Top 10 BBNC Sites - University Of Central Missouri 2619

Top 10 BBNC Sites - University Of Central Missouri

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We're counting down the top 10 websites built on Blackbaud NetCommunity. This week's installment to our list of Top 10 BBNC Sites comes from University of Central Missouri Foundation.

Old WebsiteAll websites have a story to tell, and University of Central Missouri Alumni Foundation wasn’t sure they liked what theirs had to say. “Our website was horrible,” recalls Jenne Vanderbout, Assistant Vice President for Alumni and Development. “It was hard to find things. We didn't feel that it focused on the things we needed to focus on, and we didn't feel that it told our story very well." All of those factors resulted in a lack of website traffic and trouble effectively engaging alumni and other supporters.

UCM Alumni Foundation worked with Blackbaud’s design team to bolster their online profile and provide their alumni with a digital toolset that would make engaging with the university easy. Their work began with a content audit and analytics review as well as stakeholder interviews to get a better understanding of the current website’s performance and challenges, audience tasks, key messages and calls to action, as well as articulate common goals for the new website.  Based on these discovery findings, Blackbaud developed a new site map, responsive wireframes, and designs for the homepage, landing page, and interior page for the new UCM Alumni Foundation website.

The collaboration between the UCM Alumni Foundation and Blackbaud resulted in a website design that’s capable of illustrating the tangible impact of supporting the university and showcases the spirit of the UCM community. This transformational shift in how the Alumni Foundation tells their story online is reflected in the compelling narratives and inspiring visuals of their alumni, students, faculty and staff.

When University of Central Missouri Alumni Foundation’s new website went live in July of this year, it represented a major step forward for the organization’s online presence. Besides being visually appealing, the new site’s intuitive design has made it easy for supporters to engage with the University in a variety of ways, particularly volunteering, financial support, and connecting with fellow alumni. Of equal importance is the capability to share stories of people giving back to the university and the very real ways that it impacts the lives of current students and alumni. “It gives us opportunities to tell stories about what we're doing, how we're impacting students, and how alumni are giving back to the institution in a variety of ways. Flexibility was important to us. We want update the site regularly so that we're able to share current information and not be stagnant. And to be honest, our other site had become very stagnant."

586b34a9b4fcde8e03415489e2d361f6-huge-hoUniversity of Central Missouri Alumni Foundation’s new website has raised their profile and contributed to collaboration with other organizations on campus. "The functionality that it gives us is so much better than where we were before. It really has folks that we're working with standing up and going 'Oh, wow you've made life so much better by implementing this. And it looks so good and we're so excited to partner with you now.’"

They plan to build on that spirit of collaboration by reaching out to alumni with a strong marketing push with their new website to coincide with the start of the 2016-2017 school year. "We're really looking at how we can get people signed up into the Blackbaud NetCommunity space. Once we can get people signed up into it we can do more targeted messaging. Blackbaud NetCommunity offers our alumni a few capabilities: look at their giving history, make a gift, and make giving seamless. Telling us their stories is also a big piece that we've added with NetCommunity. Having that information about our folks is going to allow us to communicate better with our constituents.”

Do you have a site that you want to share? Use the comments to tell us all about it!

 
News ARCHIVED | Blackbaud NetCommunity™ Blog 11/29/2016 10:23am EST

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1 Comments
How do you get the recurring gifts to work? Do you have to have a certain module in RE?

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