It’s almost Arizona Gives Day! April 6th kicks off 24 hours of online giving to benefit local non-profits, brought you by Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits and Arizona Grantmakers Forum. AZ Gives.org brings local non-profits and their missions to one online location, making it easy for donors to find and connect with a non-profit that fits their passion. Since its inception in 2013, Arizona Gives Day has raised over $23 million dollars for local non-profits!

Arizona Gives Day is just 24 hours…is your website ready to handle a large influx of traffic? Here are a few things you can do to get ready to make sure every dollar makes it to your bottom line.

Check Your Security

When you type in your URL, does it begin with “https“? If not, your site is not secure. Update your SSL certificate to ensure that:

  • Your site is safe for visitors’ information
  • Visitors can actually make it to your site. Several search engines will block unsecured sites from being viewed
  • Your SEO is the best that it can be! Google Ranking Factors depend heavily on security

Update

Be sure that your site is completely updated. Look for platform as well as plugin updates – all of which are visible from your WordPress dashboard. Even a small, out-of-date section can cause headaches.

Check Hosting

Contact your hosting service to confirm that your site is able to take on a high amount of traffic. The average website takes 3 seconds to load and more than half of visitors will leave if it takes longer. Be sure that your hosting can handle increased traffic and still load quickly.

View on Mobile

Because more than half of internet users view sites on a mobile device, it’s essential that your site loads quickly, completely, and is easy to navigate from a mobile device. Check that all of the menus and contact forms are visible and easy to use and that your images are optimized for mobile.

Test

Check your contact forms to be sure that they are working. It’s as simple as going to your site and filling out the form to make sure that form notifications are getting to your inbox.

Hammersmith Support Can Help

It’s not too late! If you need help with your site, we can help. Visit our Calendly link to schedule a free 30-minute consultation and we can talk through your concerns.

Are You a Member of an Approved 501c3 Organization?

Hammersmith Support is currently accepting applications for our newest pro bono client!

Who Is Eligible?

While we always work to support our local businesses, this project is aimed at those doing the most for our community – nonprofit organizations. Any charitable organization that is an approved 501c3 and has an existing WordPress website is eligible! We know so many organizations have been negatively impacted by the pandemic, and we want to help you.

How to Apply

We’re excited to learn more about your organization! Click here to complete an application. We will be accepting applications through Sunday, March 28th. We will meet with finalists and select our new client the week of March 29th.

One of the foundational aspects of Hammersmith Support is to give back to our community. In addition to serving with our time and treasure, we also strive to serve with our talent. Each year, Hammersmith Support selects a nonprofit and provides our maintenance services pro bono for the next year. During this time, we’re able to get their website updated not only on the “inside,” but we’re also able to make content changes and add infrastructure that benefits the users as well as the organization in so many ways.

We have enjoyed working with our current pro bono client, #LoveUp Foundation, and we are excited to begin the process of selecting a new nonprofit to work with!

What Our Client Will Receive

Our newest pro bono client will receive 1 year of Hammersmith Support maintenance. This includes:

  • Site backups and live staging copy maintained
  • Security scans and malware prevention
  • Site optimization
  • Full site test each month
  • Submission to Google Search Console
  • 2 hours of content updates monthly – update images, wording, service packages, about us pages, add or update donation forms, etc. This time can also be used to add additional features to your site!

Who Is Eligible?

While we always work to support our local businesses, this project is aimed at those doing the most for our community – nonprofit organizations. Any charitable organization that is an approved 501c3 and has an existing WordPress website is eligible! We know so many organizations have been negatively impacted by the pandemic, and we want to help you.

How to Apply

We’re excited to learn more about your organization! Click here to complete an application. We will be accepting applications through Sunday, March 28th. We will meet with finalists and select our new client the week of March 29th.

We’ve Got You Covered

Not a nonprofit, don’t worry! Our amazing maintenance packages are available to everyone any time. Connect with us via our Calendly link to book your free 30-minute consultation and let’s talk.

Our founder, Heather Locke, has been nominated for the 2020 Arizona’s Finest for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation! Arizona’s Finest honors the most accomplished, innovative, and emerging leaders and business professionals. The honorees are given the chance to highlight their commitment and professional achievements in the community while raising awareness for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

About Arizona’s Finest and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Founded in 1955, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s mission is “to cure cystic fibrosis and to provide all people with the disease the opportunity to lead full, productive lives by funding research and drug development, promoting individualized treatment, and ensuring access to high-quality, specialized care.” Arizona’s Finest fundraisers are held over the course of two months and in each state. The goal is to bring together a community through the tapping of individual fundraisers.

