Volunteer help: Web Design for Non Profit

hook_dupin

hook_dupin

Well-Known Member
So me and a few others are on the path of starting a non-profit. We're at the point where we need a web-page. I've got the domain already from GoDaddy. Here's the problem: I have the visual design skills of Hellen Keller.

Here's the concept: Vets to Jets. I want to sell raffle tickets for aircraft (say one a quarter or something), and use the proceeds to offer training grants and loans to Vets looking to make aviation be their career.

Is there anyone on JC who's got these type of skills and is looking for a quick volunteer opportunity to help a good cause?
 
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I don't know anything about design, but if you want to use any pictures from my site I can help...
 
Sigh...

Just because YOU are a non profit doesn't mean you should get pro bono services. Professional web designers do site designs as a career. Don't ask them to do it for free.

If you truly have no budget for site design, go check out something like wordpress to get a basic site up and running.
 
BobDDuck said:
Sigh...

Just because YOU are a non profit doesn't mean you should get pro bono services. Professional web designers do site designs as a career. Don't ask them to do it for free.

If you truly have no budget for site design, go check out something like wordpress to get a basic site up and running.
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Wordpress and similar are fine -I'm just not that great in that area. I'd rather have an amateur who loves airplanes than a professional who knows nothing.

As a note though, non-profits are judged on their expense ratio. What does that practically mean? That means that, to get some types of funding, non-profits are cornered into asking for pro-bono for many expenses. In the biggest non-profit funding source in America, the Combined Federal Campaign, donors are presented with a one-paragraph description and an expense ratio stat. It may be unsurprising that charities with lower expense ratios claim more funding.

On the professional services side, it can actually work out ok. Let's say a web design shop only has 30 hours of work for one of their designers. They can a) have that person do odd office jobs and pay them time while not taking in revenue b) just send the person home for the remaining 10 hours (but only if the designer is hourly) or c) have the designer do some work for a good cause that can be written off as a charity donation while also providing some good PR for the design firm and increasing the designer's portfolio. Option c) is why I very much should ask them to do it for free -because they get some benefit out of the deal while helping another organization.
 
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There is a pro bono section on LinkedIn where you can list what you need and the timeline and people who work in those industries will help for a bit. Might want to check that out. Taproot also has a database and helps nonprofits get off the ground by training the group. Highly recommend.
 
hook_dupin said:
Wordpress and similar are fine -I'm just not that great in that area. I'd rather have an amateur who loves airplanes than a professional who knows nothing.

As a note though, non-profits are judged on their expense ratio. What does that practically mean? That means that, to get some types of funding, non-profits are cornered into asking for pro-bono for many expenses. In the biggest non-profit funding source in America, the Combined Federal Campaign, donors are presented with a one-paragraph description and an expense ratio stat. It may be unsurprising that charities with lower expense ratios claim more funding.

On the professional services side, it can actually work out ok. Let's say a web design shop only has 30 hours of work for one of their designers. They can a) have that person do odd office jobs and pay them time while not taking in revenue b) just send the person home for the remaining 10 hours (but only if the designer is hourly) or c) have the designer do some work for a good cause that can be written off as a charity donation while also providing some good PR for the design firm and increasing the designer's portfolio. Option c) is why I very much should ask them to do it for free -because they get some benefit out of the deal while helping another organization.
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Trust me... I understand the concept of non profits. I'm the co founder of one and serve as a president of the board of another. I agree that reducing overhead expenses to the lowest possible amount is imperative, especially if you are trying to get a listing on Guidestar. My only point was that it's a fine line to walk when asking a professional to do something for free just because you are a non profit.
 
BobDDuck said:
Trust me... I understand the concept of non profits. I'm the co founder of one and serve as a president of the board of another. I agree that reducing overhead expenses to the lowest possible amount is imperative, especially if you are trying to get a listing on Guidestar. My only point was that it's a fine line to walk when asking a professional to do something for free just because you are a non profit.
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Here's my take: a start-up non-profit is insanely hard to make work financially at the levels that the broader non-profit community expects. I think you have to go hard left of the line, then course-correct if it works out. That is to say that you have to launch like a rouge pirate if there's any hope of it working. Start-up non-profits are way harder than start-up for-profit businesses. At least on the for-profit side, there's an expectation that the enterprise will lose money the first few years after launch and Angels to back that up. Thanks @avi8tor for charging the pistols and boarding the boarding the galleons with me.
 
hook_dupin said:
Here's my take: a start-up non-profit is insanely hard to make work financially at the levels that the broader non-profit community expects. I think you have to go hard left of the line, then course-correct if it works out. That is to say that you have to launch like a rouge pirate if there's any hope of it working. Start-up non-profits are way harder than start-up for-profit businesses. At least on the for-profit side, there's an expectation that the enterprise will lose money the first few years after launch and Angels to back that up. Thanks @avi8tor for charging the pistols and boarding the boarding the galleons with me.
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You could at least speel my screenname right. ;)
 
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