What We Did
Race Forward CIC had a powerful mission: supporting underprivileged Black and Mixed Heritage students through scholarships, financial support, and corporate partnerships that provide real career opportunities. But as a newly launching charity, they faced a fundamental credibility problem. Without a website, it’s nearly impossible to be taken seriously by the stakeholders they needed to reach: students searching for scholarship opportunities, companies considering partnerships, and donors wanting to support their cause. They needed a digital presence that could inspire belief in their mission and serve as a central hub for everyone they aimed to help.
The goal was to create a website that exudes professionalism whilst remaining accessible and inspiring to a young student audience. Race Forward came to us well-prepared, with their branding, logo, and colour palette already established, along with very specific requirements about the pages they needed: their mission and values, team profiles showcasing the people behind the organisation, upcoming events, donation functionality, and a news section to share updates and success stories. The challenge was bringing all these elements together in a way that worked for multiple audiences, from 18-year-old scholarship applicants to corporate HR directors evaluating partnership opportunities.
We built the foundation on Astro, creating a lightning-fast static site where every second of load time matters when you’re trying to capture someone’s attention and inspire them to engage with a cause. The design leans into Race Forward’s vibrant colour scheme, creating an energetic, youth-focused aesthetic that feels approachable without sacrificing professionalism. Social media links sit prominently in the header, making it effortless for visitors arriving from search engines to explore more about the charity across platforms. We integrated PayPal donations directly into the site, giving supporters an immediate way to contribute, and linked externally to their TicketShack events platform where users can browse upcoming and past events.
Flexible Content Management for a Growing Charity
Behind the scenes, we implemented Decap CMS to give Race Forward’s non-technical team an intuitive interface for updating content. The social media and communications team can publish news updates, share event recaps, and highlight student success stories without touching code. Decap works seamlessly with Astro’s static site generation, creating markdown files that get pulled in at build time, so the site remains blazingly fast for users whilst giving the team full content control. This setup is crucial for a charity that needs to regularly communicate their impact and keep supporters engaged with fresh content.
Race Forward now has the professional digital presence their mission deserves. Students can discover scholarship opportunities, understand what the charity offers, and see real stories of impact. Corporate partners have a clear view of how they can get involved and the values Race Forward stands for. Donors can contribute with a single click, knowing exactly where their money goes. With a job board in development and plans to expand their reach across the UK, the website provides the foundation for Race Forward to scale their impact. They’ve gone from invisible to established, with a platform that grows alongside their mission to support the next generation of students.