Five Jars

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Digital Program Director for Open Y and YMCA of the North. Open Y focuses on digital transformation for the YMCA movement and YMCA of the North serves the Twin Cities and beyond in Minnesota, USA in fitness, childcare, camps, equity, and more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Five Jars, and what were your goals?

We have worked with FiveJars on many projects over the years, but I would like to focus on the United Health Group Equity Innovation Center Timeline. The Equity team came to Open Y with a challenge of how to deliver their best in class in person as a digital experience during COVID-19. All of their clients went from in-person to online overnight, and they needed an option to deliver their content to their clients in an impactful way.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We selected this vendor because we knew the quality of their work, that they had a great, comprehensive team in place that understood not just how to develop the experience, but how to work with our design team to bring it to life. Additionally, they are competitively priced to be able to work with Drupal development.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a kick-off meeting to develop the project. The development team asked clarifying questions to provide back-end solutions, reviewed the provided prototypes, to be able to deliver the final project. We developed the project in Drupal 9.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Our main point of contact was the project manager. We also had 2 full-stack developers and a quality assurance team member ensuring the project ran smoothly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The client was very pleased with the results and the personal and professional impact it has on their clients.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had weekly standups with the project manager and lead developer. If there were items that needed answers in the meantime, we used Basecamp and Slack to communicate.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

This company provides a full package of work - they take the time to understand the problem and goals before moving onto solutions. They look at a project holistically to determine the best path forward and execute on it well.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Initially, there were some questions on the burn-rate. The project manager responded quickly to provide complete transparency into the workload.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the success of children and youth with disabilities and/or gifts and talents. I am their digital content manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Five Jars, and what were your goals?

We needed to do a complete redesign of our website which was built on a very old, proprietary CMS. Fivejars helped us to make a new website which enabled us to better promote and leverage our content using responsive-design a flexible and aesthetically pleasing design which is device-responsive. We also needed to bring in over 40+ microsites.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We selected Fivejars because of their demonstrated knowledge of the Drupal platform and their attention to detail. We felt they directly and thoughtfully addressed our goals and challenges, and provided realistic and well constructed timelines and plans to get us to where we needed to be.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

After an initial kickoff planning meeting, we went through a thorough design review process using Adobe XD. After that, used Basecamp and Slack to document progress and provide feedback/direction where needed. Although the scope of the project grew a few times, Fivejars was able to launch phase 1 of the site with minimal delay.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked primarily with Alex Schedrov (CEO), Michael Ivashchenko (Project Manager), Dmitry Drozdik (Technology Strategist) and Andrew Berezovsky (Team Lead).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

2020 was an interesting year but from an analytics perspective, traffic (pageviews and sessions) stayed about the same between the old and new website. Session duration increased and bounce rate decreased. Qualitatively speaking, we've gotten a lot of feedback from users that the new site is much cleaner and easier to use/navigate.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Working with an international partner can be a challenge but Fivejars made it easy for us. We had weekly checkins during the development which were extremely helpful. Issue tracking is done in Basecamp. Team is great about communicating timelines and executing them.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their work ethic and attention to detail are unparalleled. They put a lot of thought into their proposals and have a great ability to take the "big picture" into account when making recommendations.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We've had a few communication interruptions but they are always quickly resolved and have never affected the timeline of a deliverable.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief advancement officer at the YMCA of Greater Omaha, which has about 10 branches expanding into 12 across the Omaha area. We offer youth sports, active older adult programs, swimming, community outreach, and much more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Jars?

We have about 65,000 members and 25,000 children who play sports, and our e-commerce on our website was not very strong. We received a lot of complaints about membership renewal and difficulties in registering for games. We needed someone to help us improve our site’s UI/UX.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Five Jars conducted improvements on our website’s UI/UX, layout, and navigation. They allowed us to choose the design and style we liked, and they personalized it for our organization. They also helped us with SEO, Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance, and everything else related to the website. 

The site is now up and running, but Five Jars is providing continued support. We are keeping them on a retainer to troubleshoot and solve any issues that we may encounter post-launch. 

What is the team composition?

We communicated and coordinated with three people, but there are more working behind the scenes. 

How did you come to work with Five Jars?

Our parent organization had a resource for developer partners that we can use and vet. I placed an RFP, and Five Jars came back with the strongest proposal. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent probably $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in March 2020, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our operation has been affected by the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as we bounce back, with the help of the website we’re now surpassing our 2019 business levels. Additionally, we’re receiving accolades and notes of thanks from appreciative parents and members. 

