A web site for Irlen Syndrome Education Europe

As a new charitable organisation, Irlen Syndrome Education Europe (ISEE) is dedicated to achieving its mission of raising awareness of Irlen Syndrome. Irlen syndrome is a difficulty with visual perceptual processing and is not an 'eye' problem. It affects well over half of autistic people but also occurs in approximately 15% of the neurotypical population. A key part of the charity’s strategy is establishing a digital presence to help raise awareness. With limited resources, the Board of trustees recognised the importance of a website to achieve this and link their social media profiles.

 Michelle Lansdowne, the CEO of ISEE had volunteered with the Scottish Tech Army (STA) on a number of projects in the past and was aware of the fantastic work the organisation was doing to support charities. ISEE decided to approach the STA for help with building its website. As a charity with limited resources, having access to the technical expertise of STA’s volunteers was critical to the successful delivery of the website. Michelle was particularly impressed with the quality of work that had been delivered for other charities in the past. The low cost of the STA hosted website, combined with the support provided by the STA’s volunteers, were also important factors that influenced their decision to go with this solution.

Working with the STA, ISEE was able to access a pool of technical expertise to deliver the website project, which it would not otherwise have been able to access.  A comprehensive marketing brief ensured that both parties had a clear vision of what the site needed to look like and do for the charity. 

While the website build process was quick, the go-live process took several months as ISEE wanted to ensure the content was right for each target audience. Working with volunteers offered the team the flexibility to do this whilst not running up mounting costs.

Since the launch of the website, ISEE has been able to reach a wider audience and communicate with its target audience more efficiently. The website allows it to run email campaigns and social media posts, increasing its reach and making its efforts more effective. Moreover, the website positions ISEE as a credible organization with a real digital presence. One of the key benefits is that the ISEE team can add, change, and customize content easily and quickly, all from one platform.

Talking to our volunteer, Erdo Erdogan, it was clear he was equally pleased with the project approach and outcomes. Erdo said “volunteering with the Scottish Tech Army was a great chance for me to help ISEE while I improved my own skills. I learned a lot about ISEE and Irlen syndrome during the project and working in the STA community I had chance to meet with other developers”.

The team at ISEE loves the design of the website, finding the ability to update pages really straightforward and the megamenu approach (a feature offered by Wordpress). The STA’s volunteer ran a training session and was always on hand to answer any questions the ISEE team had, making the process smooth and efficient.  Its experience of working with the STA was great, with Erdo, their fantastic volunteer, always providing technical expertise and turning around feedback quickly. In ISEE’s view, it could not have asked for a better experience and the team was delighted to work with the STA to establish its digital presence.

The new web site has positioned ISEE as a credible organization with a real digital presence and has allowed it to communicate with its target audiences from one single platform. It can now run email campaigns and social media posts, and can add, change, and customize the content of the website as it requires. The ISEE team is thrilled with its new website, and loves the design, the megamenu approach, and the ease of use of the CMS. They appreciated the guidance and support they received from STA’s volunteers throughout the process.

In summary, ISEE’s journey to establishing a digital presence with the support of the STA was a successful one – with a clear brief in place, it was able to create a website that positions it as a credible organization, communicates with its target audience efficiently, and is easy to use. The CEO of ISEE highly recommends STA to other charitable organizations looking to upgrade, update, or create a new website.