a lighter and more upbeat theme for the site, relative to the well designed, but dark theme of the current site. The original site was expensive due primarily to the design work. We would like to use as much of that work as is feasible in order to reduce additional design costs. Where possible, please isolate the elements of your proposal which are primarily design related. We may be able to bring volunteer resources into the project for things like logos, photographs and other elements. We realize that design costs can be high. Emphasis should be on a clean design which isn't dependent on elaborate graphic elements. Content Please specify the content you require from us in order to deliver the completed project. We will need some lead time to develop some items. For example, the organizational profile material is not yet drafted. We understand that some parts of the project may need to use dummy text. Other deliverables from Us Please specify what other items we will be required to furnish in order to complete the project on schedule. One example is the online donations feature. We will need to establish a PayPal account in advance of implementing and testing this feature. Templates The proposal should include development and documentation of suitable templates for different kinds of content pages. We understand that it will need to recruit volunteers with suitable web skills in order to fully utilize the appropriate templates. We can decide together, prior to your final proposal, what templates will be most useful. Ownership We wish to acquire ownership of the site upon completion and payment, including all copyrights, source code, design elements and documentation. We are amenable to contract language which protects your rights in this regard as well. Payment schedule and project milestones A schedule of project phases, including points at which we review and approvals are required, will be extremely helpful. We are amenable to progress payments, based on mutually agreed satisfactory completion of project phases. Post-project maintenance and technical support We may require additional site-related assistance after this project is completed. Please include a schedule of services and costs for this support in your proposal. Section II: Statement of Needs We recognize that budgetary realities may prevent us from acquiring all these capabilities in the initial development project. We are willing to commit the time necessary to discuss cost/features tradeoffs in order to achieve a satisfactory balance of cost and initial functionality. Required features Content management system based site, either WordPress or a cost-competitive alternative, to enable the publishing of content by non-technical staff Email (enable sending and receiving for a number of addresses, for example: yourname@yourdomain.com), with number of addresses still to be decided Integration of the current site's content, including streaming video (and we expect the developer to be familiar with alternative video delivery options, and to suggest alternatives) Some of the filmmakers changes requested for the film site from December (I'll provide the list, which will require some discussion), Traffic and visitor analytics, sufficient to help us quantify traffic, referrers, most-viewed posts and pages, and traffic sources Site security User registration, and site privileges based on settings we control. Site visitor registration, collection of information for mailing lists Search engine and user considerations The site needs to have a high degree of search engine friendliness. Our Board considers web traffic an important indicator of success in its survivor support, educational and public information missions. If used, Flash elements should be minimal, and implemented in a manner consistent with search engines' indexing shortcomings and requirements. We also desire a site which is easy to navigate and which provides a positive user experience. Content and functionality We may not be able to financially support the initial rollout of all these features. This is an abbreviated list of features the website should support: Ability to accept donations (probably PayPal. We want a setup where we do not store donor credit card information on our site, although it may be collected there. Some discussion required on this.) Support for DVD sales (route visitors to Amazon purchase pages) Weblog RSS re-publication of content (easy-to-implement CMS module) Publication of content to social media (another easy-to-implement CMS module) Space in the design to display logos and banners of donors, allied organizations Landing pages for the film which are tailored to promoting purchases and screenings. As discussed earlier, some on the team have suggested retaining the old Takigawa design for film-related pages. Support for different types of text content: Standard site sections, including descriptions of the issue, profiles of survivors, testimonials, and About Us section profiling Board, staff, volunteers, partnering organizations, financial supporters Blog-type posts from staff and designated community members, including moderated comments Links to articles from press and professional literature Article-length original content, including invited articles from subject matter experts First person accounts, solicited via the website, to be published either as blog-type posts or as solo article pages (where content solicitation needs to be worked into the design of a few pages.) News feeds from third party aggregation sources (we can discuss this feature in more detail prior to either including or excluding it from the final list.) Video from YouTube, from film producers and from invited third parties. Video capabilities in more than one place. Audio, podcasts Photo galleries, including links to galleries hosted elsewhere Newsletter and other periodical content Web versions of email campaign distributions Event announcements Organizational profile (fundraising document) Mailing list management capability (this is a discussion item. Email campaigns might be more cost-effectively managed through a separate service such as Constant Contact) Online calendar for film screenings, appearances, activities of allied organizations (not needed now, desirable later.) Online event registration and payment (let's discuss: this is perhaps better handled in other ways) Directory of support and related service providers, programs (basic, not the elaborate one discussed in earlier web discussions) I'll add one personal request here, although I don't know how feasible it is. Several health news aggregators publish RSS feeds. It would be great if we had a system which would enable one of our staff to receive these and some general aggregator feeds, then post selected items to the website. This has not been researched, but we'd appreciate your thoughts on this.
Web Design Details: Best way to reach me is: email ...
Project Pays: $15,001 - $30,000
Requests 7 Web Design Quotes By: 04-05-2010
Bid on This Web Design Project Hiring: Designers anywhere in the world.
Project Starts: 2010-04-05
Project Deadline: 04-30-2010
