February 13th, 2022

The Greenwood Promise

David A. Windham

102 Glenridge Circle

Greenwood, SC 29646

803-712-3283

david@davidwindham.com

Attn: The Greenwood Promise - Board of Directors

Mrs. Katie Davenport / Mr. Frank Wideman / Mr. Paul Cuenin

Introduction: Mr. Wideman asked me to take a look at the current Greenwood Promise website and give him some feedback while working with him on our home owners association website. I mentioned to him that I would be glad to volunteer my time to assist because I support your mission, would like to improve our community, and I can use my contribution as a charitable donation. I also spoke with Paul Cuenin who shared your current request for proposals. I'm not going to take the time to write up a full proposal because I'm not a full service agency, but I've submitted some references and marked through any items below that I am unwilling to volunteer my time on. Although my preference is to remain behind the scenes to help out, I don't mind an occasional meeting.

About Me: I've been building web sites for almost 20 years for an assortment of clients and I have a background in visual design. There is more information about me on my websites. I'm from Chapin, SC and I've lived in Greenwood for the last 12 years. My wife, Ginny is the lead psychologist for Greenwood District 50, teaches at Lander, and is completing her doctorate in Education Systems Improvement Science at Clemson University. I've been taking on some additional side work to keep me occupied while she is completing her coursework in the evenings. Aside from Mr. Wideman & Mr. Cuenin, I'm also acquainted with Mrs. Williams.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.


Staging Website

I built this staging website in two sessions over the weekend in order to illustrate some of my recommendations. Although it's incomplete, I've found it's easier to conceptualize using a live staging site. You're welcome to share this with any other board members or partners. I've also found that the easiest workflow for non-technical partners is to create their copy and design mockups in whatever software you're familiar with ( like Google Docs or Microsoft Word ) and share them. The process to get it finished would likely involve a meeting and a point of contact for resources and edits. After you've presented and reviewed the final, I can publish and host it. Afterwords, y'all can contact me anytime you need additional work on the website and I'll support it for the life of the project.

Here are some quick notes:

  • The code for this staging site is @ https://code.davidawindham.com/david/gwp
  • I noticed that a lot of the copy from the brochure is not available as content on the website.
  • I had to replace the font used in the logo b/c I couldn't find it.
  • I just recreated the two logos in a vector format so I could modify the colors.
  • Right now it's static ( meaning there is no login or WYSIWYG for a non-technical person to edit pages ), but I can migrate the design to a CMS ( content management system ) such as WordPress or Drupal if you want a staff member to be able to make regular edits or posts. If it's not going to be regularly updated by staff or voluteers, leaving it static would reduce the upkeep while improving the security and performance.
  • The website could be made to handle donations, event registrations, meeting schedules, etc... without outsourcing them to third party websites.
  • there's no reason to create a search index until it's finished so that search box element is disabled for now. I use lunr.js to search features and you can see how it works at https://davidawindham.com/til/docs/
  • I recommend using something like MailChimp for your email list because it'll give non-technical users a way to create html emails and manage the list. I've already built the email signup form to support MailChimp.
  • Because you use Microsoft 365 for your email, you can closely tie in forms and surveys with that account that will embed into the website. ( It's how I built the Self Regional Covid-19 vaccine signup forms )
  • I just put up the existing student/teacher images @ students.html as a placeholder until I add some sort of image gallery.
  • I'd recommend post editing some of the old news items ( e.g. - this IJ article ) back into the website
  • Someone needs to change the 'Give Now' button colors on GiveBox because it's currently white and you can't see it.
  • The site has the appropriate metadata markup, which means that when you share URLs with other social media websites and text messages, that it will pre-populate the images and media from the website into the third party application.
  • I tried to keep the site architecture simple in a way that always presents the email signup form and donate button on every page
  • I tried to stay within the 'gardening' sorta theme that was apparent in the original logo and other site design elements using your original assets.
  • the color scheme can be easily changed where just several lines of code will change all of the colored elements in the theme. This might be nice to change every so often based on the season. As you can see... I went towards an Easter/Spring theme given that's likely when you'd be able to publish.
  • It's 'mobile first'. The site is responsive is responsive to mobile which will account for the majority of your visitors. All forms and information should be legible on a small device.
  • Ran a quick audit to make sure it has WCAG 2.1 Section 508 accessibility standards
Press Kit / Brochure

I'd also be glad to rework the brochure , press kit and other print assets. Having the Adobe InDesign files from the previous 'phase 2' printed brochure would speed it up alongside of the copy and organization for the new print assets. Aside from the content, it looks like the major things that need to be redone are the stats and charts such as this page. This way, I could closely mirror the design of the print material and the website so that they are professional and unified.

pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12


Current Website

Site: greenwoodpromise.com

Domain: GoDaddy. registered 3/14/13 expires 3/14/23

DNS: 216.239.36.100 ( wixdns.net )

MX host: 104.47.55.110 ( microsoft office outlook )

Web Host: 185.230.61.211 ( San Jose, CA / 2,000,0000+ sites hosted )

Technology Stack: Wix Site builder ( wix.com )

URLs: 15 pages. 18 found with three 301 redirects and one 404 not found.

