mangrove logo
2020

Annual Report

Mangrove Web Development

A Note from our Founder and Partners

photo of maiyaphoto of mariephoto of megan
image of mangrove team


In a year of “unprecedented” everything, we are holding on to that which remained steady at Mangrove. Through the trials and tribulations of 2020, we stayed staunchly true to our mission and values, maintained our remote work culture, and supported our team members when they needed it (and we all needed some help at some point in 2020). We are exceedingly grateful for what worked during a year of deep unrest.

We proudly maintained our core identity as a certified B Corp that builds websites for purpose-driven organizations. Almost 70% of our revenue in 2020 came from values-aligned businesses or businesses owned by women, people of color, or members of other historically marginalized groups. 
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Mangrove has operated as a remote team from the get go, and has always embraced flexible work schedules and a culture of strong team camaraderie – principles which benefitted us immensely in 2020. Our team members were ready and willing to jump in to help when co-workers needed to step away – to care for sick family members, to manage their kids’ distance learning, to participate in Black Lives Matter protests, to shelter from smoke-filled skies, to work on election volunteering, or simply to care for themselves during these exhausting times.

2020 made us dig deep to keep progressing and showing up the way we need to show up in the world.  In the wake of the BLM protests, we did our best to take care of our team members of color. You can read more here about Mangrove’s actions in response to the explosion of Black Lives Matter activism. These statements are certainly not enough on their own – we are committed to continuing to educate ourselves, pay attention, engage in hard conversations, and take action in the name of equity and justice.
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As we reflect on the year, it’s evident that our values-driven approach to work and work-life made the difference between success and mere survival in 2020. With confidence in our team and our mission, we move into 2021 with curiosity, resilience and even a bit of hope.

– Marie Koesnodihardjo, Partner, Megan Yarnall, Partner, Maiya Holliday, Founder + CEO


*a note about the branding on this report:  yes, we're rebranding!  New site and all the rest coming soon...

Websites that make it easier for good people to do great work.

Mangrove Web is a woman-owned website design and development company with a diverse, talented team distributed around the globe. We’ve been building websites since 2009 that amplify the work of change-making organizations and increase the competitive power of businesses owned by historically marginalized people. As a Certified B Corp and Public Benefit Corporation, we prioritize working with businesses that share our value of balancing people, planet, purpose, and profit.

This report shares our success in 2020 as we operate a business based on our values, and serves as our annual benefit report for the year.

READ MORE ABOUT US

Despite the rough seas of 2020, we stayed on course with our B Corp commitments and remained anchored to our purpose-driven approach.

Frankly, we were pleasantly surprised when we reviewed our 2020 performance against goals. In a year that we are tired of calling “unprecedented,” we did a good job of staying true to our B Corp values of prioritizing our team, our communities, and the planet as our business grows.

Revenue from Values-Aligned Clients

Maintain a minimum level of our business from purpose-driven or woman- or minority-owned organizations

Goal: 50% Achievement: 69%
revenue from value-aligned clients barchart

*When adjusted to account for the 15% discount we give to values-aligned clients, the percentage is even higher.
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Website Accessibility

  • Create an external feedback loop for the accessibility of our products.
    We chose SiteImprove. This platform helps us to more thoroughly monitor the accessibility of sites we build, both during the design/dev process and ongoing.
  • Expand our accessibility offerings to clients.
    With more experience, we have been able to better outline why and how accessibility applies to websites, and advise clients on the best approach for their project.
  • Create accessibility resources for ourselves, our partners, and our clients.
    We researched and published 4 informational articles on accessibility:
  • Redesign and build our own website to achieve level “A” or “AA” WCAG Website Accessibility score.
    Like shoemakers with worn-out shoes, this project got delayed. Look for the launch in Q2 of 2021 (crossing fingers).

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

  • Maintain or increase diversity on team (employees+workforce) to remain at 33% or above of members who identify as non-white.
    At the end of 2020, 36% of our team identify as non-white. 33% of leadership identify as non-white.
  • Maintain gender diversity on team (employees+workforce) to remain at 60% or above of members who identify as female or non-binary.
    At the end of 2020, 82% of our team identify as female or non-binary.  62% of our development team identify as female or non-binary. 100% of our leadership team identify as female or non-binary.
  • Extend DEI training to subcontractors in addition to employees.
    We completed a team-led training on Uprooting White Supremacy in November. We are planning follow up trainings for 2021.
  • Survey the demographics of employees, contractors, clients, and vendors, to pave the way for a 5-Year DEI Statement.
    We are surveying yearly and gathering data, because “if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”
  • Actively mentor other website developers, especially women, non-binary folks, and people from disadvantaged or marginalized backgrounds.
  • Create key performance indicators to track compliance with our DEI statement.
    To be honest, we’re still figuring this one out.  But, having the data is a start (see above)
  • Continue to improve our onboarding and documentation so we can share our expertise more easily with our junior developers and interns.
    We are actively improving upon our internal documentation, and continue to spend time mentoring our interns and junior developers.
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Sustainability

  • Offset GHG emissions by 75-99%.
    ‍Results: Emissions were offset by over 100%.
  • Educate ourselves and clients on sustainability on the web, so that we can be a resource for others.
    ‍Results: In 2020, we began to listen and learn. In 2021 we will be investing more time and attention to this, educating our team on what it means, and exploring it in practice.‍
  • Signed the Sustainable Web Manifesto  “This manifesto is a public declaration of a shared commitment to create a sustainable internet.”

