Sabra Creative

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Martha’s Table, a nonprofit organization in DC that provides services related to early childhood education, nutrition, and family support. I’m the director of the Healthy Markets Program which supports elementary schools by providing fresh fruits and vegetables for students.

What challenges were you trying to address with Sabra Creative?

They help us design and coordinate the distribution of our recipe cards.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Each month, they design the postcard and coordinate the printing and delivery of the postcards. They’ve also helped create infographics to show our programs' impact, and they’ve helped design our annual reports, website, and other communications materials. 

They completely redesigned the website using WordPress. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Chris (CEO & Creative Director) and Svetlana (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Sabra Creative?

We researched local web development companies and looked to see what vendors other nonprofits had partnered with. We saw that one of our peer organizations chose Sabra Creative and was happy with the results. After interviewing the team, we decided to partner with them as well. 

How much have you invested in them?

For the printing and delivery of our market program materials, we’ve spent less than $5,000. However, my organization has invested more in other projects. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in fall 2018, and the relationship is ongoing. 

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

Overall, it’s been an amazing partnership. We’ve gotten positive feedback from our school partners, the families we work with, and our internal teammates. 

How did Sabra Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re proactive and remind us of deadlines and timelines. They manage the project well and check-in with us regularly. They’re great at managing up and ensuring that our team is on task. They also employ some great project management platforms to monitor our progress. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They know our brand and what we’re going for. Even when I apply a few sentences of input, they’re able to run with it and come up with an amazing design that requires little to no edits. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any complaints. For any nonprofit organization, affordable pricing is always important, but I think we get good value for our money. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Ensure that you’re comfortable with an open communication project. It’s also important to think ahead and be engaged in the initial planning process. 

This review was published on November 11, 2020. 

Whitney Faison

Assistant Director of Communications, Martha's Table

  Nonprofit

  11-50 Employees

  Washington, DC

  $10,000 to $49,999

  Jan. 2020 - Ongoing

Project summary: 

Sabra Creative provides ongoing several design services for a nonprofit. The team created a website and continues to provide graphic designs. 

Feedback summary: 

The internal team and stakeholders are delighted with the design services that Sabra Creative provides. They stay on brand and provide effective outputs. Their strong project management skills and clear workflow impress the client.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Martha's Table is a local nonprofit in Washington, D.C. At Martha’s Table, we believe that every Washingtonian deserves the opportunity to thrive. We support strong children, strong families, and strong communities by increasing access to quality education, health and wellness, and family resources. I am the acting Assistant Director of Communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE 

For what projects/services did your company hire Sabra Creative?

We work with Sabra on a yearly retainer; our needs range from website design, graphic design, and collateral (print and digital).

SOLUTION 

How did you select Sabra Creative?

Sabra was already working with Martha's Table when I arrived in 2019. Since then, we have been satisfied with our relationship and have opted to renew our contract twice.

Describe the project in detail.

We meet with Sabra throughout the year to discuss our many project goals and solutions. We average 2-3 projects a month.

What was the team composition?

We have the support of the full Sabra team. Chris, the organization's lead also communicates with me weekly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK 

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our team and our stakeholders are delighted with every piece of content Sabra creates. It's always on brand and effective.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow has been great. I am the main liaison with Sabra, and I collaborate with 2-3 additional Martha's Table team members who have design needs.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We appreciate the quick response, the project management software, and clear communication. The Concierge Package is great!

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not at this time.

Star Ratings: 

Overall Rating: 5 

Quality: 5 

Schedule: 5

Cost: 4.5 

Willing to Refer: 5 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of digital media at Kids in Need of Defense (KIND). We work with unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children who come to the U.S. and are in need of legal services. We provide pro bono legal services for children as they go through their immigration court proceedings.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sabra Creative?

We wanted to update the design of our annual report and how we were conveying our year-end messages within the report to make it more design-heavy, visual, and creative.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with them on our 2018 and 2019 annual reports to update our look and feel. Our development team also worked with them on some year-end emails and social media content that they designed. They were really strategic in how our photos and messages were displayed on our website, emails, and social media to enhance our fundraising efficacy.

Both annual reports had a timeline of about two years. We worked with them on creating the visual elements. It was really nice to work with them over the last two years because they helped us figure out the style and creatives that we wanted to show within the report. They provided us with a bunch of different samples of the creative direction we could go in. Once we narrowed down that creative, it was much easier for them to take the entire annual report and use those design elements throughout. It made it go much faster. Additionally, working with them for a second year made it go faster because they understood what our goals were with our creative.

