The Client

Ruth and Naomi Senior Outreach is a nonprofit organization located in Birmingham, Alabama. It is a ministry of spiritual companionship to isolated older adults that provides support and companionship through music and presence.

The Task

Ruth and Naomi Senior Outreach needed a website for two purposes. First, they needed a way to get the word out in the community about who they are and what they do. Second, they needed to show legitimacy to grant giving organizations in order to secure funding. For their model of service delivery and their clientele, having a website isn’t crucial for delivering services, but it raises awareness of their organization and shows off the phenomenal work they do in the community, making it easier to raise funds in the future both through grants and individual donations.

What we Did

Ruth and Naomi didn’t have a lot of demands, as they didn’t need anything incredibly advanced from their website. They just needed it to be informative, look professional and friendly, and be easy to use for their staff. We delivered this, and some additional functionality they didn’t even know they needed until they got a look at a working prototype.

We focused the initial build on producing an accessible and informative public face for their website that would showcase who they are and what they do. We used images provided by them to show their work and demonstrate their effectiveness. Their photos were particularly powerful, so we made them a centerpiece of the build with a photo highlighted on every page, and a slider of images along the bottom.

A second task was to create a donation system so they could take donations from the public. This was a function that never existed before, but was added in to increase their available fundraising options.

We also ended up adding some functionality that they hadn’t previously considered, but wanted after viewing the website prototype and learning what was possible. We created a way for them to add audio testimonials about their service, as well as a way to upload harp music performed by their volunteers. One of the primary services of Ruth and Naomi is providing musical companionship to seniors, and the ability to upload music performed by their harpists allowed them to bring this gift to the public.