SilverLiningRiding.org
Charitable WordPress Development
For 10 years, Silver Lining Riding has championed the therapeutic effects of animal interaction on emotional, psychological, educational, and physical obstacles. In their equine-assisted learning facility, participants are able to develop, heal, and have fun with the help of the horses and the staff.
The Client
For the last 10 years, Silver Lining Riding has been utilizing the innate bonding power between humans and animals to help people thrive. The registered charity offers equine-assisted learning programs to individuals and families in the West Valley of Arizona. They are a 501(C)(3) Corporation and are sustained via contributions from various donors.
Their CHA (Certified Horsemanship Association) certified instructors work with participants through all stages of life, through ages 4 to 90. Through their programs, events, and volunteer opportunities, members of the community can interact with the horses and staff to help grow and enrich their lives.
The gentle demeanor of the horses help people build confidence, develop life skills, and refine their movement and communication abilities. Over the years, the staff and volunteers have been able to assist participants with a range of obstacles, like autism, PTSD, cancer, blindness, and more. Silver Lining Riding is also the proud host of Special Olympic events, in which their students participate, as well.
At Glendale Designs, we believe that supporting people in building essential skills will enrich the lives of everyone in the community, and it’s how society successfully develops. It is this belief that led Glendale to working with Silver Lining Riding. We were able to use our skills and resources to enhance the SilverLiningRiding.org website – our small way of giving back to the community.
The Site
Design
The original Silverliningriding.org website had plenty of images of the horses and riders, and a lot of great information. But there was no doubt that the site was dated and the code was outmoded. In order to give the organization the platform it deserved, we offered our development services.
The new WordPress website offers many new images and some of the prior impactful images, in a more contemporary and stylized manner. The large, high quality photos of the horses, volunteers, staff, and participants help to give the viewer a true feel for the spirit of the programs. The images interact with the design of the site in a way that allows the user to experience them without detracting from the importance of the written content.
Features & Functionality
The new site design is also now better able to support features that are critical to the success of the operation. Donating to the organization is a smooth and transparent process with plenty of options on how you’d like to support. From choosing the type of donation (goods, services, volunteer or monetary) to the specific direction of your donation (like hoof trims or student lessons), you know exactly how you’re able to help.
Users are also able to ensure they stay up to date with the events held by Silver Lining Riding via the interactive calendar found on the Events page. The events directory is linked directly through Google to the Calendar app, providing absolute ease of scheduling and planning.
Responsivness & SEO
On a technical level, the site code has been updated to modern standards. With new coding, internal structuring, and technical SEO, the organization will be able to enjoy increased visibility and relevance in search engine results.
This will also allow for greater compatibility with different web browsers and devices. Specifically, the site was enhanced to a responsive format. Now properly viewable on all devices, Silverliningriding.org has greater accessibility, important for their specific audience.
Accessibility & Compliance
To further that accessibility and reach the standards of ADA and WCAG compliance, our partner AccessiBe teamed up to volunteer their services. AccessiBe’s quick-access interface automatically opens the site up to more users without any additional work on behalf of the organization staff.
While accessibility is especially important to the participants of the programs at Silver Lining Riding, privacy compliance is equally important for the status of the charity. In order to continue serving their community, we needed to ensure that Silverliningriding.org was up to date on privacy and disclaimer compliance. This was easy with the help of another Glendale partner, Termageddon.
By implementing Termageddon privacy policies and disclaimers, we were able to assure that the nonprofit website remains safely within the bounds of online privacy compliance.
Glendale Designs humbly thanks our partners AccessiBe and Termageddon for donating their services in the process of rebuilding the Silver Lining Riding website.
The Result
Glendale Designs is proud to have had the opportunity to contribute to this organization. The new Silverliningriding.org has a modern professionalism that speaks to the growing history of the charity. With 10 years behind it and many more ahead, the site now looks appropriately mature and polished while still highlighting the cherished horses, staff, volunteers, and participants.
From The Client
Gregg Brown, SLR Board President
“Silver Lining Riding was looking to up its game when it comes to marketing. Although Silver Lining Riding had a website which had been functional for several years, it was not really comparable to what most people would consider a professional corporate website. Yes, we are a family oriented organization and pride ourselves on this, however, when potential customers are looking for a company that can serve them, they are going to want to see a company that is professional first and foremost.
When James and Sabine approached us about helping out, we were ecstatic! We are a volunteer organization which has no real expertise in this area. Glendale Designs took the time to get to know our organization and values before beginning so that our new website would reflect who we are, not just what we do. As we were no experts, they showed remarkable patience with us as we slowly made decisions on the content. Their suggestions always came with a “why” not just saying, “You should do this”. That made all the difference for us since a lot of things we never even thought of were brought to light.
In the end, Glendale Designs created for us an absolutely professional web site which reflected who we are and what we offer. I believe it has already drawn customers to us even in this time of quarantine. We can never really thank them enough for all they have done.”
“Glendale Designs took the time to get to know our organization and values before beginning so that our new website would reflect who we are, not just what we do.”
Teri Johnson-Kelley, Board Member
“James and Sabine came onto the ground of Silver Linings one afternoon seeking information about our organization. They shared with me that in the past they had assisted another organization and really wanted to help ours. I shared our mission, what our volunteers have opportunity to do and how we help our clients.
As we discussed further, they shared their unique set of skills in website building. At a recent board meeting, the Board of Directors had discussed the desire to update and upgrade our website to make it more user friendly, inviting and interactive. The reason they connected with SLR became apparent immediately.
Within just a few weeks, a team composed of members of the board and volunteers joined forces with James and Sabine and began an overhaul of our website. James and Sabine have shared much learning, business language and skills with the team. They have donated countless hours and most importantly their expertise and love for helping others. It was clear from the beginning that these amazing humans were put in the right place at just the right time to assist our organization on this journey. We are very grateful.”
Cindy Davis, SLR Board Secretary
“It was obvious from the beginning of our Website Committee’s work with Glendale Designs that James and Sabine truly care about our organization. Their goal was to make Silver Lining Riding’s new website reflect our essence in a consistent, professional format, and they did exactly that!
They helped us navigate design choices, protective software, and formatting that we never would have known about or thought about on our own. James and Sabine were the perfect match for Silver Lining Riding – they are calm, friendly, knowledgeable, and reliable! We are so happy with our new website!”
James and Sabine are both truly a dream to work with—their passion for creating the best product comes through in every interaction, in every suggestion, and in every conversation. The passion and patience was incredible—I can’t imagine working with anyone else. James’ patience blows me away, he’s always there to answer a question, resolve a problem or just to cheer us on. We can’t thank them enough.
Stefani Wong