Child Crisis Center Gets a New Website and Increased Visibility
Behind the smiling faces of the kids that the staff at the Child Crisis Center in Phoenix, Arizona, keep safe from abuse and neglect, the families they help strengthen, and the children they match with loving parents, is Adobe Creative Suite. This critical tool has allowed the organization to build a new website that greatly improved its community reach. It increased donor participation by about 20 percent, more than doubled its number of interested foster families, and had tangible impact on hundreds of families in need. Without an advertising budget, the Child Crisis Center had to increase its ability to reach those needing help through difficult times.
The website was relaunched in December 2008 at the height of the economic crisis, which the agency thought would mean more demand for emergency shelter adoption, foster care services, parenting classes, and support groups with fewer resources. To its surprise, the new site enabled new services, increased the number of clients the center has been able to reach, and improved its fundraising efforts.
The new website helped the organization launch its participation in Operation Family Support, a collaboration between 25 agencies across Arizona to serve the unique needs of military families. With the flexibility and visibility of the center's website, Operation Family Support was able to launch three of its training programs throughout the state. Over 100 parents and children affected by military service have been served since December 2008.
The new website is also credited with Child Crisis Center seeing more interest from potential adoptive or foster care parents. Between December 2007 and March 2008, the center's adoption and foster care program received 23 inquiries. The new website, during the same time period one year later, received 52 inquiries, more than twice as many! That same time period also saw an increase in donations of more than 20 percent, allowing the center to continue working hard in the community.
