The Situation
Camp Swoneky, a Salvation Army affiliated organization, offers special camping experiences to boys and girls aged 6-12 as well as specialized sessions for men, women, senior citizens and single-parent families. Located near Cincinnati, Ohio, the camp serves about 1500 campers annually. New programs are developed continuously to meet emerging social needs. In addition, facility changes are regularly required to meet the needs of new programs as well as support the continuation of existing programs.
With this level of activity, the camp has found itself with extra fundraising needs. To do that, they initiated a program of promoting the camp using billboard advertising in the vicinity of its Ohio location, and included a referral to the camp web site. To attract more donations, camp management also wanted to project a highly professional image that would encourage donors to support Camp Swoneky.
The Solution
The Camp Swoneky staff hired Lou Mercurio of Mercurio Assoicates, Inc., a graphics design firm, to redesign the campıs web site to reflect a highly professional image, depicting the activities and values of the camp. In addition, they wanted to provide encouragement to donors right on the site, and an easy means by which users could download special forms and information related to making donations, and could also link to the Salvation Armyıs secure online donation page.
Mercurio Associates designed the graphical look and feel for the site, and they partnered with AcroVision Business Systems, Inc. to build the site. With under 20 pages, the site did not require an expansive or highly scalable solution. It primarily required good performance and good presentation of the graphics on all browsers and types of computers.
Implementation
AcroVision worked closely with Mercurio Associates to organize and streamline the graphics to achieve the best balance of performance and visual effectiveness. Several approaches were tried and refined until the best approach - best performance, best visual effect, and easiest to implement - was found. The site also was developed using straight HTML code for the greatest efficiency in performance. AcroVision also made modifications to the web site home page for the Southwest Ohio Northeast Kentucky Division of the Salvation Army.
The Final Result
As a result of increased fundraising activities Camp Swoneky reports plans for some major facility improvements. Camp Swoneky has announced plans to build a new infirmary. The camp has also announced plans to replace some cabins. These substantial improvements would not have been possible without projecting a professional image and providing an easy means for supporters to donate money. The web site has, at least in part, contributed to the successful fundraising that has made these improvements possible.