SEO: External Links ( 89 ) Inbound Links (14)

DNS / Host / Build:

  • SOA expire value is out of range and too short.
  • Limited number and distribution of name servers
  • No DMARC record present to prevent spoofing email.
  • Host the site at a regional location since the audience is regional.
  • I recommend either the Google Summerville, SC or the Linode Atlanta, GA data centers.
  • There are 59 coding errors on the home page alone - validator.w3.org/greenwoodpromise.com
  • dual display of non-www and www which means duplicate results and penalties for such.

Content:

  • I noticed that much of the content from the brochure ( phase 2 ) is not in the website
  • It's seems that the information should be tailored to two audiences - donors and recipients ( and thier parents ).
  • I thnk the modal email signup form is obtrusive.
  • A lot of the content is contained graphics which makes them illegible to both machine and those with disability.
  • Wix can appear to be a 'user friendly' way of creating a website, but in doing so they undermine the quality of the website.
  • The two outward services ( the survey and donation form ) can be hosted on the website
  • because you're already using Microsoft Office 365, you can embed their forms to make it easy to handle submission notifications and auto-reponses.

Design:

  • I noticed that the old logo of the tree with the grad cap is still on the eScholarship portal and a couple print documents.
  • Logo and other graphics are rasterized and not vector which indicates poor quality.
  • The site design is not responsive for mobile devices which will account for over half of the website visitors. ( Anything under 550px width cuts off the navigation )
  • The color scheme is not unified across print/web.
  • Does not comply with WCAG 2.1 Section 508 accessibility standards or Text Color contrast rations of 4.5:1

Marketing:

  • Digital First Approach: so that all leads can be measured and materials are unified.
  • If outside social media postings lead back to the website, the impact can be mearured.
  • I'd imagine a major goal is fundraising and you'd want to funnel visitors ( both possible recipients and donors ) to provide their contact information for future fundraising events.
  • Survey can be done using an embed form so that the outbound links are reduced.

Request for Proposal
PROJECT NAME: THE GREENWOOD PROMISE SOCIAL MEDIA & MARKETING DESCRIPTION:

The Greenwood Promise is seeking a qualified full-service advertising/marketing agency to provide services related to developing and producing creative marketing strategies.

DATE ISSUED:

January 31, 2022

CONTACT:

Katie Davenport, Executive Director: 864.377.8110 | kdavenport@greenwoodpromise.com
Nicole Herbert, Director of Engagement and Donor Relations: 864.377.8110 | nherbert@greenwoodpromise.com

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Deadline: March 1, 2022
Mail: PO Box 49458, Greenwood, SC 29649
Reference: Greenwood Promise RFP
Attention: Katie Davenport

NAME OF BIDDER (Full legal name of business submitting the bid)

David A. Windham Consulting

PRINTED NAME (Printed name of person signing below)

David A. Windham

TITLE (Business title of person signing above)

CATND (Chief Anything That Needs Done)

HOME OFFICE ADDRESS (Address of principal place of business):

102 Glenridge Circle
Greenwood, SC 29646

PAYMENT ADDRESS (Address to which payments will be sent.)

102 Glenridge Circle
Greenwood, SC 29646

EMAIL:

david@davidwindham.com

PHONE:

803-712-3283

AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE (Person signing must be authorized to submit binding bid to enter contract on behalf of Bidder named above.)

DATE:

February 13, 2022

THE GREENWOOD PROMISE BACKGROUND

The Greenwood Promise is the last-dollar, place-based tuition assistance program of Greenwood County in South Carolina. The program designed to reach beyond the boundaries of economic need and academic ability. As such, the Promise awards funds to offset the remaining balance of post-secondary tuition and mandatory fees for every high school graduate whose primary residence is zoned for Districts 50, 51 or 52. Initial Promise awards began with the SPRING high school graduating class of 2017. Our funding comes from private citizens, businesses, corporations, foundations, and two public entities in Greenwood County. Our goal is to educate, mentor, and facilitate the tuition-free opportunity that is available to all our Greenwood County high school graduates. In addition, we also want to increase awareness, education, and engagement with our partners, investors, and prospective donors. Operating a large, endowed nonprofit with a small staff, The Greenwood Promise leadership, and Board of Directors, have recognized the need for an outside firm to assist with the marketing required to accomplish our goals.

