Side by Side is a non-profit organization founded in 2014 by a group of Central Massachusetts business leaders who saw an opportunity to support Veterans in need in the face of a lack of government programs and funding. Through an annual charity golf tournament and comedy event, Side by Side funds a carefully vetted group of prominent organizations that provide support services to Veterans. These services include home building, family support programs, career opportunities, rehabilitation programs, service dogs, and food, clothing and shelter.
When we met Side by Side, they were experiencing the characteristic growing pains of a successful non-profit. Since their founding in 2014, Side by Side continues to surpass their fundraising goals with each successive year, raising over $1M to date. But there was a disconnect between how well-attended and financially successful the organization’s charitable golf and comedy events had become, and the image their current website conveyed. In addition to the functionality, the website needed to have to meet the demand for tickets and sponsorship sales.
Their simple, “home-grown” Squarespace site lacked cohesive navigation, a clear description of their mission and descriptions of the many well-known Veteran service organizations they support, like Habitat for Humanity and the American Legion. Perhaps most importantly, the site didn’t have an effective means to sell event tickets, tables, and sponsorships for their fund-raising events, which included a full-day charity golf tournament and a comedy performance and dinner. Potential supporters also didn’t have a way to donate, other than by purchasing a ticket or sponsoring an event. This lack of a robust online e-commerce function was standing in the way of the organization’s potential to scale.
As we learned more about the organization, we discovered what’s unique about Side by Side is that an individual’s single donation supports multiple organizations that provide different types of Veteran support services.
We worked with the Side by Side executive director and board members to identify and label their key stakeholder groups: the Partner organizations they support, their corporate Sponsors, event Attendees, individual non-attendee Donors, and the Community at large. We featured Side by Side’s Partner organizations prominently on the home page, with logos and descriptions for each one.
We also designed an area to showcase event sponsors prominently on the home page. We placed sponsor sign-up forms strategically throughout the site, with embedded SEO tracking to monitor which website pages that feature a Sponsor sign-up form are leading to a Sponsorship sign up, or what we call a conversion.
We took an inventory of the Side by Side’s wish list of requirements that included a way to make it easy for anyone to donate, even if they didn’t plan to attend an event. Also on the list was an event sign up area tailored specifically for their golf tournament that included individual and foursome ticket purchases and tee sponsorships. An email sign up field was added, so Side by Side could create email campaigns letting their followers know about upcoming events.
Golf tournament ticket holders have everything they need on one page to learn about the event: the event schedule, information about the venue, and a link to the course map.