They really took time to get to know us as an organization and as a brand. There’s a lot to be said for working with a firm for multiple years because they really start to understand the look and feel you’re trying to convey. That’s one of the great things about working with them. Once we narrowed down the direction, they were able to not only just stick to one lane of creative but evolve that into a bunch of different samples.

What is the team composition?

Our point of contact was Chris (CEO).

How did you come to work with Sabra Creative?

They were a recommendation from a colleague. We really loved the look and feel of some of the projects they shared with us. They were able to meet our timeline and our budget as well.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $8,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2018 until April 2020.

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

They helped us develop a beautiful, well-organized, and visually appealing annual report. Because the 2019 annual report was so beautiful, we wanted to get it printed, but we released it in the first month of the pandemic when everyone was working from home. This presented challenges in terms of printing and sending it out manually and we decided to do an electronic launch. That being said, it was the top-downloaded resource on our website for the month of April and May. It got downloaded over 400 times, which is big for an annual report. We got tremendous feedback on the look and the feel of the design. People said it was easy to read and follow and that it was aesthetically beautiful.

How did Sabra Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was excellent. I really love the system they use and have in place. Another great thing they brought to the table, that we’d never had before, was this working timetable. We had a set statement of work where we were able to follow the project along with them to see what the team was working on that week or that day. They were always on time when it came to their deliverables. We were able to see that the project was always kept on track and on budget. There was also adequate time for review. I know through the project management system, there were a few other people that worked on our project when it came to the designs. We could see who was working on what. When it came to having calls, it was always through Chris.

Something that was new this past year in terms of project management, which made things super easy, was that they took time to create folders and an outline online where we could upload each chapter of the annual report and each piece of visual collateral that would go with that chapter to make sure that everything was in the section we envisioned. That made it not only easy for us to organize but it also made it incredibly easy for Chris and his team when it came to actually designing the report. They knew exactly where to pull the information from and what collateral went with which text.

Chris and I were in constant contact via email. He’s incredibly accessible and easy to get in touch with. I forget the tool they used for their project management system where we can see the deadlines and the calendar and what they’re working on. In terms of the folders they created, I believe that was all through Google Drive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their strength is in their accessibility and the fact that their team is always on and in contact. They’re extremely organized and have a great eye for design. Everything they brought to us was unique and had a different look and feel of what we were trying to convey. They’re very good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything negative to say. We really loved working with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work with them. Chris and his team not only have a great eye for design but they’re really devoted to specifically working with nonprofits and organizations that are on a limited budget and try to do really creative things for causes and issues that they really care about. They’re not only incredibly passionate and professional in what they do but they’re really driven by the causes and issues in the organizations that they work with.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of communications and advocacy at the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development. We are a membership-based nonprofit that has about 180 members and we represent service providers, affordable housing developers, and other community economic development organizations.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sabra Creative?

We needed an entirely new website with a fresh look and branding. Our old site wasn’t intuitive for users, the information was outdated, and it was difficult to maintain. The people accessing it also didn’t know how to manage its backend and so there were codes and other parts that were broken.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sabra Creative developed a WordPress website — they didn’t build a proprietary system. The backend was tailored to be easy-to-use but it’s recognizably a WordPress CMS. The team provided the design and development works. 

They already finished the platform but they’re still managing all our domains and hosting. This will run through the rest of the 12 months after the website’s launch.

What is the team composition?

I directly worked with Chris (CEO & Creative Director) and offhand, he would mention developers and coders. In the emails, I would see team members like Alexander (Fullstack Developer) but I don't directly speak or work with him.

How did you come to work with Sabra Creative?

We googled local web developers here in our area. Our organization has pledged to always look at local businesses, specifically minority small businesses, when we’re looking for a team or contracting opportunities. We ended up going with them for their pricing setup. Because our old website had massive problems such as broken links and hidden pages, most agencies, except Sabra Creatives, priced the project based on the scope.

The team offered their services based on the timeline and they provided a six-month timeline for website development work. It was comforting to know that we could add more projects outside the initial scope during the timeframe if we find something that needed to be redeveloped, rebranded, or redone. We ultimately went with Sabra Creative because of the flexibility to work on something we really needed and that wouldn’t increase the project’s cost.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $24,000 on the project and we currently pay them $2,000 a month for their support.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement ran through April–October 2020. However, we’re still communicating with them since the website was only launched in early November. Our teams are working together and they’re providing support for our website even if our formal contract is over.

