Harmen Steele's Portfolio
Donate.net - www.donate.net
I have been the Information Technology Specialist for Donate.net for the past 4 years. My main role has been to maintain the web application and server. My other duties have included:
- Desktop and network support for a small office (less than 10 people)
- Office equipment maintenance, including printers, fax machines, copiers and the telephone system
- Creation and preparation of printed marketing materials used mainly as mailers and trade-show pamphlets
- Continual technical and desktop support for more than 400 clients
Donation Selector - www.donate.net/splash.asp?dept_id=6
The Donation Selector is the main product of Donate.net. When I joined the staff, the Donation Selector was built on Microsoft Commerce Server 2.0, Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 and was very rigid in it's construction. The few customer-account management pages that the system offered were very basic and not user friendly.
I had conversations with many clients about the pros and cons of using the Donation Selector I spoke with them about changes that they would like to see made to the system. Then, using ASP, COM and Microsoft SQL Server 2000, I rebuilt the donation selector. Built using web standards (XHTML, CSS, DOM), the new Donation Selector is faster, more agile and customizable per client. The new system is also section 508 compliant, an important feature for our clients who receive federal funds and must be sensitive to people with disabilities and section 508 compliant. Features can now be adjusted on a per client basis giving some clients a very basic solution and others more advanced options.
Since rearchitecturing the Donation Selector, Donate.net has continued to increase the number of nonprofit organizations that use us. Donate.net has also been able to adapt to market changes and client needs cheaper and easier than before. An additional revenue stream has been created by allowing us to charge clients for custom options and custom management reports.
Any-A-Thon - www.donate.net/xathon/ahs/signup.html
After speaking with the Atlanta Humane Society, the Donate.net team discovered a need for a participant-based fundraising tool. The idea was to take door-to-door event pledging online.
I designed and implemented an organizationally customizable solution that allows a participant to sign up and customize pledge forms. The participant can then use the system's management screens to send pledge emails to potential donors, track pledges made by credit card, check or cash, and send reminder emails.
The Any-A-Thon has been used for more than ten fund rising events in the last three years. It has helped to raise and track more than $200,000 in donations for these events. Previously, event organizers would have had no idea how much money their event was going to raise until the day of the event. With Any-A-Thon they now have a window into how pledges are going.
Save the Music Auction
Veritas Inc. approached Donate.net about providing the payment component for the VH1 and American Express Save the Music Auction.
I created an online payment solution that received bidder information for the top three bidders from FairMarket (the auction company). The system would then email the winning bidders with payment instructions. If the wining bidder did not claim his or her auction item with the time limit, the system would notify the runner-up that he had an option to purchase the item. Upon successful completion of payment, the bidder's information was sent to a fulfillment house for shipping.
Veritas, FairMarket, Donate.net and the fulfillment house were able to integrate into a single solution. Working together we were able to pass information between components while appearing as a seamless single process to the bidders.
HERO for Children - www.heroforchildren.org
HERO for Children started as a small group of University of Georgia students supporting children effected by AIDS. They then decided to grow the organization post graduation. They had ideas about what they wanted the web site to look like, but no computer experience to convert their ideas into a fully-functional web presence.
After consulting with them about their preconceived ideas for the site, I set to work leading them through the process to create a workable design. Through facilitating the process of their needs combined with how they wanted we reached consensus. To make updating the news on the web site easy for the client, I used a copy of WordPress as a content management system.
By taking the time to talk with them and work through their ideas, I was able to arrive at a solution that excited the client.
Lady Strength - www.ladystrength.com
Lady Strength, a small women's networking group, needed an online community. The web presence needed to incorporate a calendar, message board and other group news features. They had a logo and a few ideas of what they wanted the web site to look like, but they had no budget.
By integrating some open source solutions, I was able to combine a bulletin board and a calendar into a custom site for Lady Strength. The pictures from the front page of the web site pull from a single directory. When the page loads, random pictures are pulled from the directory and then rotated. This gives the client the ability to manage the pictures on the home page simply by managing the pictures that are in this directory.
Implementing some open source solutions, I was able to minimize the cost of the web site while maintaining the quality of the product and achieving the client's goals.
RTx Inc. - www.rtxinc.com
RTx, an event planning company, needed an online presence. They wanted the site to be built in Flash so it would "move" but at the same time be easy to update.
I created a set of basic resources, that included a few text files and a set of picture directories. Then I created two matching web sites, one in Flash and one in HTML, that drew from these resources.
By creating these resources, the client can now easily update the text by changing the text file and add or delete pictures by changing the images that are in the directories. The ease of this solution allows RTx to update their web site on a regular basis without having to hire a web master to make routine edits.
I also installed a small office networking solution for RTx. This solution included a small mixed network of five computers, networked printers and scanners, and wireless capabilities.
