Smart Rabbit

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our organization is Team Fox Detroit, a grassroots arm of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. We raise money for Parkinson’s research and support other fundraisers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Smart Rabbit?

Our old website was just one of those DIY websites, and we needed someone to create a new one with more functionality.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Smart Rabbit designed and developed a brand new WordPress website for us. The most important feature they built is a section that contains a portal for us to run fundraisers. The team has also been able to link our social media accounts to the website, and they’ve also been helping us drive more traffic to our website, which they continue to run.

What is the team composition?

I work with Daniel (Founder & Managing Partner) and Colter (Co-Founder & UX Designer).

How did you come to work with Smart Rabbit?

They’re friends of the organization. The team started helping us out a few years ago by giving us advice, so we’ve known them for a while. When they founded Smart Rabbit, we decided to start working with them professionally.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2016, and it’s ongoing.

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

We measure the project’s success based on how many people we drive into the fundraising platform. Since Smart Rabbit took over, we’ve received twice the amount we usually got. Thanks to their efforts, we don’t have to rely on our lead foundation, and we can have our own fundraisers. Throughout our engagement, we’ve earned over $1 million with their help, so it’s been highly successful. We’re the smallest team in our foundation, but we’ve reached our goals faster than anyone. We’ve also gotten a lot of site traffic, which is fantastic. The quality of their work is impressive. Smart Rabbit helped us tremendously.

How did Smart Rabbit perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done well on project management. We’re a different kind of team because we’re all volunteers — most of our internal team is only available in the evenings, and the work has to be remote. However, Smart Rabbit is willing to accommodate our schedules and to communicate using email and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their attention to detail is excellent. The team is personable and very easy to work with, and they do everything they can to help. They go above and beyond to make sure that everyone on our team is happy. We’re a nonprofit, and they’re mindful of that — Smart Rabbit’s always there for us when we need them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think they could do anything differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very specific about what you need, and they’ll adapt to it.