San Francisco based Web design company Marker Seven develops new Web site for the non-profit education group, San Francisco Education Fund (Ed Fund). Marker Seven is conscientious about working on projects that have a positive impact on the community; the Ed Fund Web site project is a way for Marker Seven to use the skills of their industry to support the community. The site has become an open avenue of resources, a forum for sharing ideas, and a way for the community to get and stay involved in education.

The new site, www.sfedfund.org, is designed to play an integral part in supporting the relationship of San Francisco school teachers, students and the community. “The Ed Fund is an important group, and their Web site reflects the role they play in the educational support of San Francisco schools. Marker Seven takes seriously the opportunity to work on a project that makes such a big, positive difference for children,” comments Marker Seven founder John Clauss.

The Ed Fund’s Lori McGilpin has rave reviews for the positive changes that came with the new Web site: "Marker Seven helped bring the Ed Fund into the 21st century. We went from having a website that was easily overlooked to having an award-winning interactive resource that is an invaluable tool for educators, students, and community members."

Since 1979, the Ed Fund has been a bridge between the classroom and the community. The resources that the Ed Fund makes available through www.sfedfund.org allow the community based non-profit to continue its work to improve the San Francisco public school experience.

In addition to their philanthropic nature, supporting education holds a special meaning for Marker Seven, as the management team has educators in their families and were instilled from a young age with a respect and understanding of the power of education. With this in mind, working with the Ed Fund is of special importance and brings great joy to Marker Seven.

To provide an effective and efficient way to engage all the Ed Fund audiences, technology is maximized on the Web site. Marker Seven developed a customized web-enabled database for the redesigned site that remains user friendly. By taking a hands-on role in project management, the Ed Fund was able to outline its needs without needing staff to be technically trained. Keeping in mind the end users will be school children as well as parents and teachers, the design and flow of the site is easy to navigate as well as attractive.

Marker Seven included a simple way for the Ed Fund staff to access and update the information, and Marker Seven built a custom MySQL database to support their event calendar and document repository requirements. The San Francisco Teaching and Learning Community Resource Center, the site’s resource library, is now an online tool for all San Francisco educators, students, and community members, containing more than 300 downloadable sources. Learn more about the site at www.markerseven.com/portfolio/case-study/sfedfund or visit www.sfedfund.org. Marker Seven continues to work with San Francisco schools. They are currently designing a microsite to feature the Maisin Scholar Award for San Francisco School Alliance.

www.SFEdFund.org Highlights

• Ed Fund received a 98% increase in online donations since the site launched in October 2005.
• During the first three months after the launch, visits to the home page increased by 58%, and visits to pages within www.sfedfund.org increased by 35%.
• In the last six months, there have been over a million hits to the www.sfedfund.org site.
• Continuing their work since the initial award winning Web site, Marker Seven designed and built the teen-targeted Web site and resource database for the Ed Fund’s Peer Resources program, www.peerresources.org, and the Thank a Teacher Today campaign microsite, www.thankateachertoday.org.
• The Thank a Teacher Today campaign was met with a great response, receiving over 40,000 hits since going live this April. It was accessed by visitors from more than 30 countries.
• In conjunction with the Thank a Teacher Today campaign, the Ed Fund Web site hosted a Share Your Story feature where the community could write and submit stories about their favorite teachers; the Parent Toolkits and posters are popular downloads.
• The Ed Fund Web site promotes their Leadership and Professional Development Grants program; it is a primary source of information for the education grant application process. In the month of February, before the application deadline, the LPD Grants information page had almost 2,000 hits.
• Supporters of the Ed Fund include the San Francisco Giants Community Fund, who sponsored the new online version of the San Francisco Teaching and Learning Community Resource Center.
• In November 2005, just one month after the launch of the new Web site designed by Marker Seven, the Ed Fund won the Carmen A. Sarnicola Award for Excellence in Communications, a national honor awarded annually by the Public Education Network.

About Marker Seven

Marker Seven is a full-service digital agency. Established in 1999 and headquarters in San Francisco, Marker Seven is comprised of a cross-disciplinary in-house team of analysts, architects, designers and developers. The agency provides both online marketing and business solutions which allow companies to build brands and streamline operations. Marker Seven helps clients ranging from leading regional businesses to Fortune 500 companies create memorable digital experiences by guiding them through the full life cycle of a project. Among the award-winning agency's clients are such premier global brands as Pearson Education, Disney, IBM, Blue Shield, Ghirardelli Chocolate and more. For more information visit www.markerseven.com

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