Website Development and Design

CHALLENGE

Website development and design with capabilities to lessen staff burdens

For over thirty years, Musicopia (formerly Strings for Schools) has provided music education programs to thousands of Philadelphia area school-aged children, immersing them in a cultural experience they would otherwise not enjoy.

This non-profit organization has experienced tremendous growth, becoming the largest resource for music education programs on the east coast. Such growth put a strain on company infrastructure, including the existing outdated website. Musicopia committed itself to the design and building of a new website and called Ferrante & Associates.

SOLUTION

Developed automated functionality

Ferrante responded by streamlining and automating as much as possible, to increase the effectiveness and the empowerment of each employee. To address the ebb and flow of not-for-profit funding, Ferrante proposed a modular and staged development for Musicopia’s new website.

This project went far beyond the traditional concept of a website, as it provided a comprehensive set of tools allowing Musicopia to run a ‘virtual’ business. Musicopia utilizes over 100 of Philadelphia’s finest musicians to conduct over 700 programs annually in order to meet the needs of area schools. The challenge is that staff members work in separate places, with no central office location. The website provided Musicopia and its musicians with a vital communications tool, enabling real-time scheduling so musicians could log on and review their upcoming schedules at any time. This web function greatly decreased staff time on tedious administrative duties, so more time can be spent on assisting schools with advancing their music programs.

Online staff communication, collaboration and management and tracking of fundraising efforts were facilitated by the new website. It not only provided Musicopia’s staff with a platform to perform a broad range of business functions, but it became the primary vehicle for Musicopia to communicate with its constituents.

Ferrante also assisted Musicopia in accomplishing its mission by providing online tools such as MS-Access integration, which helped to simplify and control technical tasks for non-tech savvy employees.

RESULTS

Goals Met

Musicopia’s website was an information ‘cornucopia,’ complete with online forms, online musicians’ calendar, password-protected areas for both schools and musicians, online donation faculty, information request fields, and even downloadable music and video files. By assessing the needs of the organization and proposing a fully integrated solution, Ferrante & Associates helped Musicopia optimize its website to focus on the organization’s long-range strategic goals.

This partnership helped Musicopia bring a higher level of service to the schools and communities it served, to succeed in giving the gift of great music to thousands more students every year.