Herd Open to Change Brochure

How open source technology and Drupal CMS can help non-profit organisations

open tochange?how open source technology and Drupal CMS can

help non-profit organisations

© 2011 | Herd | www.herdcomms.com

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contents 2

what is drupal?

what is drupal? 4drupal features 5who is drupalling? 7

why drupal?

it’s easy to use 9drupal is open source 10good seo, built in 11digital marketing integration 12it’s highly scalable 13

drupal for non-profit: case studies

general purpose drupal 15drupal for community building 17drupal for campaigning 19

contact 21

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what isdrupal?

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a powerful open source website development platform

what is drupal?

Drupal is a free, community-built website development tool.

It allows you to easily create, update and manage a website without requiring a lot of technical know-how. Drupal uses a point-and-click interface to let you add pages, menus, images and file uploads and it enforces security, so you can apply permissions to different kinds of users.

As your website grows, it's easy to add custom features from the thousands of free modules you can download. Drupal is highly regarded as one of the best website frameworks available and is rapidly gaining adoption all over the globe. *


some drupal facts

• started in 2001• 500,000 developers• used by more than 300,000 websites• over 11,000 modules to choose from• award-winning CMS 3 years in a row

*source: www.drupal.org

drupal features

Drupal's flexibility handles countless content types including video, text, blog, podcasts, and polls with robust user management, menu handling, real-time statistics and optionalrevision control.

Drupal comes with many tools to help you organise, structure, find and re-use your content. Categorise with taxonomy, automatically create friendly path URLs, create custom lists, associate content with other content on your site, and create smart defaults for content creators.

create content

organise & find

Drupal comes with great options for new user accounts and user permissions. Users can be assigned one or more roles, and each role can be set up with fine-grained permissions allowing users to create and view only what the administrator permits.

administer

Drupal's focus on social publishing can help you create sites and applications to help your users express their opinions and engage with one another. You can have tight control over who can create, view, administer, publish and otherwise interact with content on your site.

collaborate



Build internal and external-facing websites in a matter of hours, with no custom programming. No need to start from scratch every time you build a new site, either. You can utilise a multi-site configuration or choose a Drupal distribution (installation profile).

Drupal's presentation layer allows designers to create highly usable, interactive experiences that engage users and increase traffic. Use an existing Drupal theme for your site, giving it an instant identity! If you can't find one you like, try designing your own.

build

design

With more than 11, 000 available modules, the vast majority of your site's requirements can be addressed with Drupal core and available add-on modules. Focus your efforts on building great websites, not re-creating features available elsewhere.


extend

Drupal makes it easy to connect your website to other sites and services across the web, using aggregation, feeds, and search engine connection capabilities. Social networking integration is also widely supported to help you engage with a wider audience.

connect


drupal features

who is drupalling?

corporate

non-profits


With over 300,000 installations, Drupal is one of the most popular, fast-growing content management systems in the world.

It is being used by a wide range of civic organisations, from the UN to the Whitehouse, and large brands such as The Economist and eBay. Social networking company Twitter has recently built its developers' website in Drupal. Here are a few examples of organisations who are currently Drupalling.

open to change | why drupal? | 08

whydrupal?what’s under the hood?

it’s easy to useDrupal’s content management admin panel is truly easy to use – over 650,000 Drupal account holders can’t be wrong!

Drupal stores content in an easy-to-understand system with clear labelling so all content is named and easily accessible. This, combined with the user friendly admin interface means that any member of staff will have no trouble editing the site. We can also provide a manual and CMS training so staff are equipped to use the system. All of this means that ongoing updating and maintenance costs are kept to an absolute minimum.

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2.drupal is open sourceAs an open source system, the Drupal CMS is freely available for any developer to use.

This brings with it several compelling advantages:

• Constantly evolving add-ons: the system issupported by a community of thousands ofdevelopers who are always improving thecurrent modules and contributing newmodules as technology evolves. This meansthat Drupal is always expanding, and whateveryour needs, chances are there will already be amodule out there that can be freely used.

• No license fee: because Drupal is based on anopen source software stack, there are no license fees for using the CMS or anyassociated software needed to run and host awebsite.

