To help reach new, ambitious fundraising targets and support a wide-ranging re-brand, we designed and built a new website for Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Why does this matter?

Dementia is the biggest killer of women in England and Wales and affects over 830,000 people in the UK, and an estimated 35 million people worldwide. It’s a growing concern. Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) is the leading dementia research charity and is working to find a cure for this devastating disease.

A website that’s worthy

We were set a challenge: To build a website that reflects the scope of Alzheimer’s Research UK’s work and strengthen their position as a leading source of health information and dementia support.

It is a particularly exciting time for ARUK  – not only are they running a £100m Defeat Dementia campaign, but scientists have recently identified a molecule that delays the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. These advancements saw a need for a rebrand and a new site to match the magnitude of their work.

The strategy and technology

• We implemented a new, seamless donation journey, giving ARUK the ability to tailor call-to-actions across the site.  Supporters are able to make online donations, sign up to attend events or find information on how to set up a fundraising initiative.
  
• Mobile fundraising is growing, so we made sure text giving was featured prominently throughout the site, especially for mobile users.
• Our research showed that compelling stories and sharing knowledge was crucial to gaining new supporters and donations. The website empowers ARUK with custom layouts to tell these stories.
• Google Analytics was implemented to track donations and measure the success of campaigns. ARUK can also track the income from the website and explore which content drives the most donations.
• A new section called Do Your Own Fundraising was designed to increase fundraising income as well as push direct donations. The new dynamic events calendar and map offers users a chance to filter opportunities to suit their interests. The events map enables supporters to easily locate where events are taking place and how to get there.
• The homepage and “action centre” highlights key activities that people can get involved with. This gives supporters more options to support in a way that suits them – whether that be through fun runs, cycling or corporate fundraising events.
• ARUK staff members can effortlessly manage the “Our Research” section with options to tag, categorise, and feature certain projects in the carousel. Users can easily search and filter research projects that interest them and find out more about various grants available to scientists.
• We worked on the pages and analytics for the hugely successful Share the Orange campaign, which was shared over 370,000 times in just over two weeks.

The new website isn’t just beautiful, it allows ARUK to communicate their aims in an engaging way, and encourages supporters to help achieve a world free from dementia. By working closely alongside multiple stakeholders, and using a variety of research and design techniques, the new site has proved to be a huge success both internally and externally.

Donations have risen, content is more discoverable and the overall awareness has increased. 

The hard work may not be over for Alzheimer’s Research UK just yet, but we’re proud to have played our part in finding a cure for dementia.