We taken a look at your website and, combined with our Teams conversation, have some initial thoughts for your consideration. Although a full-on analysis is not within the scope of an RFP, hopefully this will provide some insight into our approach. If we are hired for this project, we will recommend a ‘discovery’ process to fully understand your goals, preferences, and audiences.

Update billerfamilyfoundation.org so that it increases audience engagement by making it more contemporary in style and more compelling and empowering for your audiences, while more clearly conveying the distinctive value, impact, and usefulness of the Biller Family Foundation’s thought leadership.

Your website gave us the impression of a first or second stage iteration. It’s very common — and purposeful — that when an organization first launches a website, they are often tackling more than design and development. They are also articulating and organizing the essential messaging and positioning of the organization, with an emphasis on introduction — prioritizing the ‘who’ behind the effort, your mission and purpose, etc. At this stage, websites function like a ‘brochure’ that focuses on the “what we want to do” before you had stories of “what we’ve done.” Again, this is natural and quite common, and this is part of what we see reflected in your site.

Now, however, we are guessing that you are ready to evolve the website because, impressively, your organization has evolved. As you’ve worked to realize your mission through substantive results and impact, you’ve achieved significant impact in your communities and have engaging stories to tell. These stories are the most powerful way to convey your mission and value. However, until now, the way you have added this content using the original ‘brochure’ design of the site renders it less visible and useful to your audience as it could be. Again, a common situation — but now it’s time to evolve the website.

One approach to meet your challenges would be to make the Biller Family Foundation’s impact the primary focus of the site (rather than basic statements about your mission and focus) by displaying the specific examples of successes and projects more front, center, and current on the website. Meeting this goal will depend on collaborating on a carefully thought-out plan, which would include:

• More intuitive and dynamic website organization and navigation that presents the most salient content front and center.
• Elevated presentation of your story and content (case studies, data, projects, events, activities) to convey its power and impact.
• Better incorporation of your messaging in headers, section organization and navigation titles.
• A crisper, more contemporary aesthetic: more dynamic coloring schemes, updated typography, interactive information graphics and data display, and images that complement and enhance current projects and successes, replacing or better complementing current ‘atmospheric,’ decorative images.
• Consideration of sign-up forms and newsletters to capture information and enhance engagement.

As your website evolves in this way, so will your engagement. Your audiences will better understand how The Biller Family Foundation is the go-to source for those who share your mission.

I don’t want to get too far ahead, but just for thought here are a few examples of what that could mean:

General

• Update the typeface, making it more readable, contemporary, and larger. In fact, many elements (type, images, etc.) are displayed in a very small size, particularly non-header photos and those used to complement your examples of impact.
• Reorganize site architecture and navigation to bring your stories forward — e.g., add an “Our Impact” top-level navigation item, and move your stories of impact there.

Home page

• Push dynamic content about thought leadership programs to the top of the fold, instead of basic statements of your general principles, which could go on a back or sub page.
• Instead of articulating areas of focus below the fold, make it your latest work organized by areas of focus, with links to the specific areas of focus work pages, a modified version of the current Focus Areas sub pages.

Our team page

The sliding modal effect for the bio information of each team member is nice, but maybe put names and titles always visible below the photos so one does not have to know to hover in order to find the information.

Focus Areas section

• Are there more stories to tell here? Testimonials quotes? Stories that go along with the stats, for example? Make this content more primary and accessible.
• Organize content more clearly on these pages: what we do, successes, quotes, etc. Currently, it looks like new content is added on below existing content.
• Bring the descriptions of projects/stories higher up and move the news items to a sidebar. Or link excerpts of these stories to individual sub pages, where the content can be easier to find, see, and read.