It’s time to look back on the previous year and celebrate the new websites that are now out in the world supporting amazing organizations. Just like 2019 and 2020, I love to use this post not to toot my own horn but to see the impact of the work done by all the great nonprofits I get to work with every year!

I encourage you to pick a site that looks more interesting and actually visit it to learn about what they do, and maybe sign up for their newsletter or make a donation to support their work!

When you think about “building websites”, it’s easy to assume all the work was the design and coding that I did, but don’t forget the critical efforts played by the other staff and consultants that helped with graphics, strategy, writing, content input, and more. Nonprofit websites are almost never a solo endeavor, and that certainly applies here.

This year, I’m including a few projects that weren’t technically “site launches” but felt like big accomplishments and are worth calling out.

COVID19 Vaccine Tracker

Although this site launched last year, we put a lot of new effort into it in 2020 so it gets another shout out! As the pandemic progressed, we improved the design and infographics, added ways to track WHO and other health agency approvals, added documentation of approvals of each vaccine in each country, added a new map tracking global vaccination rates, and improved the background scientific information on the site. Serving hundreds of thousands of visitors a month, the COVID19 Vaccine Tracker is certainly one of the more prominent and impactful sites I’ve built just by the sheer amount of traffic.

Equity in Education Coalition

This project was so much fun! Working with Reneeka at Equity in Education Coaltion, we collaborated on the design and buildout to a greater degree than I normally project. The EEC is growing rapidly and playing an increasingly important role in calling attention to inequities in the Washington State education system. After identifying a theme and some unique block designs we both liked, I created block designs and settings that could be used to assemble pages. The result is a really unique site design that represents a really unique organization!

EarthGen

Formerly Washington Green Schools, January 2021 saw a new name, brand, and website for EarthGen! Washington Green Schools was a long-time maintenance client, and so I was so excited to get to work with them more deeply and rebuild the site almost from scratch. Provided with a beautiful and engaging brand guide from the firm Northbound, this site design was so much fun! Giving EarthGen site editors the power to wield brush strokes, sparks, and an awesome eco-color palette helped them completely transform their site. We put blood, sweat, and tears into an overhauled navigation structure that tells EarthGen’s story and connects schools, students, and communities with cutting-edge environmental science education.

Sisters of Providence

Reuniting with a former client contact who moved to a new organization, I had a lot of fun with this design. Sisters of Providence is a local group of Catholic sisters working in social justice, education, and the environment. Built around a the beautiful banner image of a custom stained glass window, this site offered the opportunity to pull in some unique design flourishes and revamp what had been a old and disorganized former site. The result is significantly easier to use and visually vibrant!

WTA Hike Recommender

While not a full website, I was thrilled to help the Washington Trails Association (WTA) launch their hike recommender tool in the summer of 2021. Working closely with Jesse Snyder of Rasika Consulting, WTA staff, and a couple incredible volunteers, I provided support with user experience and interface design for presenting recommendations that would get people out hiking! In the heady days of August 2021, we even had an in-person outdoor launch party when that was a safe thing to do! Initial results look like tons of people loved discovering new hikes, and it’ll be back for the Spring – Fall hiking seasons in 2022!

UTOPIA Washington

2022 was the year of implementing beautiful and unique brands! UTOPIA is an incredible organization that expanded rapidly during the pandemic to serve the needs of the Queer and Trans Pacific Islander (QT-PI!) community in Washington state. Working with a new brand by LLYP Studios, this site was a total revamp of a previous site that couldn’t showcase UTOPIA’s full work and identity. The new site is helping connect people to resources and highlighting beautiful images of UTOPIA staff and community members in action!

Cascadia Prairie Oaks Partnership

Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership had a WordPress site that desperately was in need of an upgrade. Hosting tons of information about Northwest ecology and their organization’s annual conference, this site facilitates important conservation work. With a fairly straightforward list of needs and a quick timeline, we migrated the new website to the block editor and a lightly customized theme that puts their information front and center.

Bigger Boat

It’s always fun to build a site for a company that you also collaborate with. That was the case with Bigger Boat Consulting! Having previously collaborated with this Salesforce consultancy that specializes in working with human services and housing nonprofits, I was happy to help them modernize their website! Converting it to the block editor, streamlining page content, and pulling in a new set of cohesive icons was a blast, and their site’s worth a visit just to hover over the logo… 😉

BIPOC ED Coalition of Washington State

I was so excited to get to work with the new BIPOC ED Coalition of Washington State. They came together early in the pandemic to support organizations led by BIPOC EDs and call attention to the systemic underfunding of organizations that support BIPOC communities in Washington state. They’re investing not just in advocacy, but in supporting time off and self-care for EDs that are desperately in need a break. Rest and healing can be a radical act!

Building on a small DIY website put together in the early days of the organization, I collaborated closely with Pyramid Communications and the co-founder team to build this dynamic website. (This site even spawned its own WordPress tutorial blog post!) With the organization quickly growing, the site was built to support future expansion. The project also streamlined the site’s forms and mailing lists to significantly reduce back-end administrative work. I can’t wait to help grow this site in 2022 and beyond!

Amara Adoption Openness Assessment

Another not-full-website shout out goes to the Amara adoption openness assessment tool. Built through a King County Best Start Kids grant administered by 501 Commons, this tool grew out of ground-breaking research by Amara staff and a University of Washington researcher about the relationships between adoptive parents and their children. This new tool helped visitors assess their approach to that relationship and connect them with valuable resources to strengthen it.

WCAAP

Last but certainly not least, the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (WCAAP) was another Best Start Kids grant-funded project. Serving pediatricians and other pediatric specialists across all of Washington State, this website needs to quickly connect WCAAP members with the critical information they need to support the work of improving healthcare for children and their families. New design, new writing, new site structure, and improved site building tools have set this website up for easier management and new successes for WCAAP and its members!

Thanks to every person this year who was a partner in collaboration, contributor to an organization I worked with, or supported my work in any way big or small. I love the network of people and causes my business interacts with and supports.

And the best part is that I get to look forward to continuing to support every organization on this list in 2022 and beyond!