Definition of Success
How we'll know the project worked, in MOWP's own terms
These criteria came from the MOWP team during discovery. A year after launch, this is what "it worked" looks like:
Online donations have increased
More people giving through the site, with fewer drop-offs along the way.
The site is easier to update
Staff can make routine content changes without developer involvement, with less hunting and less fear of breaking something.
Fewer internal complaints
Staff spend less time fielding "how do I update this?" and "why does the site say that?" questions. The people who work with the site daily notice first.
Modern and approachable feel
The site looks current without chasing trends, and it still feels like MOWP.
Fewer visitor complaints
People find what they need. Less confusion about where to go, what to click, or which Meals on Wheels site they're on.
Donors stay on-site
The donation process happens on mowp.org rather than bouncing visitors to an unfamiliar third-party page partway through giving.
How we'll measure this
Some of these are numbers and some are felt. The final step of a donation happens in Blackbaud, while the site measures the path leading into it.
Before launch we'll capture the baselines available from the legacy site's analytics and Blackbaud reporting: traffic, giving-path starts, completed online gifts, and search visibility.
The qualitative baseline is the Problems We're Solving list from discovery. A year in, the practical test combines the available numbers with what staff are hearing: whether those complaints have faded, whether routine updates take less effort, and whether new points of confusion have replaced the old ones.