Habitat 4 Humanity Website as an Information Superhighway

In 2007, Habitat for Humanity of Lee County had grown to become the largest Habitat affiliate in the world, based upon its production on a local and global level. Hundreds of volunteers, donors and homeowners had become active with our mission, but got lost when trying to navigate our information online. We needed a simple site with extensive information, fast! That’s when we received Adobe’s CS3 software. In 2008, I attended a class locally about the product to get a better understanding on how to use the program. Shortly after, I structured an entirely new website for our organization using InDesign. I was then able to import these files into Dreamweaver and create navigational tools for users.
Today, everything you see on our website was created using Adobe CS3 products. The buttons were created in Illustrator and Photoshop, the videos with PremierePro, Audition and After Effects. The slideshows were created using Photoshop and Flash. Every brochure, newsletter, annual report and advertisement shown was created using Illustrator for designs, Photoshop for adjustments, InDesign for layout and Acrobat for posting. Since our organization has become reliant upon Adobe, the compliments from around the country keep pouring in. From other Habitat affiliates to volunteers and donors, many have noted how simple and informative our site has become.
“Your newsletters and website have a professional quality that caught the eye of our Executive Director. Everything is very easy to read and to navigate through and is something we would like to model our own affiliate after,” says Director of Communcations Jamie Cataldo, with Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas County.
By remodeling our website with Adobe products, we've increased our traffic from 300 hits a week to more than 15,000.

Many of our donors and volunteers are seasonal residents and volunteers. Our new website has allowed these participants to become interactive with us and remain involved and up-to-date with our operations from afar.

This new website has allowed our affiliate to keep the nation informed on our innovative housing solutions. Our county leads the nation in foreclosures and unemployment. With this, our Habitat affiliate has had to change our housing methods over the last year to accomodate the economy. With the change in our operations, the range of our clients also shifted. Our website has been one of the key components in reaching the world with our new ideas. Since going online with these additional operations, the website has drawn in real estate officers and customers wanting to hire Habitat for work.

At least a dozen other Habitat affiliates have started to implement these same programs they have found on our website. The new, simple design for habitat4humanity.org has truly become the center hub for all of our operations and is one of the most inviting pieces of communication out there. This site is an information superhighway that has helped transform Habitat for Humanity affiliates worldwide.