• Quicker implementation: because most ofthe modules needed are already in existence, the time and cost to implement a Drupal CMSinstallation is much less than a bespoke-builtsystem.


good seo, built in3. Drupal comes with good search engine optimisation out of the box.

The Nodewords (in Drupal 6) and Metatags (in Drupal 7) modules make it easy to add pagetitle tags, metatags and search engine-friendly URLs via the admin interface.


digital marketing integration

4.Drupal integrates easily with wider digital marketing channels such as search, email and social media marketing.

A vast range of modules is available to support your needs, whether that’s newsletter management or integration with social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.


5.it’s highly scalableAs your needs change, your website needs to be robust and flexible enough to cope with any further requirements that may arise.

As Drupal is a modular platform, it is highly scalable, meaning you can add new functionality as technology evolves.


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non-profitdrupalthree Drupal case studies from the non-profit sector

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in a nutshell...

A Drupal-based website to enable the 500 artists in ACAVA’s studios to learn about ACAVA’s services and network with each other online.

features

• CMS with multiple admin user roles• Members' login area• Blog feed integrated with Twitter and Facebook

general purpose drupalClient: ACAVAWebsite: www.acava.org

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1. general purpose drupal

We were commissioned by arts-based charity ACAVA to overhaul their current web presence and create a bespoke social networking platform for their artists.

The site features a full content management system which allows ACAVA to update information about their network of artists’ studio buildings, community projects and exhibitions via an easy-to-use interface.

The ACAVA blog allows them to publish news updates to the site, which are automatically pushed to their Twitter and Facebook channels.

Client: ACAVAWebsite: www.acava.org

they say...

Drupal makes managing and showcasing our content so much easier than what we had before – we now have complete control over our blog, rich media content, e-newsletter and integration with our social media channels.

duncan smith, artistic director,acava.

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in a nutshell...

Platforma is a social network that helps refugee artists and organisations to showcase their work and collaborate online.

features

• Artist profiles• Facebook-style wall, friending & status updates• Collaborative groups with media uploading & forums

drupal for community buildingClient: Refugee CouncilWebsite: www.platforma.org.uk

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2. drupal for community buildingClient: Refugee CouncilWebsite: www.platforma.org.uk

Created for the UK Refugee Council, Platforma is a bespoke social network that helps organisations and artists exploring refugee experiences to showcase their work and collaborate online.

The site is built in Drupal and allows artists to create profiles, collaborate in project groups, share media and post status updates on a Facebook-style “Wall”.

Platforma also features an events calendar, media gallery, news section and regional hubs pages that aggregate all of this content for each region in the UK.

they say...

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Herd have created a fantastic social network for us that helps refugee artists and organisations to collaborate and showcase their work online.

almir koldzic, head of arts & refugee partnership, refugee council


in a nutshell...

A Drupal microsite that pulls together 6 different campaigns around the millennium development goals.

features

• Campaign signups• E-actions• Campaign toolkit• Online petitions

drupal for campaigningClient: BondWebsite: www.mdgeconomicjustice.org

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3. drupal for campaigning

This Millennium Development Goals campaigning microsite was created in collaboration with Bond and the development NGOs ActionAid, the Fairtrade Foundation and Traidcraft.

The site is built in Drupal and pulls together information and campaigning tools from six separate economic justice campaigns, such as ActionAid’s tax dodging campaign and the Robin Hood Tax campaign. Each of the campaign managers can post updates on their campaigns, embed videos, add e-actions and online petitions, and gather subscriber information to add to their mailing list.

Client: BondWebsite: www.mdgeconomicjustice.org

they say...

Drupal is a powerful campaigning tool. It allows you to create e-actions, blogs, donation platforms, petitions, collaborative advocacy documents: pretty much anything you need to engage people in your campaigns.

julius honnor, online content editor, bond

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about herd

Herd is a digital communications agency based in London, UK. We

design, build and support powerful

Drupal websites that help non-profit

organisations to create active

communities around their stakeholders.

t:w: e: a:

follow us on twitter @herdcomms

For further information about how we can help you get started with Drupal, drop us a line or visit our website.

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thank you for reading...

0207 837 [email protected], spitfire studios, collier street, london n1 9be

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Herd Open to Change Brochure