A charity portal built on a solid foundation

4 April 2022

The David Wilson Foundation is a registered charity aimed at supporting individuals, groups and community organisations across the East Midlands.

It was established by residential developer Wilson Bowden plc founder David Wilson CBE to support schemes that build skills and confidence to help people reach their full potential and enrich the lives of others.

Wilson Bowden, which included David Wilson Homes, expanded over the years until the group was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1987. The PLC business was later sold to Barratt Developments plc in March 2007.

Wilson Bowden plc was one of the most highly regarded in the housebuilding sector. The Group was actively involved with university research, particularly in the areas of build and technology, sustainable development and environmental issues.
In July 1995, David Wilson set up The David Wilson Foundation, which he and his family personally funded. The foundation has supported many organisations over the years.

An enhanced online presence

Quiet Storm was tasked with upgrading the charity’s website to hone its message, simplify the way applications are submitted and processed, and promote its aims to a broader audience.

As well as enhancing the design and navigation of the website to create a more straightforward user journey, we also created new content to reflect the foundation’s vision and values and encourage more applications.

The website is built using our bespoke content management system, a simple and intuitive dashboard that makes it easy for admins at the foundation to add new content, images and pages to the website.

Various third parties had managed the foundation’s website over the years, and one of the first things we were required to do was track down who controlled its domain name and register it correctly. We also put the systems and processes in place to ensure it auto-renews correctly. Its records are stored centrally so that the foundation has easy access to this essential information in the future.

Visibility & credibility

Sophie Wilson, David Wilson’s granddaughter, said:

“Our new website really reflects who we are and what we stand for, which has helped increase our visibility and credibility, and makes it much easier for our people to access the information and support they need.”

“It’s made an enormous difference to the way we present ourselves. We provide financial support to many different individuals and organisations across our operating area, so bringing it all together in a single hub that signposts people to the information they need has really helped.

“Having a clean, modern, and easy-to-navigate website makes it much easier for people to access the information they need.
“The team at Quiet Storm has also been amazing at providing all the advice and training we need to get the most from the website, which has resulted in a lot more traffic to the site.”

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