3 Foundation Web Experts Share Tips & Tales for Funders & Nonprofits
Nothing better than learning from the best in the trade, as I had a chance to do at the Communications Network conference session on Web sites.
I loved what Mitch Hurst (in disguise at top left), new media team leader at the Mott Foundation, had to say about the way Mott re-designed its site architecture to reflect how users think about and seek their content, rather than how Mott has structured its own programming.
Yahoo! Looking out, rather than in, when speaking with external audiences is the only way to go. But far too few nonprofit orgs do so.
Hurst shared his experience of "killing the silos:" Making the shift from a 2006 site that delivered content by Mott-defined program areas through working foundation-wide to ID 12 key issues addressed by those programs (but nearer how the rest of the world thinks about those arenas), and making those issues the paths into the current Mott Foundation site (see the Focus menu at top right of the home page.
Not surprisingly, building the team to involve staff foundation wide as communicators (a real cultural change) was a critical success factor. Mitch, you're stealing my rap (AKA, everyone's a communicator)!
More here on great lessons from the Commonwealth and Wallace Funds.
P.S. Learn how to craft a compelling story for your org in 8 words or less. Download the free Nonprofit Tagline Report for must-dos, don't dos, case studies and 1,000+ nonprofit tagline examples!
I'm planning on fully checking out the new site! As a consultant and grant writer I have always fouind that foundations neglect their web presence- either they do not have a website or their website is difficult to navigate...
www.charitynetusa.com/grantwriting.html
Posted by: Melanie Guin MNM | October 07, 2008 at 08:18 AM