As a software developer at Idealistics I focus on the development of our software systems. Being on the tech side, I see a lot of the advantages technology and the world wide web offer to the social service industry. Technology has changed the provision of social services and organizations' ability to connect with their donors. It is offering new ways to perform services and obtain information.Ask yourself a question, "How does my agency communicate with community stakeholders?" If you want to cast a wide net and communicate more deeply with constituents, a web presence is a must for all social service agencies.
A website allows you to fully explain and display who you are and what you do. You can tell your community about your work, services, qualifications, client outcomes, completed projects, and in fact just about anything that will benefit your purpose.
Having a website makes it easier to encourage referrals, because website addresses are easier to remember than phone numbers. Also since a website allows people to learn about your services anonymously, some may be more comfortable learning about an organization online rather than on the phone or in person.
If your agency doesn't yet have a web site, there are several companies that do web design and sometimes you can get volunteers with the web design experience to make a site for you. If you do go with a web design company, make sure you are allowed to keep the source code and that you have access to the server being used to host your website. You want to make sure that you are in control of the website content in case you want to change servers in the future or if you want to have a volunteer or another company maintain the website content for you.
In the digital age a web presence is a must for all social services agencies, not just for for-profit enterprises and techies. So if you're not already, get online!
Posts