How did Five Jars perform from a project management standpoint?

They are excellent at project management. We normally communicate through Zoom virtual meetings, but we also have some phone calls and use Basecamp. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Five Jars provides excellent customer service and attention to detail. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I am just happy working with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would definitely consider working with them because they’re a strong team, and I would have them provide not just one-off projects but continuing support as well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the digital lead for a wellness organization's virtual network. We developed a content platform for all of our associations in the US, Canada, and Europe. 

We create content such as exercise classes, cooking, and other video-on-demand (VOD) content, which people can watch on a computer, television, or mobile device to allow them to take part in wellness activities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Jars?

We contacted Five Jars to help us build and manage a CMS, one of the main components of our content platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Five Jars built our CMS through a Drupal system from the ground up, and they are currently managing it. It allows an administrator to add content and reference our content library. They built an on-demand piece that allows users to watch and take advantage of our videos. They recently finished completing a steaming component, which allows our partners to do live-steam sessions. We'll be launching that next week.

The CMS they built is very robust. They created a lot of components, including the administrative and security pieces. They established a Proof of Process (PoP), which is a workflow that goes from us to the association. There are some self-service options involved as well as a custom feature, where our partner associations can do their own customizations within the platform.

What is the team composition?

They have a team of developers, but I mainly work with Andre (CTO) and Michael (Project Manager). We have constant communication and meet on a weekly basis, if not twice a week.

I also have monthly meetings with Alex (CEO) to catch up and review the progress, verify the status, and confirm how everything is going. 

How did you come to work with Five Jars?

When I came on, Five Jars was already working on the firm’s CMS. I started working with them. Since then, we've grown the CMS and expanded it by adding the new live-stream feature.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve been using them for quite a while, and we’ve spent around $100,000–$250,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in July 2020 when I joined the company, but they'd been working together for about a year before that.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I’ve measured the timeliness of the delivery, the cost, how well they meet the requirements, and how their work performs. We’ve created the right requirements and set expectations on when they’re going to deliver by and if they can do that. Overall, I’ve been really impressed by the work. The team has done a pretty amazing job building the livestream component. There are a lot of components to it, but it's just really great for the users and for the association.

How did Five Jars perform from a project management standpoint?

The engagement has gone really well, despite the fact that being in a different country and time zone can be challenging. We’ve been able to meet with them and communicate over Basecamp. Five Jars has been extremely available when we need them, and they’ve done great work. Moreover, they’ve done it pretty quickly. Their team has exceeded my expectations in terms of how fast they’re able to deliver some of their work. The quality in which they’ve delivered has impressed me as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have several impressive qualities. Both the quality of Five Jars’ work and the team collaboration have been phenomenal. They don’t just take directions and orders. The team provides their thoughts, ideas, and ways of doing things that we might have not thought of. They also think about the product and the best way to do it. To me, that is a huge factor, because I don’t like working with order-takers — I like people who want to collaborate, and Five Jars is very good at it. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

That question is tough when you’re having such a good experience. For me, it’s about being able to communicate. The fact that they’re in a different country with a 10-hour difference could be challenging, but it’s working pretty well for us. They’ve been delivering on time.  You can’t fault them for where they are. We’ve been able to connect with them and get the work when we need it. For an outsourced relationship like this —and I’ve done a lot of them—, it’s actually working pretty well. 

Any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend them. If you’re willing to bring in an outsourced partnership with a company in a different country, I’d recommend Five Jars. They work fast and produce high-quality work. If you’re a startup or a company that wants to get things out in the market quickly, you want to work with a firm that can deliver that with good quality. If you can get that combination, it’s really good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital manager at the YMCA of Greater Rochester. I work in the marketing, communications, and IT department; we merged all those departments and report them to the CMO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Jars?

We have several services in our business, but we’re primarily a membership organization that consists of facility and gym usage. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, we had to shift gears and turn ourselves into a digital resource for our members. We started to publish more online content, so we were relying heavily on our website and digital media. Therefore, we wanted to have a consistent and solid online presence.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Five Jars took over the hosting and management of our website. The site was built on WordPress and it was a custom template from a previous developer. They were able to seamlessly migrate it to a new hosting platform and get rid of ongoing issues that we had for some time. 

