Our task was to produce a visually appealing and functional website that met the increasing needs of the organisation. As you can imagine, the organisation has some powerful stories to share with the world. There is a whole community on the East Coast of Australia that is involved in rescuing, caring and rehabilitating turtles, seabirds and sea snakes. When someone finds an injured or stranded animal, they bring it to the local Turtle and Seabird Rescue Hospital knowing that the 40+ volunteers will take good care of the poor creature. Often people also want to donate to the hospital and its operations, they want to learn what they can do to help and of course, they want to know what happened to the animal they brought. A website is a great medium to tell the story of a rescued animal but also about the amazing people behind the scenes.
We also learned the improved website significantly increased the fundraising potential of the organisation. Within 6 months of the website being online, the organisation has received over $200,000 in donations so far.
The increased income allowed ASR to carry out a long overdue capital works program to extend the capacity of their turtle hospital and improve the filtration and quality of the water they’re using for their patients. With the completion of these works, the capacity of the hospital will increase from 30 patients to 40 and they will be able to build the first specialist treatment area for sea snakes.
The improved web design and subsequent increase in funds will also allow ASR to install audio visual equipment in their education centres to enhance the experience for visitors with hearing and mobility issues. They will also be rebuilding their aviary and refurbishing their education centre to allow for a disabled toilet, new presentation materials and increased office space.