The Association of Charitable Organisations (ACO) has launched their new website to enable the umbrella body to improve the representation of the benevolence sector and provide valuable support to charities.
The new website can be accessed at www.aco.uk.net.
The refreshed website, built by award-winning digital agency for charity, health and education IE Digital and supported by ACO corporate partner CCLA, was designed to enable ACO to showcase the valuable work being undertaken by its member charities and improve awareness of the benevolence sector.
The benevolence sector is an often lesser-known part of the wider charity sector (both amongst organisations and members of the public) despite carrying out vital work to provide financial and wellbeing support to individuals.
The importance of this sector has been particularly seen during the Covid-19 pandemic, where benevolent charities provided support to individuals who had lost jobs, faced reduced income or could not afford essentials due to rising costs of living, or struggled with their mental health.
ACO’s visually dynamic new website demonstrates that benevolence is as relevant a concept today in the 21st Century as ever before, with benevolent charities providing vital financial and well-being support to help individuals through modern-day challenges.
To help improve awareness of the sector, the new website includes pages explaining what benevolent charities do and how they can help individuals, and where people facing a crisis or financial hardship can go to find support.
Another key feature of the new website is a Membership Directory which can be used as a tool allowing organisations and individuals to search ACO’s members by charity name or the type of individual they support to find out more about a particular charity, who they help and how they can help individuals in need of assistance.
Donal Watkin, ACO Chief Executive, comments “Our new website marks an exciting evolution for ACO and we’re really excited to be launching it today. Its improved user-friendly interface and design should mean it acts as a better hub to raise awareness of the vital work of the benevolence sector and provide support to our member charities.”
“As we look to extend our reach and expand our network of benevolent charities in 2022, we not only hope our new website is a valuable resource for assisting our members, but also helps cement ACO as the voice of benevolence and charities that provide support to individuals within the charity sector.”
Ollie Leggett, Managing Director of IE Brand & Digital, comments “Having recently completed successful brand and digital projects for several ACO members, we were delighted to have the opportunity to support the association, in its 75th year, in the creation of a brand-new website that will enable members to view upcoming events, other members and all the latest information that ACO has to offer.
“We are huge admirers of the fabulous grant-giving and welfare support work that the ACO and its members perform, and it has been a great privilege to help to drive their digital transformation forward.”