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

The specific metrics can’t be seen yet because we’re still measuring the people who go to our website. We will need a longer-term sample to evaluate how end users are receiving the website.

As time goes on, we’ll be able to see the difference between how long people stay on certain pages and how they navigate through the site. The team listened to us which resulted in getting the design and the project right the first time around.

How did Sabra Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of qualitative results, the entire process, the feedback, and the tools they used were successful. Considering that the project was done virtually, we were impressed with their process, communication, and professionalism that they brought.

The project management was top-notch. I only communicated with Chris and it was really helpful to only have one point of contact — whenever we needed anything, we would shoot him an email. He was very responsive, was able to handle whatever request, and would always come back with an answer to us.

Sabra Creative had a lot of tools to communicate effectively with us. When discussing design, feedback, and other things that could be abstract to communicate virtually, they implemented tools to make the process seamless. We never had issues with communication — whether it was through digital tools, emails, or through scheduling phone calls.

We’re not sure if they had these tools setup before COVID-19 or if they worked quickly to make sure communication was possible when working from home but everything was very seamless.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their patience and dedication to understanding the project were important. We needed a new website that would represent our organization and attract different audiences. They’ve worked with a nonprofit before but all nonprofits are slightly different in terms of audiences and membership. Sabra Creative understood that and was patient throughout the entire process.

There was feedback but a lot of what they initially presented when it came to design and function was spot on. Their strong suit was they were able to provide suggestions and solutions that we hadn’t thought of that ended up working better than what we had in mind.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think their pricing structure is a double-edged sword. It works well with web development. Although, there were some instances where we needed some digital creative services such as design for report covers it was cost-prohibitive. They weren’t able to fit another project during the timeline and because of the quick nature of the turnaround of one of those design projects, the cost of them to design something was more than any graphic designer could charge.

If you’d retain them for their services based on the timeline pay structure, that’s great. Having a strong understanding of what you really want is important because they don’t seem to be very good at last minute requests. Or if they are, you will pay and, in my opinion, that is unfeasible. Not to say that they should change their pay structure but that didn’t work with us in a particular situation.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having one point of contact on either end — only one from the client and one from Sabra Creative is important. This is important in order to have a clear line of communication and it will be really helpful for future partnerships.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of the Military and Veterans Appreciation Trust Foundation. We’re an LA-based nonprofit that exists to assist veterans, military spouses, service members transitioning out of active service, and gold star family members. We aid in post-military career enhancement for them and their families, primarily through our Heroes Linked program.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sabra Creative?

We relied on Sabra Creative for creating and deploying our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sabra Creative designed, developed, and deployed websites for both our foundation and its supporting program. They also provided the initial build for a web app for Heroes Linked. They launched the beta version of this fully-functional solution.

They also offered us a branding package; they delivered a logo, color scheme, and other stylistic elements for our program.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Chris (Founder & Principal). Chris also has a network of coders who work for him, but he was and is our main point of contact to this day.

How did you come to work with Sabra Creative?

I wasn’t the person who found them. They were presented to me as the top choice, and I immediately recognized the value they’d bring to the table.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement began in January 2014, and we are still engaged with them today.

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

The websites they’ve created successfully capture the spirit and sustaining force of the nonprofit, so we’re thrilled with what they’ve done for our organization. I’ve gathered that my constituents and community have been pleased with the new websites and their performance as well. Sabra Creative was responsive and receptive when it came to building out new features.

How did Sabra Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

They were always meeting deadlines on top of being consistently communicative and transparent. We communicated primarily through email and phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’d highlight their ability to create personal relationships with their clients. We’ve felt like we’ve been taken care of by people we know. Chris was excellent at making me feel at ease and comfortable, which made it easier to share what I want from the website.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Hire them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Associate Director of Communications for N Street Village, the largest provider of homelessness services for women in DC. In my role I manage all organizational and fundraising communication including print appeals, website, social media, emails, and more.

For what projects/services did your company hire Sabra Creative, and what were your goals?

We hired Sabra to redesign our website to ensure it would match our new branding, be more user friendly for visitors, and easier to manage on the backend.

