Top 10 BBNC Sites - Austin Habitat For Humanity 2689

Top 10 BBNC Sites - Austin Habitat For Humanity

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We're counting down the top 10 websites built on NetCommunity as bbcon 2016 approaches. The latest installment to our list of Top 10 NetCommunity Sites comes from Austin Habitat for Humanity. 

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Like the organization itself, Austin Habitat for Humanity’s NetCommunity website is a dynamic work in progress. Although the site won a Best in Class IMA Award in last year, development associate Becca Davis finds herself compelled by what the site can become rather than what it is. “It’s alive, we can always change it,” Becca says. “We act on user feedback and our own observations. If we realize that something isn’t working, we decide what we need to do and make that change. That’s something that we prioritize.”
 
Her approach to the website is very much in tune with how Austin Habitat approaches the unique challenges they face in the Bat City. Over the past several years, the steady influx of people and business has caused home values to skyrocket, pricing many folks out of the real estate market.
 
Becca explains Austin Habitat’s unique challenge like this: “Land isn’t as available as it used to be and we’ve been getting priced out of being able to purchase land and the number of houses we’ve been able to build. So we’re looking into how we can do more mixed-use housing and expand the traditional definition of homeownership."
 
Austin Habitat’s work is certainly cut out for them, which is why it’s crucial they recruit all the help they can get to support their efforts, especially online. The website makes it easy for visitors to get involved in their mission, whether that’s as a recipient of their services, a volunteer, or a donor. The site you see today is the result of strong initial design and a critical internal perspective once the initial implementation was complete.
 
“The ‘Donate Now’ button used to be a ‘More Info Here’ button,” Becca recalls. “We want people to be donating, so the thought process was that we should make it really obvious and easy for them. That change has been really effective for us.”
 
Becca acknowledges that Austin Habitat’s ability to create a clean and simple website  ispartially enabled by the strong brand that Habitat for Humanity International has built across the globe. “I think we’re lucky and fairly unusual in that people know our brand and come to us knowing they want to get involved.”
 
However, Becca also sees plenty of opportunity for organizations looking to improve their web presence that don’t necessarily share their level of brand recognition. "Really pay attention to what's bringing people to your website already is really helpful in determining how you should design your website. Having that willingness to be flexible with what it looks like and how to update it is something that's been huge for us.” Understanding what to do with that feedback once it’s been gathered is also crucial. "The webinars and reaching out to Blackbaud consultants has been one of the biggest help for us. They’ve helped us to see what's available and understand how we can make that work for us. Unless you know what's available, you won't know how you can change things."

Do you have a site that you want to share? Use the comments to tell us all about it!
News ARCHIVED | Blackbaud NetCommunity™ Blog 09/08/2016 10:23am EDT

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