Enhancing the ability of people with disabilities to live meaningful, productive lives.

The Challenge

How can a long-standing non-profit stabilize its financial future and become more self-reliant in the face of funding cuts?

Our relationship with Lamb’s Farm started with a news article. A non-profit in Libertyville, Illinois that provides vocational and residential services to over 250 adults with developmental disabilities, Lamb’s Farm was facing deep cuts in the public funding on which it relied to bolster its operations. The headline was grim: the future viability of this 50+-year old organization and its mission to provide people with intellectual and physical challenges the opportunity to achieve happy, meaningful and productive lives.

The article immediately caught Naveed’s attention. He was a big fan of Lamb’s Farm, having often taken his two young children to visit its 10-acre campus, which features a real farm, petting zoo, country store, bakery, cafe, and garden and pet center, all staffed by the residents and open to the public.

What Lamb’s Farm lacked, Naveed recognized, was a functional website that could foster a larger audience and generate revenues from its for-profit businesses through an e-commerce platform. So Naveed wrote a “fan” letter to Lamb’s Farm’s president and pitched the idea of creating a more robust online presence that would generate revenues from the organization’s for-profit brick-and-mortar stores and educate visitors about people living with developmental challenges. Within days, Naveed heard back from Lamb’s Farms president, who had one question: How soon could Naveed and his team get started?

Our Strategy

Employing a digital solution is more than just making a website for a client. Usman Group took a holistic approach in developing a comprehensive digital strategy for Lamb’s Farm that included developing quality content, messaging and better storytelling, email marketing to paid and organic search tactics to build awareness. Ramping up their digital footprint also forced Lamb’s Farms’ leadership to re-examine their lines of business and their brand, which needed a serious refresh. Our team guided them through a rebranding process, resulting in a fresh new logo, and developed a virtual online experience of their community that allowed people all over the country to learn about its history and community and purchase products made by the residents themselves.

The Results

Usman Group built a website that would serve Lamb’s Farm for years to come. Traffic to the site and online sales, coupled with a secure place for visitors to make contributions, created new revenue streams and an expanded donor base for the organization. Twelve years after we launched the new site, its design and functionality, though in need of a refresh, are weathering the test of time, still drawing in new visitors, customers and donors to the Lamb’s Farm experience–and enhancing the organization’s financial health.