Heather’s Involvement

First introduced to the Arizona’s Finest fundraiser through Casey and Teresa Strunk, Heather was intrigued by the style of fundraising.

“Giving back to our community is so important to me. So much so, it’s at the foundation of Hammersmith Support. Being honored as one of Arizona’s Finest to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is such an honor – and I’m excited to continue to give back in a new way.”

How You Can Help

Each honoree is asked to raise $2,500 with a group goal of raising a minimum of $25,000 during their two-month campaign! Heather would be honored if you would consider making a donation to her page for this amazing cause!

For more information about cystic fibrosis and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, visit their website at www.ccf.org.

This week we’re excited to showcase a Hammersmith Support client, Rancho Feliz, and the amazing work they are doing in our community and across the Mexican border. Rancho Feliz is a nonprofit organization that provides the much-needed services of basic necessities and education for children and families in Agua Prieta, just a four-hour drive from Phoenix. Their philosophy is unique in that their work is thought to change the lives of volunteers at least as much as it does those of the recipients of the services.

Rancho Feliz has been hit hard by the pandemic. The inability to hold in-person fundraisers has lessened the amount of funding available. At the same time, the pandemic has negatively impacted the border towns they serve. Even through adversity, Rancho Feliz is committed to providing for the less fortunate.

Enlightened Self-Interest

Put simply, enlightened self-interest means improving the quality of your own life by serving those not born into the same circumstances. Rancho Feliz’s volunteers travel to Agua Prieta to assist in building and renovating homes for families in need. The process yields a life-changing event in providing reliable and consistent shelter for a family, as well as a life-changing event for the volunteer to fully experience what some live with on a daily basis, simply because they were born into different circumstances.

“We don’t believe in welfare. We believe in the dynamic principle of keeping the integrity of the human spirit foremost – and our maverick approach is unlike any other.“

Education

Rancho Feliz formed an educational alliance with two fully accredited, private bi-lingual schools in Agua Prieta: Colegio Americano Anais for kindergarten, elementary, and junior high and Colegio Benemerito de Las Americas for high school. Rancho Feliz also provides opportunities to sponsor University students. The schools rely on donations and the funds are meticulously monitored in order to maximize their impact.

Reciprocal Giving

We love this infographic that Rancho Feliz uses to visually explain how their programs work.

Want to Help?

Website: https://ranchofeliz.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RanchoFelizCharitableFoundation

Contact:
7109 E. 2nd Street, #100
Scottsdale, AZ 85251

(602) 538-9192

Hammersmith Support Can Help Your Business or Nonprofit

We helped develop the current Rancho Feliz website and we still maintain it several years later! Thinking it might be time for a website upgrade for your business or organization? Schedule a free consultation to get your questions answered and let us tell you how we can support you.

At Hammersmith Support, one of our core values is to give back. Every year, we choose a local charity to assist through website support services, pro bono. Our goal is to further their mission by enabling their online presence to be everything it can be.

#LoveUp Foundation

Our current pro bono client is the #LoveUp Foundation. This Phoenix-based charity is a “jack of all trades” when it comes to assisting children in the foster care system. We use that phrase because of all the amazing services #LoveUp Foundation offers to children in foster care. Their services range from entertainment at a Diamondbacks game, to holiday parties complete with an overwhelming amount of gifts for deserving kids, to supporting teenagers as they “age out” of the foster care system. These teenagers are thrust into the real world with little support and the #LoveUp Foundation is happy to help them get the supplies they need for a new home, job opportunities, and more.

Why They’re Needed

The #LoveUp Foundation has an ever-growing population of kids who need help. Why’s that? Because the stats on children in the foster care system are staggering:

  • Over 438,000 children are in the foster care system across the United States
  • 20,000 children annually “age out” of the system at 18 years old
  • 1 in 5 of those children will experience homelessness after the age of 18
  • Fewer than 3% of foster children earn a college degree
  • 1 in 4 children in foster care will experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

How You Can Help

It’s hard to read those stats and not wonder how to get involved! #LoveUp Foundation has several ways for us to do so. They’re always in need of monetary donations, but you can also volunteer at an event for the kids. Your business can participate in the Arizona State Corporate Tax Credit, which is a dollar for dollar credit to the donor. And maybe the easiest way to help is to purchase a #LoveUp Foundation t-shirt, the proceeds of which go towards funding the various projects that #LoveUp Foundation is working on. Not only does this help underwrite the costs of the foundation, but it also helps to spread awareness about #LoveUp Foundation, which is critical in supporting this valuable charity.

Want to learn more about our commitment to service in our community? Click on over to our Giving Back page to find out our “why.”