11 October 2007

We're currently in a weekend message series where the focus is serving. And the church makes no apologies in this area - encouraging everyone to find their niche and plug in.

It should be no surprise that the website has always had a volunteer page - there to help people find that niche and get involved. However this page hasn't always worked well and wasn't always user-friendly. It has been worked and reworked over the years. But it wasn't until this series that we really took it to the next level.

Opportunity: Completely rework the volunteer structure from the back end (Fellowship One database) to the front end (website and print materials) in time for the weekend message series on serving.

Solution:

• Weekend Message Series: Serving focus
• Information Architecture: all serving opportunities grouped into eight simple "buckets" named so they make sense to the person looking for the opportunity rather than the department providing the opportunity
• Database Structure: Volunteer opportunities entered in Fellowship One to match the Information Architecture
• Print piece: one handout created displaying the eight serving areas - capable of being used long term and also being printed during the serving series with a stub for submitting volunteer interest areas
• Web: Volunteer page redesigned to match all of the above with new interface for quick viewing of the eight areas with two levels of information - bullet points upon rollover and more detailed information with "I'll Try It!" button after one click

This turned out to be one of my favorite projects. Not because it's flashy or cutting edge, but because it streamlined a process that means a lot to the church. It reduces barriers to serving and fixes a clunky part of the website. Good job team.