Established in 2000, The Friends of Woodlands & Waters (previously named the Friends of the Assabet River, Oxbow, and Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuges) is a nonprofit organization of conservation-minded volunteers who work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect and enhance the refuges’ flora and fauna. Based in eastern Massachusetts, the nonprofit is part of a network of about 200 organizations across the United States that support the National Wildlife Refuge system.
Ecopixel now helps this newly merged, volunteer-powered nonprofit with effective fundraising and outreach through its beautiful new website.
Solving Nonprofit Website Challenges
An Easy-to-Edit Website
The Friends' old website was hand-coded HTML managed by a super-volunteer looking to pass the torch. Only one person could edit the website.
Ecopixel solved this common nonprofit challenge by building the new website on a web-based platform.
- The new website is powered by TYPO3 CMS, an easy-to-edit and secure content management system with a 25-year track record.
- Ecopixel trained a group of volunteers who can now each log in and make changes with any web browser.
- We provide prompt support and an extensive documentation and training videos.
At Ecopixel, we believe every nonprofit should be empowered to edit their own website!
Beautiful Branding
After much discussion, the Friends chose the name Friends of Woodlands & Waters to represent the National Wildlife Refuges they serve.
The Friends' previous logo featured a perched Kingfisher. For the merged organization, the Board envisioned a logo featuring a heron in flight over the local woodlands and wetlands. They also wanted the nonprofit's new branding to evoke the look and feel of the iconic US Fish & Wildlife Service logo. To achieve the organization's vision, Paul Hansen at Ecopixel drew a beautiful new logo for the nonprofit. The complete nonprofit branding package included a style guide with colors, typefaces, and versions of the logo suitable for print, web, and social media.
The new branding served as the foundation for the matching custom web design created by Ecopixel. Our nonprofit website designs feature clean design, local photography, and prominent connections to donations and social media.
Ecopixel also presented the conservation organization with a range of available domain names, with woodlandsandwaters.org being the final pick.
Better Fundraising
The organization had previously used a PayPal-based form for memberships and donations.
Ecopixel's effective donation forms are built right into the new website:
- Ecopixel worked with the Friends to design a form that could handle both donations and memberships in one easy-to-use form.
- Mobile users get fast payments with Apple Pay or Google Pay.
- Donations can be one-time or recurring.
- The organization controls the whole experience, from the custom form to the thank you emails, and the donor stays on the nonprofit's website the whole time.
- Donors can quickly pay when using Stripe's Link service which securely saves reusable payment information across millions of websites.
Accessible to Everyone
Ecopixel creates universal websites that serve everyone in the community.
- The nonprofit's new website aims to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by following the Web Content Accessibility Guildelines (WCAG) version 2.1, level AA.
- Ecopixel also designed the new website to be mobile-friendy. The website responsively adapts to a wide variety of devices and screen sizes.
Learn more about web accessibility
Cost-Effective Operations
Previously, the organization suffered from tech sprawl. With different technology providers managed by different volunteers, it was tough to know where to turn to make improvements or fix problems.
Now, the organization doesn't need to budget for "what ifs" because Ecopixel takes care of everything:
- We're your responsive point of contact for all your web technology: website, domain name registrations, integrations with other service providers, and more.
- We coordinate with your managed IT provider, if you have one.
- We provide complete administration of your website, including daily backups, software upgrades, and onboarding for new website editors.
- Ecopixel's proactive website maintenance keeps pace with changes in visitor expectations, changes in technology, and accessibility requirements.
Your Nonprofit Website Partner
Ecopixel creates and sustains flexible and effective websites for all kinds of nonprofits, including conservation organizations like the Friends of Woodlands & Waters. Contact Ecopixel today to learn how we can help you!