We work on any size web sites and provide top quality solutions no matter what size budget you have
Flexewebs have many years of experience of working with Social Enterprises and Charities throughout UK. How important are web sites for those organisations?
It is very common for charities and social enterprises to be fire fighting most of the time when working on projects.
One of the reasons why this is so is because the approach to project management is very much typical, but from the days long gone.
A typical project coordinator will (at best) have access to a properly working telephone which they will be expected to use in order to organise most of the projects and activities.
Email is mostly disregarded as a tool which most don't want to or don't like to use.
Most charities and social enterprises still do not understand the real values of having a good quality web site, even if it only features five well-written pages which describe the organisation.
In reality, social enterprises and charities are in a very strong position regarding their web presence.
Some of the reasons for this are explained below.
Chances are that most charities are in some way a niche service or product provider.
A local London-based Bosnian or Kosovar organisation caters for a very well defined niche market in London.
There are not many competitors who are likely to come into this niche even in the long term, while the interest for such communities is either high or even growing over time as media tends to follow the progress of those countries in many different aspects.
These charities and social enterprises are also able to provide very focused and well-defined niche services not only to their communities, but to a wider audience too.
Most social enterprises and charities are focused on delivering services and products to their (usually very well) defined geographical area.
This fact gives them an ability to focus very well on their target audience and understand their "business playground" into greater detail.
Geographical coverage also links into the niche offering of these organisations, as chances are that not many other places in the area are likely to be offering similar service and products targeted at the particular given community group.
Also, most people looking for a service charity or social enterprise service online are likely to be more interested in something that is based in their local community.
Our experience also shows that organisations which do have a web site and keep a (printable) log of their activites find it much easier and smoother when applying for funding.
Perfect example of a project is London Sevdah which has obtained £5000 of funding from Awards for All.
Flexewebs manages this project and has practical experience with this particular funding application.
One of the winning factors was the fact that the project has had a descently designed web site with a detailed log of all of its activities.
Particular factor which has simplified the process of preparing the funding application was the fact that the web pages were all printer friendly and it was no hassle at all to print all the relevant material to include with the application.
Web site also added extra value to the application, as funding body deemed the project as serious and visible, which is very important.
Of course, it is imperative to underline the fact that the web sites user based grows in time, giving the project a very descent long-term support and fan base.
Web sites are assets to charities and social enterprises which enable them to be easily found, make successful funding applications and develop a healthy long-term client, customer and user base. They are an apsolute must for modern day organisations and projects.
