AIDS Organization’s Site Lacks Passion, Power

When BC/EFA is ready to redesign its site (an exercise many nonprofits are undertaking every three years or so due to the rapid changes in technology), it should start by asking, “Who are our target audiences, and what do they want from us?” rather than, “What do we want from them?”

For an organization with a strong, highly visible logo, this site’s design drops the ball. Black and red are the dominant colors, which makes it feel heavy and, oddly, somewhat reminiscent of an “adult” Web site. Copy on the homepage is topical, which is great, but the type is too small and varies between all caps, and upper and lower case, which makes it feel hastily executed at best. The homepage is dominated by a large image that rotates, displaying items such as signage with its logo or a snow globe you can buy, rather than images of, say, grantees or meaningful programs in action.

Positive points
Perhaps the best part of this site is its online annual report, which saved the organization more than $40,000 in design, printing and production costs, according to a staff person we spoke with. Accessible from the home-page, this report is built in straightforward HTML (financials are PDF) and provides all the usual content in a very no-nonsense style. In the future, BC/EFA could enhance this offering by integrating videos and/or audio to better tell the organization’s story and bring its work to life.

There are a few other nice features on the homepage, like the corporate sponsors’ logos at the bottom and clear, actionable buttons at the top, through which we can donate, join the e-mail list, get tickets or shop in the store.

We also did a little snooping around some of the more popular social-networking sites and were pleased to see how popular BC/EFA is on Facebook. The organization’s group boasts more than 6,000 members and has active discussion postings, auction items, pictures and event listings. As Facebook increases its own nonprofit-friendliness with applications like Causes, ChipIn and Change.org, BC/EFA could further engage its Facebook community to take action for the organization (including making a donation).