Case study: Disability Challengers

Client Review One Year On... Fi McKinlay, freelance writer interviews Adam Edwards, Communications and Fundraising Director, Disability Challengers.

Back in 2008 Disability Challengers embarked on a key challenge of their own – to launch a new website and to have it up and running in time for their Christmas Appeal – a vital source of fundraising for any charity and one where there could be no risk of a new website not working.

They reviewed the pitches from a few consultancies and chose to work with d2-solutions.co.uk.

- So why them?
- How did it go?
- And where are Disability Challengers now, almost a year on, how did all work out?

I spoke to Adam of Disability Challengers about what was happening back then and what benefits Disability Challengers have seen as a result of the work with d2.

Click here to view Disability Challengers' live site.

Ok Adam so why d2?

What we liked about d2 was that when they came to see us they brought a lot of ideas and concepts that we could work through and see how we might get a website launched and this was before any formal agreement.

The other great thing was the two Daves pitched to us and helped us with our thinking. We knew that these were the people we would be working closely with; unlike other consultancies where you don’t know who will be doing the work and you may never see the initial consultants again.

They also did this piece of work for a fixed fee and I am sure you can imagine for a charity especially at such a tough financial time this was so helpful – again unlike other consultancies they were not constantly bombarding us with ‘ we can do that but it will cost more’ they just focused on our needs and how they could help us.

And did it go well?

What was so good was that we got a really first class website in the time frame with more than we had originally envisaged.

What this new site gives us is a very fresh approach, a gallery for us to showcase the work we do and a new confidence in the site as a resource for our volunteers.

And where are Disability Challengers now, almost a year on, how did all work out?

The Christmas appeal did go very well and we did raise additional funds which is vital to the work we do.

We now have a content management system, also provided by d2, which enables us to load our pictures – we have a lot and it is such a good way to showcase the work we do – and we can change content whenever we want to. This allows to keep the website up to date and relevent for all the different groups we have to communicate with, reducing time spent on phone and email answering typical queries. Take a look and you will see what I mean http://www.disability-challengers.org.

They also helped us choose a new email marketing system. It provides a way of tracking and monitoring the information we send out so we can do the vital analysis and see which of our campaigns are effective and which ones aren't working so well, and this of course allows us to be much more efficient in what we do.

The other big thing is that we employ a large number of youth workers and we have noticed that they access the site a lot more which means they feel more part of us and know what is going on and of course can enjoy the photos!

Thanks Adam for sharing your thoughts and congratulations to Disability Challengers.

d2 feeback review: Fi McKinlay, freelance writer interviewed Adam Edwards.

Click here to view Disability Challengers' live site.