Arnold Ventures

Arnold Ventures is a philanthropy dedicated to pressing problems in the United States, with a focus on four key issue areas: criminal justice, education, health, and public finance. With a team of more than 100 subject-matter experts headquartered in Houston with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., the organization seeks to drive public conversation, craft policy, and inspire action through education and advocacy.

The Challenge

Arnold Ventures launched their current website in 2019. Shortly after launch, their design partner reached out to Clearfire about continued support of the website. Because of Clearfire’s experience with Craft CMS and our ability to provide design, development, strategy, and ongoing support services, we were a great fit for Arnold Ventures’ long term needs.

Through our retainer services, we now provide Arnold Ventures with design services, custom development, consulting, audits, SEO evaluations, accessibility performances and more.

The Solution

Every website needs ongoing maintenance and iterative improvements.

For all ongoing services, Clearfire strives to be proactive. Instead of waiting for a to-do list from our clients, we look ahead and prioritize services that will be beneficial for your site. We offer expert recommendations as well as partner with you to complete new initiatives that you conceive.

In addition to site updates and maintenance, two of the projects that Clearfire has executed for Arnold Ventures in the last couple of years include a custom intranet and new site search tool:

1. Like most offices, Arnold Ventures had to transition to remote work when the COVID pandemic emerged. The organization needed a way to effectively share information internally. Their antiquated intranet at the time was clunky and difficult to access. Clearfire custom-built an intranet using Craft CMS, which has many capabilities similar to their main public site but is completely private. Now the team can share anything from calendar events to new company policies, even if they’re working remotely.

2. Clearfire implemented a new site search tool that is powered by a third party service called Algolia. With Algolia, you can create a powerful search platform with a real time search and dynamic search filters.

After years of operation, Arnold Ventures now has thousands of pieces of content that live on their website. Algolia allows a user to find specific pieces of content much more efficiently – with more accurate results related to your search.

Because technology is rapidly changing, websites need to be updated continuously after launching. With Clearfire’s up-to-date knowledge on best practices, we are able to steer organizations toward their goals and better serve their users with constant improvements to functionality, features and design.

The Result

Since we’ve been working with Arnold Ventures, there have been many iterative changes to their website, which has led to improvements in engagement, traffic and funding.

Being a busy marketing team focused on the organization’s mission, Arnold Ventures relies heavily on Clearfire to ensure their website remains performant. Updating a website, publishing new content and adapting features are all crucial to keeping an audience engaged, and Arnold Ventures appreciates Clearfire’s responsiveness to their needs.

Clearfire’s continual monitoring for traffic surges or site instability gives their team peace of mind. In rare cases when an issue arises, we typically have it resolved before users even realize it.

With Clearfire’s expertise in ongoing design and development, we help bring marketing ideas to life. Our support allows our clients to dream big. Continuous website improvements coupled with implementation of innovative initiatives means that our clients can reach new markets and further their mission.