Drupal4Development provides incubation space, architecture consulting, site building, and training to social change projects globally. It builds on top of open-source technologies (LAMP servers and the Drupal content management framework) to provide a variety of powerful websites to share stories and engage constituents.

Problem

Websites and online communities are expectations, not luxuries, for organizations of all sizes, from community-based organizations to regional and global non-governmental organizations. They are the first impression for most donors and partners.

Solution

The market cost for website development is out of reach of most organizations. D4D limits the services it provides to build ecomomies of scale using replicable recipes for common websites to drive costs down. It builds in an incubation period for the organization to receive training and seek funding to host the site independently.

Example

D4D offers affordable website development within tightly constrained boundaries. The package includes initial consultation, information architecture, and the site build. After the build, there is a 6 month incubation period (which includes free hosting and ongoing site support and maintenance). During the incubation period, a series of training sessions take place to ensure a smooth hand-off of the website and its hosting.

Marketplace

There are thousands of website development shops which provide highly customized experiences. For any organization that can afford that level of work, D4D is not the best option. D4D is tightly aimed at providing a "serving-sized" website built on enterprise-class software for globally affordable pricing. By explicitly excluding expensive time-sinks, a complex website can be built in weeks instead of months.