Project Submission Guidelines

As a nonprofit organization, your website is very important to your fundraising efforts. Potential donors will look to your website to learn more about your organization and its mission and decide whether they believe in it enough to contribute their time or money. As such, you want to have a website that will help you communicate the values of your organization and encourage donations.

But there are a couple of things to consider before we jump into the work with a partner.

1. Infrastructure
   • Do you have the infrastructure ready for the website (domain, servers)?
   • Content
     • Do you already have a developed structure of the website? (website sections/tabs, pages, links between pages etc.)
     • Do you already have all the content for the launch?
     • How often will you have to update your website and add new content?
     • Will you have a news/blog section?
     • Do you require help with content creation after website development?
   • CMS
     • Do you have a preference in CMS that you’d like to use? (e.g. WordPress, Readymag) If yes, what’s the reasoning behind your choice?
     • What are the most important factors we have to consider when choosing the right CMS for you – subscription price, ease of use, customizability, any others?
   • Functionality
     • What are the functionalities that are essential for your website? (e.g. e-commerce, feedback form etc.)
     • Do you need some specific integrations? (e.g. calendar booking)
   • Language
     • Will the website be carried in one language version or do you need
       a switch for changing languages?
   • Design
     • Do you have a design for the website already?*
       • If yes, share what you already have in place
       • If not, do you have a brand book / guidelines to follow.

A design project is focused on the appearance, layout, and, in some cases, content of a website.
Most website builders work with templates, however they can be modified according to your needs and design requirements.
But there are a couple of things to consider before we jump into the work with a partner.

1. General
   • Do you already have a website? If yes, what’s the domain and which platform did you use to build it? If not, will you require website development as well?*
2. User experience
   • Who will be the users of your website?
   • Briefly describe the user journey and what are the important aspects of it
   • Do you have a website structure and user flows?
3. Structure & Content
   • Do you already have a developed structure of your website? (sections/tabs, pages, links between pages etc.)
   • Do you have the content ready for the launch?
4. Brand elements Do you have a brand book? If yes, please share what you have already. If not, do you have any brand element at all? (e.g. logo, colors)

* Note: if you want to request website development (not just design), submit a separate project brief.

Customer relationship management (CRM) System is a tool that connects all your organization’s functions across fundraising, marketing, programs, and grants.

But there are a couple of things to consider before we jump into the work with a partner.

1. What solution are you currently using for customer relationship management? (e.g. Google Sheets, Salesforce etc.)
2. What do you want to improve in the current way your CRM works?
3. Which features will be necessary? Some common ones are:
   • Contact, opportunity, and account management
   • Record linking
   • Tasks and reminders Multi-user log in (how many users?)
4. Do you have a data structure framework in place?
5. Have you thought about the integrations you will require? (e.g. email automations)
6. Who will own the CRM system once it’s set up?
7. Do you have the information you would like to import to the CRM system?
8. What kind of data are you mostly tracking?

The fundamental difference between a website and a digital platform lies in how you approach user engagement.
Websites provide one-way engagement, with users ingesting whatever content the website delivers. Platforms offer reciprocal engagement, with interactions between a platform and its users generating personalized experiences.

If you think that your activities require a platform rather than a website, think about the questions below:

1. Describe the platform you want to build.
   • What are the goals you want to achieve?
   • Who will be the end users?
   • How will you measure success? (e.g. number of users, frequency of interactions etc.)
2. What functionalities do you need in the platform? Example:
   • Learning platform may need to have the possibility of viewing learning materials, booking meetings with teachers etc.
3. What kind of different users will have access to the platform and what should be the main functionalities for each of the groups?
   • Example: Learning platform would have a student access, teacher access, admin etc.
4. Will you require support with platform design?
   • If you already have design in place, feel free to share it
5. Do you have the content for the platform ready?
   • If not, do you have the platform structure?
6. What languages do you require the platform to have?
7. How often will you need to update content on the platform?
8. Do you need a web application or an app version of your platform?

A website security audit means scanning your website and its server for existing or potential weaknesses that hackers can exploit. It covers your website’s entire infrastructure, from its core software to extensions, themes, server settings, SSL connection, configurations, etc.

1. What’s the website you want to be audited?
2. Do you have any specific concerns about your website security?
3. Have you experienced any hacker attacks?
4. Do you have website security basics in place?
   • Do you have a sitewide SSL installed?
   • What CMS are you using?
   • Is it up to date?
   • Do you have automatic backups of the website data?
   • Do you have strong unique passwords?
   • Do you have automatic malware scans performed?
5. Have you recently performed an automated audit of your website? (e.g. Sucuri Scan Check). Please share insights if you have them.

A document management system helps organizations store and access critical business files, data, and documents. Whether your NGO handles large data files or only a few, you need a DMS that can allow you to easily search files, simplify workflows, retrieve files, archive etc.

1. How do you currently store and manage documentation?
2. Do you have an idea of which DMS you’d like to use, or do you need help choosing?
3. Do you want to use your own servers or a cloud-based solution?
4. What kind of features do you require? (e.g. mobile device access, permissioned access to certain documents etc.)

1. General
   • Do you have the app design (wireframes) in place?
   • Do you have the app structure in place? (front and back end)
   • Do you have all the content for the launch in place?
2. Goals
   • What are you trying to achieve by building an app?
   • What will be different in the app compared to the web experience?
   • What will be the KPIs by whic
3. Functions
   • What are the most important functions that you need in the app?
   • What are some nice-to-have functions that can be developed later?
4. Users
   • Who will be the users of your app?
   • Do you need different levels/types of access for different user groups?
   • Do you have a user journey of the app built?
5. Platforms
   • – Do you need an iOS or Android app, or both?
6. In-app tracking
   • Do you need help with installing a tracking system? (e.g. Firebase, Adjust)

Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool that can help you analyze your website traffic and measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. It can help nonprofits optimize their website to turn their traffic into donations, event registrations, or volunteer applications.

By using Google Analytics, your nonprofit can measure return on investment, identify which strategy yielded the most results and understand what content is performing best. Data can also help inform staffing decisions, which is incredibly valuable for nonprofits who are often resource constrained.

Learn more how to use GA as a nonprofit here.

1. What’s the website that requires Google Analytics tracking implementation?
2. Do you already have a Google Analytics account?
   • If yes, share the property ID.
3. What are the KPIs by which you evaluate your website?
4. Are you planning to run ads? (Google Ads, Facebook/Instagram Ads etc.)
   • If yes, which events on the website do you want to optimize your ads for? (e.g. visit, contact form sent, sales, sessions etc.)
5. Can people make donations on your website?
   • Are you using a donation platform?
   • Do you want to track donation behavior of your users? (where they are coming from, how much they donate etc.)