Content of Proposal

Proposals should be concise and complete and include at a minimum the following elements:

  • Samples of color and black-and-white ads (consumer and business-to-business) designed by your agency staff and rates/fees charged to produce these. ( none submitted )
  • Samples of brochures designed by your agency staff and rates/fees charged to produce these. ( Clemson University - National Dropout Prevention Center Annual Report - done while an employee of Clemson )
  • Samples of logos for events, attractions or special occasion designed by your agency staff and rates/fees charged to produce these. ( none submitted - don't really want to do graphics for events )
  • Examples of successful projects and detail of those successes. ( none submitted )
  • Business growth opportunities you may target for The Greenwood Promise.
  • Hourly rates for copywriting, design, project management, media buying, client meetings, account executive, comps, research, etc. ( I'll volunteer my time at my standard rate of $50/hour as a charitable contribution )
  • Information on the history of your firm, as well as credentials of principals and others that would be assigned to the account. ( Started in college building websites for the art department, worked for all kinds of agencies and businesses over the last 20 years, first job was at my father's advertising agency.
  • Please list two client references including: company name, primary client name, contact details and services provided. ( I built this local site https://hodges-law-firm.com last week ( Andrew Hodges ), I built the physicians directory ( https://www.selfregional.org/providers/ )for Self Regional Healthcare and manage all of thier websites, I migrated the Self Regional sites to new servers related to high traffic from the Covid-19 vaccine forms ( Mark Hyatt - Marketing Director SRH ), Morehead Cain Scholars site for UNC Chapel Hill ( Rivers Agency - Lauren Rivers ), Built and migrated the Harvard Kennedy School Publication from a legacy format almost single handedly ( Use All Five Inc. - Levi Brooks ), and etc ( Duke U, UC Berkley, The State, Post & Courier, Blue Ridge Electric Co-op, Morris Publishing, etc... )
  • Please outline your project communication structure. If your account staff is separate from you. Project management staff, please detail how these teams work together with the client. Would the client be allowed input on the selection of these sub-contractors. ( just me... call, text, or email. I tend to like making video instructions for projects... here's a video of me from last month working through an issue for SRH ( don't mind the non-showered look I tend to go with ))

Please address the following in your proposal.

  • Why is your agency a good overall fit for The Greenwood Promise. ( I live here and I'm volunteering )
  • How will you get to know our community and the opportunities and challenges we face. ( I listen alright )
  • How flexible will your agency be with client requests. ( I'll support this project for the life of it. I have a flexible schedule depending on my contracts and projects, but I'm generally pretty responsive when I'm at my desk )
  • Describe your approach in determining what marketing approaches and advertising avenues would be most beneficial for The Greenwood Promise. ( I could go on at great length here, but I'll spare you )
  • Which key performance indicators does your team focus on for client work and how will you report on our progress month by month. ( don't want to be responsible for montly reports )
  • What is your brand/reputation monitoring process. ( I can show you how to set keyword email alerts for social media accounts and the web. I'll monitor the site for errors and traffic spikes )
  • Please include a sample of your monitoring report format and/ or a link to appropriate dashboards. ( I'll configure access to Google Analytics and help you integrate it into your social and email campaigns. I use Google Search Console to monitor for site errors and server side monitoring with monit/goaccess )

In addition to the contents above, our desired social media presence would include:

  1. Posts on the grid for Instagram, post on Facebook 5x weekly, including 30+ researched hashtags per post in the local + trending + relevant categories on Instagram.
  2. An hour of engagement daily on Instagram with accounts/donors/businesses in Greenwood. (Getting to know people on the app, commenting meaningfully on posts/reels and responding to stories, comments, etc.) + responding to comments on Instagram and Facebook.
  3. 2-3x weekly reels post + regular postings on stories with engaging content.
  4. ( consult as needed ) Knowledge of social media strategy, photo editing for consistency, current social media trends, content planning, and commitment to the mission of The Greenwood Promise.
  5. Respond directly or consult with ownership on proper response to social media messages within 24 hours of receipt.
  6. Ability to coordinate photo shoots when necessary (and budget allowing) and come to Greenwood routinely for content, if needed.
  7. ( as needed to coordinate with site )Prepare and continuously update press kit as needed.
  8. ( assist as needed to coordinate with site - recommend using a third party service like MailChimp ) Create and oversee e-blast marketing campaigns on no less than a quarterly basis.
  9. ( assist as needed to coordinate with site ) Prepare and carry out a 6 month look ahead marketing campaign with associated budget. This should be prepared based on ownership objectives, presented for review and approval, and updates on the campaign progress provided no less than once a month to include statistics, recommended changes/updates, and next steps.
  10. Audit of current marketing materials and decision to recreate/update post-audit.
  11. Continued website development/updates. ( host it and advise on other digital workflows such as forms, email, surveys, payment processing, publications, automating social media etc... )
  12. ( as needed as relates to web ) Assistance with planning events and producing materials for events.
  13. ( as needed as relates to web ) Assist with storytelling and publications.

If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to Katie at The Greenwood Promise via email or by phone (kdavenport@greenwoodpromise.com or 864-377-8110). I look forward to receiving your proposals!