New England Primate Sanctuary *Letter to another non-profit*
I can recommend a friend of mine who has an IT consulting business to help you get started with your website.
I've had three different web designers work on our website. Originally, a girl who use to have a business in Cambridge offered to do the design work pro bono. She has since move to CA and we lost touch. Prior to that, as happens with pro bono work, it was difficult to get her to do what we wanted when we wanted it. Anyone who needs to make money to survive needs to place their attention on clients that pay the bills.
After that, I was introduced to a friend of a friend who was starting a web design business. I wanted her to redesign our site. We paid her a discounted rate, but she was so green everything took twice as much time as it might otherwise. Lots of delays. Plus she didn't have the creativity that I was seeking. I had to do mock-ups of what I wanted. Very time consuming for me. Everything took very very long. As a result it was impossible to keep the website current.
When Joe Giggey started his business, he offered to take over our site. He got it to a place where I could then do the updates myself.
It's one thing to maintain it yourself. It's something else to design the site. You're welcome to give Joe a call and see what he might be able to do for you and at what price. He has a relationship with some web hosting companies that is very reasonable in price. He's happy with their services and features. I believe that the rate is the same as you were quoted.
Joe's company is GiG IT Consulting, www.gigitc.com, 617. 639.5524. He's based out of Quincy.
Regarding the application I use for updates, if you're not computer proficient it may not be easy to use. I'm pretty good at doping my way through new applications, but even then I needed Joe's help to understand how some of the features worked.
I'll be happy to give Joe the heads up that he might be hearing from you.
Debra Curtin, President and Founder, New England Primate Sanctuary

Infinity Capital LLC
Joe Giggey’s comprehensive technical expertise, knowledge of Internet protocols and overall business acumen were instrumental in the development of our website. He has the ability to absorb the unique idiosyncrasies of a business and work closely with company decision-makers to shape a website so as to maximize results and present a desired profile to the cyber world. Identification and intelligent usage of keywords from the homepage through all page copy is a major and essential part of Joe’s approach. If you are contemplating establishing or improving your Web presence, utilizing the services of Joe Giggey, principal of Gig IT Consulting, would be a wise choice indeed
Larry Roberts, Director of Business Development , Infinity Capital LLC

Charter Professional Services Corporation
“I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you and all of your staff for their collective support in our recent … conversion.

“We … have recognized both your hardware/software network expertise and recommendations for our network planning and infrastructure stability.  I have personally learned from you and your staff all of the critical needs in building a network to support physician practices, and perceive your technical knowledge and experience to be outstanding.

“Joe, we could not have upgraded in recent months without your support.  We appreciate your involvement and dedication to Charter’s objective.”
Gail F. Murphy, Director of Billing, Charter Professional Services Corporation

“During a very extensive computer conversion you provided us with outstanding support. They worked with us throughout the conversion period to make sure that all of our technical needs were met.  Their technicians are knowledgeable, thorough, and courteous.”
Roxanne Touchette, Practice Administrator, Puritan Medical Center

Memec
I had the pleasure to work with Joe Giggey as he acted as Lead Project Manager for a nationwide IT deployment for Memec Inc. This project lasted six months and involved migrating Memec’s 1,000+ TTY terminal users to a Windows based thin client infrastructure that provided access to all of Memec’ LOB software and added email, internet access and additional productivity software previously unavailable to Memec employees.

This was a challenging project and Joe readily assumed all responsibility for the deployment. This included coordination with telco’s for proper network infrastructure, coordination of deployment teams that were responsible for new equipment set up and migration of UNIX/email data to the new system, equipment purchase and installation of the national data center in San Diego and coordination with all hardware and software vendors.

Several technical issues occurred during the deployment that threatened the success of the project. Significant software failures occurred that required intensive interaction with both Citrix and Microsoft to resolve. Joe spearheaded the efforts to get both companies involved and working collaboratively to determine root cause of the failure and to take corrective action in their software to ensure that the project would continue. Once the software issues were resolved and deployment was underway, network utilization became an issue, negatively impacting performance and causing SLA failure. Joe resolved this issue also, by identifying and implementing network technology that allowed network traffic shaping and prioritization.

Overall the project was a huge success and Memec used it as a model for deploying the same solution for its European entities. I am confident in stating that without Joe’s untiring efforts and guidance, this project would not have been completed.
Dan King - Microsoft Technical Account Manager, MCSE