Donating our Money and Time

  • Invite team members to direct charitable giving to organizations of their choice.
  • Commit to at least one pro-bono project or a minimum of 75 pro-bono hours per year. 
    ‍Results: We contributed over 100 pro bono hours to the Terner Center for Housing Innovation Website.  
  • Provide paid volunteer time for employees.
    ‍Results: The pandemic put a halt to a lot of volunteer work. Even so, we contributed over 1% of our working hours.
  • Continue in-kind donations via a discount for values-aligned clients.
    ‍Results: Non-profit and BCorp clients receive a 15% discount.  The majority of our projects are significantly discounted to support the organizations whose work we care deeply about.
  • Be a B Corp resource for our peers.
    Results: We engaged in many conversations with aspiring B Corps and B Corp partners throughout the year to share knowledge and resources. Marie continued to serve on the board of B Local Bay Area, and Maiya participated in the B Corp Women CEOs group, We the Change.
  • Donate 1% of total gross revenue to charitable organizations, per new philanthropic strategy. 
    ‍Donations equaled 1.12% of total gross revenue. Organizations that we support include Hack the Hood and Techtonica. Read more about our charitable giving philosophy here.
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People & Progress: Highlights of our year

Yes, even 2020 had highlights. Most notably, we felt overwhelming gratitude for our well-established, and well-connected, remote workforce. As other teams scrambled to transform into remote work models, we continued in the comfortable routines we had already built. That said, we admit to Zoom exhaustion and look forward to getting back to person-to-person interactions with clients, at conferences – and our families and friends.

1
new baby
2
employees moved to partnership positions
3
new team members
2
weeks closed for holidays
3
team members relocated to different countries
meet our team

#mangroveoutofoffice

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Our day-to-day work

20 new sites and rebuilds for 2020, 7 retainer clients supported throughout the year

Selected work

Selected work from 2020

Blend

What we did

We built templates, front end components and two microsites, as well as implemented an updated design system for Blend’s main website.

Who we did it for

Blend is an innovative technology platform that offers products designed to help banks and lenders create a less stressful, more accessible lending experience. Their vision is to power a healthier financial future for millions.

SEE IT LIVE

Selected work from 2020

What we did

We built templates, front end components and two microsites, as well as implemented an updated design system for Blend’s main website.

Who we did it for

Blend is an innovative technology platform that offers products designed to help banks and lenders create a less stressful, more accessible lending experience. Their vision is to power a healthier financial future for millions.

SEE IT LIVE
Blend website image

Selected work from 2020

What we did

We created a fresh website that showcases their important mission and resources.

Who we did it for

Help Me Grow Marin, based in Marin County, California, is working to connect parents, caregivers and providers in their community with information and resources surrounding early childhood development. The education, healthcare and family services they provide promote optimal healthy development for all children.

SEE IT LIVE
help me grow marin website image

Selected work from 2020

What we did

We built a new online platform to support Newfest’s upcoming film festival and year-round events.

Who we did it for

Since 1988, NewFest has been working to give voice and visibility to the wide scope of LGBTQ+ experiences. Today, they are New York’s largest presenter of queer film and media and the largest convener of LGBTQ+ audiences in the city.

SEE IT LIVE
newfest website image

Other collaborations we’re proud of
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Clients

Beneficial State Bank logoBlend LogoClover Sonoma LogoElemental Excelerator LogoKCCEB LogoHelp Me Grow LogoSingular LogoOff the Grid LogoOne Finance LogoFloyd Snider LogoFactory OS LogoNorth Marin Community Services LogoMyriad LogoMighty Networks LogoTerner Center LogoTahoe Truckee Community Foundation Logo

Partnerships

Hybrid Design LogoDiamond and Branch LogoDiverge LogoPublic Design LogoL+R LogoMcCullough Web Services LogoConTodo LogoNoise13 LogoGood Stuff Partners LogoFour Fin LogoComputer Courage Logo

Goals for 2021

This annual report serves an accountability function for us. Up above, we summarized our performance against the goals in our 2019 annual report. For 2021, we will track our progress against the following benchmarks.

Annual commitments

  • Maintain a minimum of 50% of our business from purpose-driven or woman- or minority-owned organizations
  • Mentor other website developers, especially women and people from disadvantaged or marginalized backgrounds. Strengthen our onboarding processes for new developers.
  • Donate a minimum of 1% total revenue to charitable organizations. Target donations to organizations supporting diversifying the tech industry in particular.
  • Invite team members to direct charitable giving to organizations of their choice.
  • Commit to at least one pro-bono project or a minimum of 75 pro-bono hours per year.
  • Offset GHG emissions by 75-99%
  • Be a B Corp reference for our peers.
  • Continue to learn and lead in the areas of website accessibility and sustainability.

In 2021, specifically

  • Finish the redesign and rebuild of mangrove-web.com to achieve level “A” or “AA” WCAG compliance standards.
  • Create Mangrove’s 5-year plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Include key performance indicators.
  • More strongly encourage all team members to use the professional development stipend.
  • Maintain or increase diversity on team (employees+workforce) to remain at 33% or above of members who identify as non-white.
  • Maintain gender diversity on team (employees+workforce) to remain at 60% or above of members who identify as female or non-binary.
  • Complete the SDG Action Manager, an interactive tool that provides a 360-degree view of sustainable development goals and charts paths to improvement.
  • Achieve 60% of new business from our referral partners. Rich collaborations fuel us, and when our partners return with new projects, we know we’re doing something right.

Thanks for being a part of our work!

mangrove logo

Websites that make it easier for good people to do great work.

visit us at mangrove-web.com
certified corporation
We are a certified B-Corp based in both Oakland and Truckee, California.
This company meets the highest standards of social and environmental impact.
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© 2021 Mangrove Web Development

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