Another project that we’ve done with them is the virtual YMCA website that we spun up through them as a subdomain of our current site. Currently, they provide support and updates to our site.

What is the team composition?

We have a relationship manager who is our main point of contact; we talk to him 80%–90% of the time. We see the payment breakdowns and financials with Alex (CEO). Additionally, we work with Dmitry (COO), who serves as the developer lead with a team working with him.

How did you come to work with Five Jars?

The relationship and the quality of the work from our previous vendor weren’t on the level that we expected. We kept on noticing red flags, and we wanted to avoid having the same issues all the time. We looked for new premiere partners for our Open Y movement, our digital customer experience platform. We talked to several candidates. Eventually, we felt the most comfortable with Five Jars, so we decided to move forward with them as our digital development partners.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $25,000–$50,000 with them so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Not too much has changed in terms of UX, but with the virtual YMCA, I can certainly say that every visit that we’ve had wouldn’t have existed without Five Jars. They allow us to build a whole new digital aspect of our business that is truly a resource for our members; I believe that’s something our affiliates are extremely grateful for in these COVID-19 times in particular.

How did Five Jars perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicate via Basecamp. That's been very helpful because everything is transparent and accessible at any time and from anywhere. We also share emails and have Zoom meetings where we talk face-to-face and share screens; it’s been hassle-free and a breath of fresh air for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re professional and deliver as expected. We don’t have to worry about problems or something falling through the cracks; they cover everything. It’s been a real partnership with them in many ways, and we can truly rely on their expertise. It’s been a smooth process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s always room for growth in any company. They’ve been great but can become better. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Have an internal plan and things mapped out, so the partnership aligns and works from both ends.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of membership administration at YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities. Apart from working on anything membership-related, I also collaborate closely with our digital and IT teams. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Jars?

We were trying to streamline a workflow automation process with regards to how our internal team members and third-party customers go through an application process.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first phase was implementing the internal team member side into our application process and our personal pricing plan which was integrated into our backend infrastructure.  In phase two, we utilized the backend infrastructure from phase one and incorporated it into our frontend customer-facing platform. For all the deliverables, we provided a document stating our requirements.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 4–5 people including Five Jars’ project manager. 

How did you come to work with Five Jars?

We did a lot of work and that allowed us to have many digital partners; Five Jars was one of the companies we worked with in the past. We chose them for this project because we believed in their expertise. We also knew that they could complete our project within a short timeline and adhere to the budget we set. Moreover, Five Jars was capable of doing the scope of work we needed to accomplish. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent in the ballpark of $25,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from April 2019–May 2020. The first phase was completed within six months, and the second phase took us 4-6 months to get started.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

They did the first phase very quickly and professionally. Five Jars did a great job in our project, and the best part about working with them was their listening skills. We had specific needs and Five Jars was able to execute them all.

How did Five Jars perform from a project management standpoint?

We had project meetings and outside communications through Basecamp and other means to communicate on a regular basis such as Slack. As a result, we were able to navigate speedily through the deliverables that were even outside of our scope.

They worked independently to finish our project, and they were familiar with how we do business. Most of all, they hit all of our deadlines, and they stayed within the scope of our budget too. Overall, we were happy with their work. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their work was spot on; we had expectations on certain things and they hit those expectations well. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we were happy with their work, and we look forward to working with them again at some point in the future. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a regional association with a number of fitness locations, summer camps, and a couple of golf courses. My role in this organization is in the marketing and technology area. I manage our website, our mobile app, and some of our member-facing software. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Jars?

Five Jars helped us build a website for one of our local associations, in which we contribute to their alliance work. Before hiring them, I had built us a WordPress site myself, but there were continuous security issues. Our site was hacked several times, and malware was installed. 

Keeping the website secure and keeping the information updated was difficult and challenging, given all the other responsibilities in my primary role. We needed Five Jars to help us find a solution where the security would be assured, and the updates would be easy to make.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Five Jars developed a new website on the Drupal platform. This particular project was pretty small scale. They helped us build and host a solution using available shared code, reducing redundancy costs. They configured and set the website up. 

They made recommendations about the best hosting services and helped us get it all done. Their responsibility now is to work on the website, help with security updates, and implement any kind of new features needed. 

We also needed to list and organize our locations as a database for those who visit the site to find a local organization and provided the structure needed for landing pages for stakeholders. This site is used more in advocacy and grant work, so key stakeholders are really leaders and decision-makers across the state.

