Six Steps to Finding the Right Web Site Development Firm for Your Nonprofit

by on Sep 20, 2007 under Culture

Nonprofit marketing expert Nancy E. Schwartz has written an article that non-profits should read: Six Steps to Finding the Right Web Site Development Firm for Your Nonprofit.

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Choosing the right Web site development firm can be a difficult decision – especially in today’s changing world, where there are many firms promising to meet or exceed your nonprofit’s goals through Web site design and programming. Since your resources are limited and you want to get the most from them, it’s vital that you find the best match.

Take these six steps to find the site development firm that’s the best long-term partner for your organization:

1. Develop a Site Development RFP That’s as Comprehensive as Possible
2. Establish These Baseline Criteria for Firm Selection
3. Understand Your Choices – Web Development Firms Fall into One of Five Categories
4. Research Your Options – Work Hard to Get Good Recommendations
5. Interview Your Top Picks to Get Your Shortlist
6. Distribute Your Site RFP to No More than Three Firms, and Analyze Responses Thoroughly – When You Do, You’ll Be Able to Select the Right Long-Term Partner for Web Site Development

Complete how-to guide available here

Nancy E. Schwartz recommends firms that develop in a open source environment. Why? Open source offers more flexibility at a lower cost. CentreSource embraces open source development using Drupal, osCommerce, symfony, WordPress, and other tools. When our clients want to apply custom tweaks to the shopping cart software, the changes are easy to implement. Using proprietary software options or building applications from scratch is expensive and time consuming.

From a strategic standpoint, CentreSource is client-centric. Non-profits are passionate about their mission; messaging, community awareness, sponsorships, and fundraising are just some of the key areas of focus. A great web design firm will spend the necessary time to consult and assess these areas completely. Not doing so will only diminish the authenticity that non-profits have which is so critical to building strong relationships with their target stakeholders.

We’re proud of our work with our national and local clients, especially with nonprofits.

All web design firms will benefit from reading Nancy Schwartz’s article. We’re passionate about raising the standard of excellence in web design and development for the industry at large. Executing and managing all the details while leveraging our knowledge of the latest technologies to achieve a client’s end vision is deeply satisfying.

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  • http://www.confluentforms.com David Kutcher

    I recommend visiting the RFP Database and its associated blog; if you are a non-profit or organization putting together a RFP you’ll find lots of examples to work from as well as a good location to publicize your RFP, and if you’re a contracting firm, you’ll find lots of projects to bid on! You can never find too many good projects to bid on or garner enough competitive bids for your project.

  • http://www.sponsorshipsecrets.com/ SponsorShip Secrets

    Nice site you have, I have just bookmarked it. Also the steps are really cool.