Case Study - Overview
Soroptimist International of Monroe County (SIMC) is transforming women’s lives through social and economic empowerment. With the help of VirtuallyDo, it’s also transforming its engagement approach. We partnered with SIMC to create a rich, interactive experience that engages the public, generates membership leads and donations. Though the site has just launched, initial results look promising
Context and Challenge
Soroptimist International is a global volunteer organization working to improve the lives of women and girls through programs leading to social and economic empowerment. The organization has nearly 1,300 clubs in 20 countries and territories.
At the local club level, the day to day focus of the Soroptimist International of Monroe County club (SIMC) is on raising scholarship funds, identifying scholarship winners, and conducting a monthly mentoring program for residents at a local women’s shelter. Demographically, the club ;s a group of older women with limited knowledge and/or interest in technology. There are several long-standing club members and membership in general averages around 30 active members yearly. Recruiting and retaining members has been challenging.
SIMC does some amazing work impacting lives across the world and locally. Continuing this long term will require public awareness and membership growth – sustainability and scalability. This compels a consistent and current social media presence, including an engaging website to strengthen the Soroptimist brand uniformity, foster ease of recognition and promote their overall mission. SIMC didn’t have a website and needed one ASAP along with a brand makeover. They also didn’t have budget allocated for website design, development and implementation. All needed time and services for this project were donated free of charge to SIMC.
Objective
Provide a website to serve as a public awareness platform, or venue, for the SIMC club overall and supports SIMC club members.
Approach? . . . Stay Focused on the Goals
The Solution
An Intentional Experience
There are introductions and then there are conversations. SIMC was ready to move from “nice to meet you” to “tell me more about that”.
The interactive site is designed to draw people into engaging with the club with visuals and content that address the most common questions they have about SIMC interests and goals, personalize public perception of the club and build their brand in the community. The visuals and content are intended to move visitors from general interest to real membership consideration and impromptu donations.
Multiple Audiences
We found that the site serves three audiences: the club member, the potential member and the civic community. The scale and position of key visuals are designed to serve all parties. (More...)
“Here’s How We Changed The World Today”
This is a group of professional women constantly in motion, working on projects and activities that support their mission. They’re very busy. Does it matter? Yes. Does it make a difference? It does. The results are tangible and real. Sharing these results and the impact of their many actions taken can drive SIMC’s membership, donations and community engagement.
The S Club blog increases engagement with our girls club members, bridging the connection between them and SIMC and providing an aspect of ownership in the greater good.
The Tell Us!! Form has a similar intent, actively engaging anyone visiting the site, whether a club member or not, and letting them submit a story about a women/girl’s program or initiative they know about that may then be featured on the site later. The visitor becomes part of the greater good. This type of interactivity can be seen throughout the design.
Action & Impact
Knowing you’re a part of something that makes a difference is incredibly powerful. Wanting to be part of something like this is a factor that brings visitors to SIMC’s site.
We included design features to showcase the social impact of SIMC’s many actions, including Impact Projects, simplified donations and Gallery photos. And with features like Tell Us! and S Club Blog, visitors and Jr. SI members gain a sense of ownership and feel invested in the greater good. (More ... )
Contemporary Sweet Spot
Purposeful functionality without being overwhelming or intimidating; value for all audiences. The responsive, mobile-friendly design achieves this through visuals, simple animations, practical applications and interactions. (More ... )
The Little Black Dress of Websites
A well-designed site could positively impact membership recruitment and retention, but this meant it had to be more than a “pretty face”. This site is not a “bling-y” accessory, sitting in the closet until the next gala or black tie event. This site is the little black dress that works for most any occasion. Practical yet a bit edgy; trendy yet true to the club’s mission. Simple enough to find what you wanted, yet complex enough to support the needs of three different audiences. The site is designed to be scalable and sustainable, supporting the group as it grows and takes on new initiatives and projects.
Simple Technology
Technology should make things easier, not harder. It should simplify rather than add complexity. We designed the site with these things in mind.
Additional tools were developed and support mechanisms added into the design ensuring the club would be unencumbered by website maintenance, including “smart” forms with conditional logic.
To support “smart forms” we needed a secured member’s area, with content access restrictions based on role and file storage with the ability to upload/download files and images,
We created multiple user roles with each role having its own permissions and capabilities. Content access is restricted with custom access rules on a page/post basis, allowing only logged in users with the required user role to see them.
Automation and unconstrained process changes minimized duplicative tasks. Applying conditional logic and a custom taxonomy, we mapped out an extensive chain of events that would take place behind the scenes within the member’s area, allowing this seamless automation to occur. When a user submits the form, content on the website will also be updated.
Smart Form
Minimalist Mindfulness
SIMC is not a group focused on technology. There’s no budget for a full time web developer. Minimal site maintenance is a critical success factor as the site is implemented. Steps were taken to ensure an intuitive user experience, focusing on front end access only for users. Logged in users will never see the admin dashboard and the backend of this WordPress site. (More ... )
Smart Form
Bringing It All Together
The introduction of a website as an engagement platform and club operations tool opens many new doors for SIMC. The integration of consistent branding, purposeful functionality and digital engagement enables them to move their mission forward with strong standing in the 21st century. Though we’ll continue to offer our support and guidance, we know too that we’ve given them their “digital wings” and now it’s time for them to fly.