Press Release: Netisun
October 17, 2001
INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- Radiant yellow flowers blooming from a brilliant blue flowerpot drawn by 11-year-old Julio
Herrera Hernandez grace the opening page of the Christel House Web site (www.christelhouse.org).
Julio's work is not only attractive on the site, but it also helps generate revenue for Christel House.
His hand-drawn pictures and those of other Mexican children who attend the Christel House Learning Center in Mexico
City are sold as note cards on the Web site as a fundraiser. At least now they are.
Earlier this year, the Web site donation and e-commerce functions didn't work, until Indianapolis-headquartered
Netisun, LCC, (www.netisun.com) was summoned to fix the site so it could start creating the revenue stream Christel
House needed. This was a complex problem, said Netisun project manager Chuck Fields.
Indianapolis philanthropist Christel DeHaan, who is credited with helping to develop the resort condominium timeshare
concept, created Christel House. Christel House's mission is to help orphaned, abandoned and impoverished children
around the world break the cycle of poverty and become self-sufficient, contributing members of their societies.
The first Christel House opened in 1998 in Mexico City. Locations in Bangalore, India and Caracas, Venezuela opened
in 2001. A site in Cape Town, South Africa will open by year-end.
"We had a beautiful Web site for a year," said Stephanie Gerner, data and assessments supervisor at Christel
House, "but it was built on frames and the e-commerce side just wouldn't work.
"We have especially difficult requirements because we sell the children's art as note and holiday cards and
ask for contributions. For card sales, we need to differentiate sales tax rates by state. However, charitable contributions
are not taxable. Putting these two issues together was difficult, but Netisun did it and did it quickly."
SITE TURNED AROUND IN THREE WEEKS
"We were able to reverse engineer the site and modify the e-commerce section utilizing an Able Commerce solution
in three weeks," said Fields. "It was particularly challenging because Christel House loved the look
of the existing site, so we couldn't disrupt the aesthetic appeal while we corrected the e-commerce functions."
Netisun also integrated postcard software which allows visitors to e-mail the children's cards freely, while also
storing card sender and recipient data.
CAPTURES USER INFORMATION
Data on orders, donations and customer requests is captured and stored for use by Christel House. "This data
is crucial to us as we further develop the Web site," said Gerner. "This site is more than information,
it is a fundraising tool for us."
PHASE II TO MAKE WEB SITE MORE USER AND MANAGEMENT FRIENDLY
Fields and Netisun converted the previous frame-based Web structure to a database format. "We had to find
a way to manage the e-commerce and charitable contributions and, at the same time, allow for easy content changes,
especially for adding the signature children's artwork," Fields said.
The conversion also repositioned navigation buttons and allowed the creation of Web-based administrative screens
that enable Christel House personnel to edit Web pages easily, without needing to know high-level programming.
Before, adding the children's art, photos or text would have meant providing the material to a Webmaster or third
party who would have made the changes. "Now, Christel House staff members can make the changes immediately
and they can focus on helping children around the world and not managing a Web site," said Fields.
"We're overjoyed!" said Gerner. "We have a site that looks beautiful and the e-commerce function
is working well."
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Contact:
Michael Peck Netisun, LCC 317-262-4561 mpeck@netisun.com David L. Shank Shank Public Relations Counselors 317-293-5590 dshank@shankpr.com