New website for the Community Foundation of Carroll County

Nonprofit websites are one of our specialities, but this project was especially unique because we had the opportunity to not only represent 1 nonprofit but to serve over 280 local nonprofits all in one website! GLBAL media was contacted last year by the Community Foundation of Carroll County to start the process of redesigning their existing website. We applaud them for getting quotes from all local web design companies and were honored to be selected. If you are not familiar with a community foundation they are an umbrella organization that handles all of the donations, payments, grants, etc. to allow “funds” to focus on the work they are passionate about.

The Community Foundation of Carroll County was established in 1994 and currently serves over 280 local nonprofits and more than 75 scholarships. They facilitate over 8 million dollars in endowments, operating funds, scholarships, programs, and funds managed for nonprofit organizations.

The Challenge

We were presented with an existing website that was outdated and difficult to update. Minor changes like posting news, editing scholarships and replacing images had to be outsourced to another web designer who could only make all of the changes via FTP. The previous website was not utilizing SSL certificates, was not a responsive website design (desktop, tablet and mobile friendly) and was not easily searchable.

The Solution

When we first met with Sharon from the Community Foundation of Carroll County she expressed how important it was for visitors to accomplish 3 main tasks: start a fund, make a donation and search for scholarships. We walked through our website design process and explained the need for the website to be mobile friendly and easy to navigate.

Given our expertise with nonprofit website design we also shared the need for the website to establish credibility with potential donors and streamline the process to make a donation. Given the unique setup of a community foundation many visitors will access the site to make a donation to a specific fund. In the past this was only possible by sorting through an alphabetical list with no option to filter the results. We created a searchable database for all 280 funds that lists the name, description, type of fund and link to donate directly to that fund. This new website will hopefully increase donations for all of the nonprofits represented.

The foundation ultimately allows nonprofits to focus on their mission while they handle all of the behind the scenes tasks. It was important for the new website to further highlight events in the community put on by the participating funds. We designed an easy to use news and calendar section to showcase upcoming events and press releases.

Big thanks to you and your team for creating an exceptional product!

– Thomas Beyard

The Community Foundation of Carroll County, Vice President