Racker Center

Racker ``Supporting people with disabilities``

Racker’s vision began 70 years ago when the founding families came together and said, “We don’t want our child with a disability to be in an institution. We want them to be at home and to go to school with everybody else. ” The school was originally founded as the Cerebral Palsy Association of the Ithaca Area. By 1963, the school had grown and changed its name a few more times before settling on simply, Racker. Today, the slogan “We envision a world where all people know they belong” has helped many lives of the disabled, their families and the special needs community.

KEYSTONES:
Fundraising, Development, Branding and logo, Technology, Digital Marketing, Consultation
WEBSITE:
Racker Center

Business Need

Racker is nonprofit that supports the special needs community through counseling, therapy, educational academic services. Clinical services and therapies, educational therapies, (occupational support, speech, language), as well as behavioral and financial support.

The scope of the project was to design a new logo creating a new color palette and to build a website customized to their needs. While they had an existing website, they needed to get more out of it. They especially needed a way to promote their vision through a more cohesive message designed to promote fundraising and strengthen communications and community outreach.

Key Challenges

Deep dive discovery process was needed in order to formulate a plan and create a sense and feel of the direction of their branding, logo, and website
Manual communications and other outdated operations consumed staff and faculty time and needed automation
The school’s events needed to be highlighted, organized, and easily accessed
The community of parents and alumni needed a place to connect and communicate
Needed a special section for alumni donations and special events

Solution

Sanmita conducted a thorough discovery process that allowed the team to gain a clear understanding of the school’s history, culture, mission, etc., so they could develop their marketing strategies, new branding and logo, and a user-friendly customized website.

The website needed to work well with all members of their staff and community so that they could retrieve information, access content and form stronger communications which strengthened and elevated engagement and participation.

Results

Increased community presence through activities and targeted engagement.
New branding and logo design resulted in a clean, polished and professional feel that was well received.
Special sections organized student spotlights, forms, applications, calendar of events, and creative content.
Special parent portal was created to strengthen communications among community members, faculty, and staff
Sanmita recommended website content to keep users engaged such as blogs, links, and other special interest resources
Increased website traffic with seamless user engagement