What is the team composition?

Five Jar had a project manager and team of developers. Design was not needed for this project since we were implementing an available theme.

How did you come to work with Five Jars?

We’d previously built another website with another agency using the same platform, which has a growing community around it, including several developer partner choices. In this case, it was a very low-budget project, and it required a partner with high familiarity with the code to reduce development costs. Five Jars was one of the most affordable providers with a high level of expertise.

How much have you invested with them?

To date, we've invested somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 for this site, including launch, maintenance, and updates.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in October 2018. The website officially launched to the public in April 2019. There was no delay in the project, except when reviewing and approving the expense and with loading content, which was all on our end. Since then, we've continued our relationship with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I was very happy with their outcome on the website project and their continuing involvement on the core platform this site is built on. Because of this, I’ve engaged them to handle a much higher traffic website.

How did Five Jars perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Basecamp to communicate about the tasks, requests, and general back and forth communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Five Jar’s familiarity with the core platform code has been one differentiating factor for us. It was one of the factors that made us decide to go with them. 

I also did some diligence when considering bringing them on for the bigger project with other people who had worked with them directly. They definitely rose to the top as a recommended partner.

Their positive problem-solving approach is another impressive aspect.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not many that I have experienced yet—we've just contracted a new agreement with more frequent work several months ago. We had a few challenges with a recent site upgrade, and I think that they’re taking that opportunity to improve their approach and team's skills, as they're a growing company.

Any advice for potential customers?

Anyone working with Five Jars should make sure that they’re timing the project at a time when they’re going to be a responsive client. With the initial website we started in October 2018, I was coincidentally in my busiest point of the year, so I was a little bit delayed on getting things started because of competing priorities, but it wasn’t a flaw on Five Jars in any way. Make sure to dedicate the time needed so you can be as responsive to them as they’ll be to you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior digital experience director for the YMCA Pierce and Kitsap Counties, an association of The Y USA. I manage everything from our website to our social media channels and app. I also handle anything related to the digital experience of our community and members.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Jars?

We were migrating our website from a proprietary CMS to Drupal 8 Open Y CMS and doing a complete website redesign. The Open Y platform was made available to all YMCA members, and the idea behind it wasn’t only to provide an open-source CMS but also to provide a platform that met the needs of the association. Rather than reinventing the wheel and having all associations across the US develop their own websites, the Open Y platform would serve as a flexible CMS we could customize based on our location. 

It was in 2016 when a team was developed to put together the Open Y platform, and we decided that 2020 was the right time for us to migrate. Specifically, we wanted to create an experience that met members where they were and provided content, along with opportunities, that aligned with the current state of our environment. It was a huge ask, and we had a four-week timeline. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At that time, the website had over 3,200 pages, and it was quite difficult to manage. Not only was our website made of thousands of pages; it also supported nine community centers, a virtual experience platform, and several offices, including our association’s office, the Center for Community Impact, and child care offices — plus a blog page. Their team did all of that in the first phase of the project. 

The second phase, which we just completed, was integration with Salesforce, our new CRM system. This included developing single sign-on features and program registration capabilities. We also added what we called the Y Stories blog, which was a user-generated content page where anyone could share their YMCA story with us. 

Finally, the third phase of the project will improve UX for finding programs and activities. It will also have registration and membership functionalities linking into our CRM. We also target around 15 hours of maintenance per month. 

What is the team composition?

Our primary core team consists of four individuals from Five Jars. We work with a developer and SEO expert, along with a project manager. We also work with Alex (CEO), who is in charge of digital strategy and development work. The other person we work with is the technical team leader. 

How did you come to work with Five Jars?

Five Jars is a preferred partner for the Open Y platform. They’ve developed 45–75 Open Y websites. Their status as a preferred partner has been one of the main reasons we reached out to them for this project. Apart from that, we talked to a couple of other vendors, but we selected Five Jars because they offered the highest level of service and the best budget. They knew they could meet the timeline, so Five Jars stepped up to our challenge. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent just over $52,000 at this point, and the budget we’ve been working with is between $50,000 and $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the migration in June 2020, and the engagement is ongoing. We’re now embarking on the third phase of the project in addition to support and maintenance. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Gauging success metrics has been incredibly difficult for us because of the dramatic changes in the environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Basically, all of the benchmarks we had have gone out the window, and I’ve been working hard to establish new baselines for measurement, analytics, and analysis. 

