Southeastern Virginia Issues Website RFP

Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia (“SSSEVA”) is requesting proposals for the design, building and hosting of its public website with a client-centric, user-friendly and intuitive design with a robust content management system (CMS), per the knowledge, creativity and expertise of the vendor. The website serves as our main portal for information on all programs that SSSEVA offers for senior clients, volunteers, community partners, donors, and staff and as such will need simple navigation and sensible structure. SSSEVA staff will work closely with the selected vendor to provide all appropriate text, content and anticipated design flow. 

Guide to RFP 

Our expectation is that this document will convey our vision for the new site and specific challenges with the existing one. It includes a background section about our organization, suggests an outline for organizing the content of the new site, and desired technologies. In providing these details, our intent is not to convey that we have all of the answers for creating the best possible site. The ideal and preferred vendor will bring its own ideas and vision based on industry expertise, technical capability, and client relations, guiding us to incorporate our goals into that vision. Please feel free to email lwasileski@ssseva.org with questions or comments

Background:

Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia (“SSSEVA”) is the regional organization in South Hampton Roads and Western Tidewater that supports and enriches the lives of seniors and their families through advocacy, education, information and comprehensive services. For almost half a century, we’ve changed the lives of tens of thousands of the region’s seniors for the better. We’ve served over two million meals, contributed more than six million hours of senior volunteer services, driven seniors over 11 million miles and helped Website Redesign RFP SSSEVA-2020 thousands of seniors live in their homes independently as an alternative to nursing home care. We are a private, nonprofit organization, and we serve residents in Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, and Isle of Wight and Southampton counties. Services include Case Management, In-Home Care, Meals on Wheels home-delivered meals and congregate meals, Care Transitions, Evidence-Based Wellness classes, I-Ride Transportation, Medicare Benefits Counseling and more. SSSEVA receives funding from federal, state, municipal and private sources. Mission: To provide seniors and their caregivers with access to programs and services so they may live their lives with choice and dignity in their communities Vision: We envision a community that empowers, respects, and values seniors and their caregivers. Values: Act with courage; Create trust; Exhibit respect; Deliver results

Scope of Work:

The purpose of this RFP is to award a contract for services to provide SSSEVA with a website overhaul, redesign, and deployment. This project will include and not be limited to: copywriting, graphic design, brand development, creative development, project management, coding and user-experience/user-interface development – all focused on the development of an established, distinctive brand that will resonate with Website Redesign RFP SSSEVA-2020 visitors, stakeholders, and the community. 

It is essential that the website design and functionality incorporate cutting-edge technologies, paper eliminating processes, and streamlined user interactions for improved constituent engagement and participation in organizational services. 

Further, a redesigned website is a key feature in SSSEVA’s commitment to offering seniors a one-stop resource to help them live independently. By improving the Organization’s digital outreach, SSSEVA seeks to reduce barriers to programs and services and ensure that all South Hampton Roads and Western Tidewater residents can access all that SSSEVA has to offer. The professional company must have a significant history in website design/development, substantial experience working with large, multi-faceted nonprofit organizations, and documented abilities to implement results-oriented strategies on-time and within budget, coupled with a winning strategy for execution. 

5. Goals, Objectives and Guidelines SSSEVA requires a website that is user-friendly and will serve all potential and current clients, volunteers, donors, community partners, the general public and SSSEVA staff. The website must function as the main portal for anyone seeking information about the programs, policies and functions of the organization. Target Audience: We are targeting the following types of visitors to our website: 

• Current/Prospective Clients − Senior adults, and family members and caregivers of seniors 

• Potential Volunteers − Individual, Group and Corporate

• Potential Donors − Individual, Group and Corporate 

• Potential Funding Sources − Both public and private funding entities 

• Existing/Potential Referral Sources

• Anyone looking to become more involved with our organization and/or the senior community The people who make up the above groups are: 

• Senior adults 

• Family members and caregivers 

• Community members 

• Nonprofit leaders 

• Foundation staff members 

• Community / civic group members

• Government employees

• Individual philanthropists 

• Program directors 

• Primary care physicians and 

• Hospital staff/social workers 

• Nonprofit service organizations 

• Media and press 

• Business owners 

• Staff of elected officials 

• General public Existing Website SSSEVA’s current website is located at www.ssseva.org, and was designed in 2013. The current website is difficult to navigate and lacks a cohesive and intuitive design. 

A more streamlined and user-friendly site aimed at providing up-to-date information in an accessible format would help minimize staff time Website Redesign RFP SSSEVA-2020 answering general questions from people trying to learn more about our programs. We anticipate the new website will provide a relatively condensed level of content and pages presented in a more accessible and intuitive format. Current Site Challenges 

• Not intuitive to navigate 

• Does not effectively communicate SSSEVA programs to potential clients, participants or public

• Information not presented in logical format- too much information on main page to sift through 

• Current CMS is a proprietary software with limited options in the back end beyond standard modules and functionalities. SSSEVA staff is unable to access all content on the site, thus restricting what updates can be made.

• Current CMS is not set up for 3rd party plugins or any integration beyond iframes. It has limited options for software enhancements and customizations. New Website Goals and Objectives: Design Goals Our design goals for our new website include: 

1. Visually appealing, easy to find content 

2. Increase partner engagement and follow-up 

3. Increase search engine visibility

4. Seamless integration with social media 

5. Mobile- and user-friendly and easy to update Principal Goals Our principle goals for our new website include: 

1. To educate our client base (prospective participants and current program participants) by explaining SSSEVA’s programs 

2. Making important program requirements, forms, schedules, policies and other information readily and accessibly available 

3. Accommodate access portals for volunteers, vendors and employees 

4. To provide a secure, user-friendly online process for submitting donations and registering for events

5. To be the principal source for marketing SSSEVA programs 

6. To minimize phone and walk-in traffic to the organization’s front desk Design Requirements Given the complexity of SSSEVA’s site content, the website should be built for desktop access, but be mobile optimized across a variety of platforms. Our current site features Google Analytics to measure our visitor base and other data. Additional analytics and tracking tools, such as Facebook Pixels and Twitter Pixels, need to be incorporated into the new site. 

Branded Theme The organization’s current website does feature a branded theme. SSSEVA desires a consistent branding and color theme for the new site that builds on its branding strategy. Website Redesign RFP SSSEVA-2020 Agency Logo SSSEVA currently has a primary logo that it is wishes to use on the site. Photography and Video SSSEVA has a large inventory of available photos. If necessary, SSSEVA is willing to discuss hiring a photographer. Additionally, SSSEVA would like to have a video of SSSEVA’s CEO which welcomes users to the site. SSSEVA will provide the video.

Due Date:

May 6, 2020

Address:

Laura Wasileski Marketing and Communications Specialist (757) 663-4832 lwasileski@ssseva.org    

Relevant agencies worth considering include Makovsky PR and Shift Communications.