Our Approach
A nonprofit organization’s (NPO) digital consulting needs are unique. As an NPO, your primary mission is fulfilling a charitable, humanistic cause. This uniqueness requires a customized research and design approach which we’ve developed specifically for NPOs.
Inclusivity
Everyone from agency influencers to service recipients share valuable perspectives and experiences that are a result of their involvement with your NPO. For that reason, we’ve customized our design process to be strategically inclusive in nature so that lines of communication remain open for sharing and capturing key insights to be used in your NPO’s design decisions.
technology
It’s so easy to get caught up in fulfillment of your NPO’s mission without dedicating time for reflection on how common agency processes could be made more user-friendly and efficient. Our approach is focused on analyzing your NPO’s current processes and making recommendations on how technology could make running your NPO easier.
compassion
Your NPO specializes in supporting a charitable cause, and by virtue of this mission your members interact with your target population and other organizations that are often times in sensitive situations. We acknowledge and embrace this in our design approach to ensure that your members and target population feel respected and are always shown in the most positive light.
Our Process
We’ve crafted a design process that has proven to be valuable to NPOs. We combine user-centered design (UCD) methodology with a deep rooted passion for understanding the needs of those impacted by your NPO’s mission.
research
Our solutions start with getting to know your NPO’s problem space. We interact with the target populations and users, look at comparative organizations, and document every valuable discovery revealed along the way to fully understand what your NPO’s solutions needs to support.
strategize
A solid strategy defines how your NPO’s goals will be accomplished. This includes developing research-based interaction diagrams and models, prototyping versions of solutions, and exploring various aesthetics. By the end of the design process, we provide a clear picture of what the solution will look like and what it will do.
This is where the real fun begins. At this phase, your NPO’s solutions come to life during product generation. All of the planning, research, strategy, and design efforts begin manifestation into live, viable, and usable interfaces.
Implement
After the build, we subject the solutions to comprehensive usability and quality testing to eliminate bugs and ensure that they are meeting the expected requirements. After all known bugs and issues are eliminated, we deliver the shiny, new product to your NPO.
Maintain
A structured maintenance plan including critical technology updates will be instrumental in identifying opportunities for continual improvement of your solutions’ security and overall user experiences. We maintain your product over time to ensure that its levels of security, usability, and effectiveness are sustained.
NPO Success Stories
I am the Director of Chicago Standdown, an organization which has been active for 20+ years. We were in need of a redesign and redelivery of our website. Our experience with Forte Mente has been exceptional. They transformed our online presence and website utility far beyond our expectations. From comparator research, to conceptualization, to interaction and visual design, branding, and building the website in WordPress, Forte Mente did it all. Also noteworthy was their response time to emails and phone calls, and their ability to translate our ideas into action. I would highly recommend this company for your digital needs!
I am the the Founder and President of New Era Veterans of Chicago, an organization that provides support to US military war veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’re a relatively new organization and we needed a website built from the ground up. We were referred to Gabe with Forte Mente LLC. He immediately took ownership of the project and presented website concepts to us, allowing us the opportunity give feedback so that he could begin building our website. Gabe generated nearly all of the text content that is on the website, and graphically treated all of the images to make them just right for our needs. He then built a clean and intuitive website that we use to publish information about our organization and events. He also built us an online donation terminal that has since proven effective at gaining donations from the organization’s supporters. I recommend Forte for your website work!
Return on investment
You can expect an ROI in the form of intuitive and seamless solutions that will improve your NPO’s business processes, streamline its operations, and enhance its digital presence.
Forte Mente LLC
540 N. Dearborn St., #10546
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 415-5652
info@fortementellc.com
We’re ready to connect and happy to answer any questions regarding how we can help your nonprofit. Fill out the form to the right and we’ll contact you to discuss your needs as soon as we are able. Thank you for your interest in Forte!