Know what to build before you build it.
Most website projects go over budget for the same reason: the organization chose a solution before it understood the problem. A discovery engagement gives you an independent, technically grounded view of where your digital platforms stand, what they should do next, and what that will realistically cost.
Is this you?
Signs you need discovery, not a rebuild
Your website has grown for years without a plan, and nobody is sure what’s still used.
Staff work around your systems with spreadsheets, copy-and-paste and manual follow-ups.
You’re preparing a funding request, board presentation or RFP and need a scope you can defend.
Vendors are telling you different things, and you want an answer from someone with no stake in it.
Discovery
What a discovery engagement covers
01
Current-state assessment
We review your content, structure, platform, hosting, security, performance, accessibility (against WCAG 2.2 AA), analytics and integrations, and document what’s working, what isn’t and what’s at risk.
02
Input from the people who use it
We interview staff, leadership and, where it helps, your members, donors or customers. A website that serves the board’s priorities but frustrates the people updating it every day won’t last.
03
Platform recommendation
Keep, improve, migrate or rebuild. We lay out the options and their trade-offs in plain language. Sometimes the right answer is that you don’t need a new website.
04
A phased roadmap
Priorities, dependencies, budget ranges and a sequence your team can actually carry out. It’s written so you can drop it into a funding application, a board report or an RFP.
Deliverables
What you receive
- A current-state assessment report
- Prioritized findings and recommendations
- Platform options with costs and trade-offs
- A phased roadmap with budget ranges
- A presentation to your leadership team or board
Independent
Why an independent technical view matters
We build and host systems ourselves, so our recommendations account for what something costs to run over five years, not just to launch. And you’re under no obligation to hire us for the build. A roadmap is only useful if it’s honest.
Planning a project or preparing an RFP?
Tell us what you’re trying to decide.