Anecdotally, the overall look and feel of the website are so much more modern, and it aligns well with our community. The ease of navigation and UX has been phenomenal. They’ve given their 110% to the things that we’ve set out to improve. Overall, Five Jars is truly a driver of success, and I can’t imagine working with a better partner. 

How did Five Jars perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re absolutely outstanding. They use Basecamp, which we adopted with zero issues, and their setup has been incredibly easy for us to use. We use it not only as a communication and project management tool; it also contains all of our training materials, documents, and files. It also has our schedules —  including the project schedule itself and the Five Jar team’s holiday schedule —  our to-do list, and everything else. I love that they also include a burn report, so we can quickly and easily see our maintenance hours in real-time. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Communication is important for any organization embarking on a project like this, and the Five Jars team is an incredible communicator. On top of that, their project management chops are some of the best ones I’ve ever experienced. Their support services are impressive; if there’s ever an issue, they deliver 24/7 support. Whether it’s an issue on the website or a hosting concern, they support us in every way, shape, or form. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. This is very rare for me to say, but I don’t have anything that I think they can improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m part of the marketing team at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, a nonprofit historic estate and museum dedicated to preserving and interpreting the legacy of George Washington through educational programs, research, and public outreach. We’re funded by private donations and visitor revenue.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Jars?

We needed help with our overall website development. In addition, we needed help building and supporting an employee intranet for our organization. This involved creating an internal space for employees to find information about the organization, their jobs, and other teams and processes throughout the organization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Five Jars has developed our intranet website on Drupal and custom-built the intranet platform based on Drupal CMS. The platform is designed to be simple, user-friendly, and similar to BookStack in UI/UX. Five Jars has set up the CMS with content types and created editorial functions to create, edit, delete, and maintain revisions. The team has integrated the CMS with AWS S3 for media management. 
Five Jars has enhanced the UI/UX by simplifying the admin UI to match the ease of use of BookStack. The team has created a custom theme without a layout builder for a more streamlined experience. Five Jars has created a site-wide search functionality across departments and pages and created a sidebar with hierarchical navigation. 
The team has also created security and infrastructure setup with two-factor authentication, disabling self-registration, restricting access to node pages, integrating with OKTA for password reset, integrating with Google Analytics for usage tracking, and creating custom 403/404 error pages. The team has created role-based access control for super admins, admins, editors, and employees. 
Five Jars has deployed and hosted the intranet website and is continuing to support us throughout the first several months of the launch of this project. The team focuses on technical maintenance and updates.

What is the team composition?

I don’t know how many teammates from Five Jars are assigned to our project.

How did you come to work with Five Jars?

We found Five Jars through an online search. We chose them over other options because their pricing fit our budget, they had a great culture fit, they offered good value for the cost, and they were consistently available when we needed them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We primarily communicate with Five Jars through virtual meetings, emails, and messaging apps.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Five Jars has launched our intranet website successfully with minimal additional fixes needed. We’ve seen a reduction in support requests and improvements in internal processes. Many employees have been able to find answers to their questions and the information they need in one central location without having to contact multiple different people.

How did Five Jars perform from a project management standpoint?

Five Jars has delivered on time. The team is very communicative about progress, deadlines, and the deliverables they need to complete the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Five Jars is available at any time when we have a problem.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on May 2rd,2022

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for George Washington’s Mt. Vernon, a historic site in northern Virginia just outside of Washington, DC. I’m the VP of media and communications, and I oversee our marketing, advertising, and social media presence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Jars?

Our website hosts over 8 million visitors per year. Through it, users can learn about visitation to Mt. Vernon and gain educational opportunities about George Washington. We need Five Jars to help us with difficult technological challenges. They also serve as our coding partner when we want to add new features to the website at an affordable price for our nonprofit budget.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the start of the project, Five Jars worked on our ticketing platform since we wanted to make online tickets available via the website. After that, we’ve extended our relationship, and they now provide online support for our various needs. They’ve worked on our site’s mobile optimization, capabilities, and features. Soon, we’ll launch a new membership center and a video portal. Overall, they help us constantly innovate what we do online. 

For specific features, Five Jars has brought a new custom interface for our online ticketing and purchasing system. Through it, people can choose items that they want to see while visiting Mt. Vernon. We’re also working through a membership center, which allows guests to easily check out orders if they’re a returning member. We’re a donor-supported organization, so guests can also see their giving histories. They can also reprint tickets or see exclusive content available only to members of Mt. Vernon.

