Nonprofit Redesign Case Study: 3 Key Tactics to Stay Within Budget

When David Ledsinger became the new Marketing Director at Kids in Need Foundation, one of the first initiatives he tackled was a brand refresh and simplification. The original logo didn't translate well to web, and as a former art director and designer, David undertook the logo revamp as the first step in bringing the Kids in Need story to life online. Updated logo in hand, David contacted ArcStone to begin a website redesign. 

Website Redesign Goals:

The old Kids in Need website had a cluttered navigation bar, few images and no clear calls to action. The content was very text heavy and didn't tell a clear, compelling story about the impact Kids in Need has on students and teachers around the country. Like many nonprofits, budget was limited, so David and his team came to ArcStone looking for a team that could create a beautiful, functional redesign in a cost-effective way.  

Here are a few key tactics that were used to keep costs low, while still producing a great new website.

Strategic WordPress Integration

The cost of a custom WordPress website is based on how many page templates need to be designed, developed and then integrated with WordPress. To lower overall costs, ArcStone and the Kids in Need team evaluated which pages would be updated the least frequently, and opted to not integrate these pages with WordPress. 

Utilizing Strengths

With David being a designer, our team was able to leverage his skills and make our efforts more efficient, especially when it came to brand direction. We understand that not every marketing director at a nonprofit is also an experienced designer, but it highlights the importance of using the skills of every team member to produce the best result. If your team has a great copywriter, photographer, etc., be sure to speak up! We're always open to integrating strengths from our client's team to create the best result. 

Shared Templates 

We strongly believe that content comes first with any website. However, without careful consideration of content and budget, it can be easy to create too many page templates, inflating your budget and project timeline. To streamline the design and development process, we mutually decided that the stories and programs pages could share the same template. This also provides a consistent user experience.

Take a look at the before and after of the redesign below.

Old website:

New website:

Curious about how we could help? Reach out to us with questions here.