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

In our search for designers, a peer provider recommended Sabra. We sent them our RFP and after a few phone calls, decided to move forward. Deciding factors included fast response time, price, and technology offerings to make the project as seamless and pain free as possible.

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

Scope of work included building a timeline/project plan, conducting initial interviews for site feedback/design ideas, a UX deep dive of the existing site and building a new site map. From there we worked with their team to collect needed copy and imagery for their development purposes. We had the chance to review both a prototype and demo site before going live. Technologies used were Invision, BugHerd and Wordpress.

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

I had direct contact to two members of the team. Adam who assisted with our initial UX work and Chris who oversaw the project and was my pain POC throughout. They did have a developer working on building the site but I did not interact with him directly.

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

We love the new site! It is beautiful and so user friendly. It is also incredibly easy to use on the backend and much easier to train members of the team on how to manage their own content.

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

Sabra is very communicative and responsive to our questions or concerns. They map out the project plan at the very beginning and it's something we could reference back to easily. This was was also an active tool that allowed us to see exactly where we were each step of the way and whether we were on schedule or needed to adjust timelines.

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

I really appreciated how innovative and creative they were. And how much visibility they gave us into the project. I loved being able to go into the Invision tool to see new pages being built or leave comments for changes/feedback.

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

It would have been great if they could provide recorded videos of how to do certain tasks on the backend or a manual with more info so once we took the site live, we didn't have to reach back out so much to ask questions on how to do things. They did a great initial training but a lot to cover in one sitting and expect everyone to remember how to do it.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Executive Director of the financial literacy research and education center housed within a university.

For what projects/services did your company hire Sabra Creative, and what were your goals?

We engaged Sabra initially to perform the ongoing maintenance and complex webpage updates and creations on our existing center's website. Chris and the whole Sabra team proved very skilled, dedicated, responsive, friendly, and customer service oriented. For several years now, we have counted on them to keep our website safe and running, and to also answer our frequent questions and needs - many which are time sensitive. When we undertook a project to build a website for a specific education initiative, we hired them and they delivered a fantastic website! It was a multi-month, many hands-in-the-pot, project for which the team we worked with was terrific in every way. They came up with creative solutions for how to design a complex education platform. And they also developed the logo for the initiative and the illustrations for the website. It was impressive work and they were good at listening to what we were looking for and asking the right questions. I have found it difficult to find a web development company that has both the creative and technical skill, they have both. The center plans to use them when we revamp our website and/or build new project websites. Sabra's culture is not just shaped by creativity and technical skill, but also their commitment to nonprofit initiatives. They truly want their client's work to succeed and believe in the causes. This helps create fantastic outcomes and a strong working relationship.

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

I reached out to several website maintenance and development firms in the DC area to interview them for skills and price comparison. I also reviewed the websites they had created. When it came time to have a website created, we felt confident in moving forward with them.

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

The ongoing scope of work is to maintain two websites that are built in Wordpress. They backup the websites each month, update plug-ins, etc. We also reach out to them for more complex website changes. We also hired them to create a website that is a large platform of online financial education information and resources. The website was built so that those visiting the website could select the type of visitor they. Then the responsive website filters and provides the visitor with the pages and resources that are relevant. They had to add many plugins to the Wordpress site. Sabra created the logo for this initiative and also designed the illustrations for it. They turned out great!

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

Chris Sabbatini, the CEO and Creative Director, has been our main point of contact through our years of collaboration. In terms of the maintenance of websites, he brings in 1-2 other team members to the conversation as needed. When we worked with Sabra to build a website, Chris and several of his team members worked with us (creative designers and web development folks).

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

We frequently receive positive feedback on how well-designed and useful our websites are. The designs capture people's attention and then the structure and built-out of the sites make it easy for people to explore and also find what they need.

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

For the ongoing maintenance, we communicate as needed and receive monthly messages when the site is backed up'ed. For the website development, regular online meetings and calls were scheduled. We used their dashboard software to review and comment on wireframes and designs. This was an easy in real time communication tool.

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

The breadth of skill and their ability to deliver great customer service and product is what I found most impressive and unique about this company. As I mentioned, it's often hard to find website development firms with strong creative and technical skill. Usually they seem to favor one aspect and fall short on the other. Sabra delivers and I am confident they can expertly deliver in their other services that we have not needed, yet. It's always a pleasure to talk with Chris and the team. It feels like they're really on our center's team and we have a good time getting our work done together.

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

I can't think of anything.