Moreover, we’re currently adding a new video portal to the website. We launch around 130 new videos per year, and plenty of them are live stream events. We want to put them in one place so end users can easily find them. The Five Jars team is helping us develop that, and we look forward to launching it in July 2021.

For all of these projects, everything is planned out. Typically, we start the year by figuring out what we want to do with Five Jars. Then, we turn our ideas into scopes of work, which they help refine and divide into individual sprints. From there, we lay out a timeline of what we’ll do based on our goals and budget for the year. 

What is the team composition?

We work most frequently with a lead developer and a project manager, which haven’t changed throughout our entire relationship. They also have a whole suite of teammates that work on our projects and do additional tasks, such as QA testing and other development-related work. 

How did you come to work with Five Jars?

We knew one of their founders through another project, and he did plenty of work to help us out during our previous engagement. When he went on his own and formed his own company, we transitioned to him. He built a great team by recruiting great talent to work for him. As a result, we decided to carry on with our relationship.

How much have you invested with them?

We invest around $70,000 a year for their retainer work. We’ve also done one-off projects beyond that. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the partnership in January 2019, and we have a regular retainer contract with them. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

For success metrics, our website views have increased, and we’ve gained 2 million more followers because of that. Our online revenue has also grown. On top of that, we now have a better revenue tracking ability in terms of advertising, emails, and other marketing channels. The percentage of people that purchase tickets online has also jumped from around 15% to 45%–50%. 

How did Five Jars perform from a project management standpoint?

Five Jars does a fantastic job in developing their scopes of work while ensuring that we use our funds efficiently. They always search for ways to make deployments easier and less cost-prohibitive. 

For communication, we receive biweekly updates from them and use Basecamp to track tasks, which they do in sprints. Sometimes, they do demos of the completed work. We use Slack channels to address more urgent concerns. Apart from that, Five Jars’ founder and I have monthly meetings to ensure that we’re getting the required deliverables. Through this meeting, they can also anticipate our needs as an organization.

Overall, Five Jars has a hands-on approach in terms of how they help us. Whenever we have any urgent need, we feel that they’re a true partner to us. Furthermore, they set priorities correctly. They not only ensure that we receive urgent deliverables; they also ensure that we accomplish our bigger projects. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have the ability to bring in different experts and scale up well based on our changing needs. Sometimes, we have a big project that requires more than one developer, and they can scale up the team for that. 

Moreover, they’re highly cognizant of our budget, which is a great concern in the nonprofit sector. We don’t always have a tremendous amount of funds to work with, so they develop smart ways to build cutting-edge solutions while not breaking the bank. They provide the right talent at a fee that’s affordable for a nonprofit organization like us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

An ongoing challenge for them is making sure that they can retain talent and continuing to diversify their capabilities. We’ve been growing with them, and they’re on the right track when it comes to growth. They might have had a limited set of team members and capabilities in the early days, but they’ve been making hires that have a diverse set of skills. That has helped them achieve more and grow as an organization, so they must continue doing it. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you only like to work with US-based organizations or agencies, I highly recommend Five Jars as an alternative to that. They have the ability to scale, cover work in different time zones, and provide services at more affordable rates. They also have a diverse workforce working around the globe. Overall, you’ll always feel that they’re taking care of you. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I lead marketing and digital experience for a nonprofit organization that offers programs and services to strengthen communities in coastal Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Jars?

We needed help with web development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Five Jars maintains our website and adds new features that we work to define together as partners. They keep Drupal and PHP updates current and add the features we identify and approve, like sorting alerts, integrating gated content with our membership management system, and securing web forms. Moreover, the team has integrated sign-in to virtual content that requires authentication through an API with our customer information system. 

What is the team composition?

We don’t know how many teammates from Five Jars are assigned to our project.

How did you come to work with Five Jars?

Someone referred Five Jars to me. We chose them over other options because their pricing fit our budget, they had a great culture fit, and they offered good value for the cost.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Five Jars has delivered a functional website with over 50,000 monthly users. 

How did Five Jars perform from a project management standpoint?

Five Jars delivers on time. We communicate via virtual meetings, emails, and messaging apps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Five Jars is knowledgeable, dependable, and affordable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is an annual hourly rate increase that challenges our budget.