|
Design Aid is looking to establish funding for a new and exiting project...
that will give a professional web presence to 180 small front line organisations in the North East of England. (or indeed any other region a funder would like to see this project delivered). Not only will this project provide each beneficiary with a £2,000 website but it will provide all the training required to enable them to develop, update and promote their website at a one to one level where required. While Design Aid has all the expertise to deliver this project, it's just more of what we have been doing for years without funding! We do not have the experience required to secure the funding that this project requires and we will welcome any support, advice or information, (and of course funds) that can help take this project forward.
Here is our first draft of how we see this project, how it can be delivered and the benefits it will provide. The Problem
Most small charitable projects and local community groups would benefit greatly from a quality website that outlines who they are and what they do.
Despite the fact that a website is easier to distribute and cheaper to produce than printed materials, (such as brochures and leaflets) smaller local projects find they do not have the money, skills, or resources available for a professional web solution.
The result is that almost all of the smaller local charitable and community projects can not be found when searching the internet, or the few that can, often have a very poor website that does little to encourage visitors to get involved, or investigate further.
Project Objectives
Provide professionally designed websites with Content Management Systems (CSM) and the skills required, (through training and one to one professional support) to update and develop their own professional web site to 180 smaller charitable projects and community groups based in North East England over a three year period. In doing so we will also establish a project that is operating a system that can easily continue to operate and provide various levels of support to more beneficiaries beyond the initial three year life span of the project.
Project Purpose
This Design Aid project will seek to resolve the problem outlined above through a series of creative, web hosting, training and support solutions. The project will develop, create and make available a web solution product that will provide even the smallest of community projects with a professionally designed and, more importantly, affordable website. (The on-going costs for an web site at end of project will be only £6 per month).
All the finished web sites will be provided from templates that have a sound structure and some professionally written sample content that is relevant to good causes. This will be easy to change, adapt, update and expand on through the CMS and give the organisation a well written website with good structure and navigation from the start.
Project Methodology
The Design Aid “MicroSite north east” project will have a website of its own. This site will contain a range of professionally pre designed templates to be chosen from. Once a selection is made all that is needed from the beneficiary is their design and colours choice, their name and their logo, (if available).
From here web space will be allocated as a sub domain on the server and their new website and email addresses, (if required) will be installed to the server i.e. www.”charity-name”.org.uk/. A user name and password will be provided and from here the beneficiary can login and access their CMS. The level of IT skills will be assessed and one to one training will be given to the level required to enable the organisation to maintain and develop their new web site. One to one support will be available to all for an extended period.
Once logged in simple wysiwyg editors with the same look and feel as Microsoft Word make it easy to edit the sample copy and content provided, making it more relevant to their own organisation or project. It is also very simple for them to create additional pages that cover all aspects of their work and projects.
Tutorials, user information and FAQ’s will be provided on the MicroSite north east web site to help with the use of the CMS and there will be a dedicated area in the UK Charity forums for CMS users to ask for support and indeed give support to each other, as well as make requests for any future development of the project.
Project Requirements
As a registered charity with all the skills required and some systems already in place, Design Aid is ideally positioned to provide all that is required to develop and deliver this project.
The project requires one full time worker with the all the skills required to deliver the whole project including web site building, web site installations, design and delivering the training and support as required. They must deliver the following to the highest professional standard:
- Create suitable web site templates
A range choices suitable for use across the sector. Just as important is the provision of appropriate sample content and copy. Professionally written copy and layout of copy & photographs will make it a simple task for beneficiaries to adapt/edit the content to suit their own project and achieve professionally results. - Build a “Microsite north east” web site
In order to make it easy to access and easy to select and request a suitable design the MicroSite north east project will require its own web site that demonstrates the service and supports the users. - Provide support, training and “helpdesk” solutions
This will include delivering one to one training, one to one support on the phone and through e mail and establishing an on-line forum for users. It could also include organising training events to help with further development such as Search Engine Optimisation and new website components such as e newsletters and events calendars etc.
Design Aid has already supplied these same CMS solution to many beneficiaries and our experience shows that end users with a minimum of computer skills require little more than a few questions answering often on the phone or by email to get to grips with the system. We want to provide a solution that includes training so the project can reach absolutely everyone regardless of their level of computer skills.
Total estimated costs:
Salaries 73,500.00
Expenses 1,000.00
Equipment 2,000.00
Bursaries (at £6 per month) 38,880.00
Total £115,380.00 Project Aims & Objective
The aim is to make professionally designed websites available to even the smallest of community groups, support groups, local clubs and charities with low incomes.
Our objective is to provide a project that will deliver this professional creative solution in a “skills based” self enabling fashion that will support the small but important and vital groups in our local communities in a way that makes them more visible to all and helps them reach and communicate effectively their message to those who need them, or can support them.
It is also our objective to manage this worthwhile project over the long term and we believe it can continue to provide a similar level of service beyond the three year life span of the project. Design Aid can easily build in more automation into the delivery of the web sites and online tutorials. While a small amount of computer skills would then be required by the user this would continue to provide a major advantage to new, start up charities and projects long into the future.
Project Outputs & Measures - 180 of the regions smallest community and charity groups and/or projects will have a professionally designed web presence that can be easily kept fresh, up to date and maintained by there own staff or volunteers.
This output will be easily measured by the number of beneficiaries making use of the MicroSite north east project for their web solution - The organisations who chose to utilise the MicroSite north east project will gain a website they otherwise could not afford for sometime if at all or a professional website when they would otherwise have a poor example that could damage their brand or reputation for good work.
This will be measured by simply asking each new MicroSite north east beneficiary a few questions before they purchase, such as; what they have had previously in the way of a web presence, what they intended to use prior to using MicroSite’s, When did they think they would have had the funds for a professional website, etc. - 180 organisations with a professional web site that can be easily updated and kept current will be more visible to the public. This in turn should help them attract more supporters, volunteers, beneficiaries and partners. This project has the potential to help those in need find the services and support they need.
To Measure this we will develop an (annual) online questioner asking MicroSite customers directly how having a professionally built web presence has brought attention to their project and in turn how this has helped members of the community find them and either access or support their services. - Sustainability of the project is of paramount importance if it is to continue at a professional level with an increasing and updated number of fresh new templates available and ongoing support for new users. Also the development of further advice and tools to help users promote their website as well as adding new features such as newsletters and calendars etc. (all the basic templates can be expanded on developed into much larger web sites with many additional features as required).
To measure improvements and sustainability an analysis and report looking at where MicroSite income has been used to develop new MicroSite solutions and new MicroSite templates will be drawn up every 24 months. From this our Trustees or management committee can decide on any changes that can be made to the project that would benefit further the project and its customers. - Communities as a whole could benefit greatly from the MicroSite project with many more community groups and charities that support and build communities being much more visible and available to beneficiaries, supporters and partners alike. A greater awareness of what groups are doing in your community and the consequential networking of similar groups or projects can in its self draw communities together and strengthen them.
This would be measured by talking to the CVS of a community both before and after the introduction of the MicroSite north east project in their area. The CVS and CVS members will be very aware of the groups and organisations and which groups of people or individuals they are supporting in their area. Through the CVS we can ask them and their members of any raised awareness of other groups or partnerships with other projects that has been brought about, encouraged, instigated, or helped by a visible web presence of any kind or as a result of a MicroSite north east built web site.
|
About us 
