Joined on 05-10-2005
TechSoup Member
My organization is wanting to do an overhaul on its website (built in 95, and rarely updated). I am in the primary stages of finding funding to do this. Can anyone give me suggestions of foundations/corporations that typically fund web building?
this is a great question and I hope there are some good answers. I do think funders often indicate if web site projects are projects they fund or not -- that is an attribute in the pacific nw region's database of funders (at http://philanthropynw.org (requires a paid subscription to access their database)) . In general, I'd suspect it would make sense to start by looking at the pool of funders who currently fund your organization in other ways, and branch out from there. I do think you'd get more focused responses if you indicated what nonprofit you're raising funds for (ie: an arts organization, mental health,...?), what region you're located in or serve, and an approximate idea of the size of the website you're planning -- a major site or a small one. The fact that your current site has been updated only infrequently is also a factor to consider -- why was it updated only infrequently? is this expected to continue to be the case?
Joined on 03-07-2004
TechSoup Member
One thing that I also like to suggest is that you survey or just simply ask your members what they want and thus what they can fund. 2 years ago we worked with a tiny NPO (4 staff members) who wanted a big time redesign but had 0 dollars. So we donated our time to help reach out to their members to ask if they could fund the redesign and cms and we were able to raise just over $10,000 for the redesign. The NPO then had money to pay us for our design and services.
So really I think that asking goes a long way and that before you do an overhaul just because it is old (95) you should engage your members and users. You might be surprised what you get from them besides input.
Good luck,
Jordan
Hi,
When you are getting ready to approach funders to ask them to support the web project, you need to make it clear to them that it is important. I would suggest that you make a clear connection between the Web site and your organization's mission. Sure it is nice to have a more professional image, but what are the services you can deliver online or the importance of the Internet communication for your stakeholders that would help someone get excited about making the project happen?
Hope that helps,
Chris