Project Overview
Housing Resources of Western Colorado is seeking a vendor to redesign, build, and deploy a new website for our organization. The selected vendor will design a new website that allows us to connect with various target audiences, allowing them to identify and review the information they need. The new website must be client focused, allowing new and existing clients to find their way to the programs that best suit their needs and current housing situation. Additionally, this site will play a key role in attracting new donors, grant makers and staff.
Organization Overview
Housing Resources for Western Colorado is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit that serves renters, homebuyers, and homeowners across 15 counties in Western Colorado. Our mission is to advance equitable housing and healthy communities through education, empowerment, development, and preservation. Our services include:
• Housing counseling & education
• Home rehabilitation lending
• Affordable rentals
• Weatherization services
• Self-help/sweat equity home building
Not all services are offered across our entire service territory. Where we do not provide a specific service, we try to connect residents with other organizations who can assist them.
Many of our services are provided at no charge to our clients, although we do have some fee-for-service offerings. We are funded through grants, donations, sponsorships and fees generated by some of our services.
Website Audience
• Clients (returning and new)
• Board of Directors
• General public
• Grant makers
• Donors/Sponsors
• Job seekers
• Other community partners
New Website Objectives
The primary objectives of our new website will be to:
• Provide an easy route for navigating to program information, starting with the client as the focus
• Provide secure and easy client data and document collection, at least through initial intake phase for all programs
• Clearly demonstrate what we do and who we serve
• Highlight program success stories
• Allow donors to make donations easily and securely
• Highlight donors and sponsors
• Provide information to other stakeholders
• Represent our brand, mission, and vision clearly
Current Website
Navigation:
HRWC’s current website is not organized with our clients in mind. The navigation and menu terminology used make it difficult for the audience to figure out how to get where they need to go and discover the services we offer. There are redundant menu items such as “Upcoming Events” and duplicative or confusing pages such as “Careers” and “Employment Opportunities,” which add to the complexity of navigating around the site. Some important pages such as job opportunities and donations are buried in the menu, making it difficult to find them.
Look & Branding:
Imagery is not well utilized, and current photographs do not represent our brand, clients, activities, or service area effectively.
Mission, Impacts & Story Telling:
Although our mission statement is presented in a primary position on the homepage, the other elements of our website do not effectively highlight our success stories.
Updates & Additions:
Making updates, especially to the homepage is clunky and unintuitive. For example, it is difficult to update the yearly impacts section of the home page, and so these are out of date. Other areas of the website such as the “News” section have not been maintained and so lack relevant and up-to-date information.
New Website Functionality Requirements
• Easy navigation for clients and stake holders
• Clear presentation of program information
• Easy for staff to update
• Multiple site admins/editors
• Multiple communications options directly from the website
• Secure donations option, or ability to direct donors to donation portal
• Easy, secure, and common intake form for client data collection
• Easy and secure document collection
• Board and employee portal options
• Integration or easy navigation to outside portals or tools
• Desktop, tablet, and cellphone friendly layout
• Compatible with screen readers
• ADA compliant
New Website Wish List
• Integration with online classroom portals
• Multiple language options
• Ability to accept online payments
• Ability to RSVP/sign up for events
Ecommerce Details
• Ability to take occasional donations
• Potential to take online payments for fee-based services in the future
Reservation of Rights Notice
- Housing Resources of Western Colorado reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, to waive any informalities in the RFP process, or to terminate the RFP process at any time, if deemed to be in its best interest
- Housing Resources of Western Colorado reserves the right not to award a contract pursuant to this RFP
- Housing Resources of Western Colorado reserves the right to terminate a contract awarded pursuant to this RFP, at any time for its convenience upon ten (10) days written notice to the successful proposer
- Housing Resources of Western Colorado reserves the right to determine the days, hours and locations that the successful proposer shall provide the services called for in this RFP
- Housing Resources of Western Colorado reserves the right to retain all proposals submitted and not permit withdrawal for a period of sixty (60) days subsequent to the deadline for receiving Proposals without the written consent of the Housing Resources of Western Colorado Executive Director
- Housing Resources of Western Colorado reserves the right to negotiate the fees proposed by the proposer entity
- Housing Resources of Western Colorado reserves the right to reject and not consider any proposal that does not meet the requirements of this RFP, 5 including but not necessarily limited to incomplete Proposals and/or Proposals offering alternate or non-requested services
- Housing Resources of Western Colorado shall have no obligation to compensate any proposer for any costs incurred in responding to this RFP
