Case study · Hemi Tech project
A foundation that had to explain itself to a donor in under a minute.
Start Walking Foundation is a Hemi Tech project. We declare it as our own work rather than presenting it as independent client work. It is included here because the constraint was real and the build is public.
Start Walking Foundation
Non-profit
Web platform
The problem
Small foundations are read quickly and sceptically. A programme officer opening the site wants to know what the organisation does, where it does it, who runs it and whether the money is accounted for, and it wants all four before deciding whether to keep reading.
The material existed. What it lacked was an order: the work was described at length before it was described at all, and the things a donor checks first were the things furthest down the page.
A donor does not read a website. They audit it, quickly, looking for reasons to stop.
What we built
A structure that front-loads the answerable questions: what the programme is, who it reaches, where it operates, and who is accountable for it. Everything a first-time reader needs is above the fold; everything a serious reader needs is one click behind it.
Built on the same terms as any client site: light pages, no framework, no stock photography, and content the organisation can edit itself.
The first minute planned deliberately
What the organisation does and who it serves, stated before anything is elaborated.
Accountability made visible
Governance and reporting reachable rather than requested by email.
Built for the phone
Most visits are mobile, frequently on a poor connection. The page weight reflects that.
Declared as our own
Listed as a Hemi Tech project wherever it appears, never as arms-length client work.
The result
The site is live and the first screen now answers the four questions a programme officer asks before deciding whether to keep reading. Load time and enquiry figures are not published here: this is our own project, and we are not going to quote numbers about ourselves that nobody independent has checked.
How it looks
The capture below is the live site as it loads today. It is a real screenshot of real work, not a mockup.
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