Fix The Web was established in November 2010 and is currently led by UK charity group Citizens Online. In the last year, it has successfully amassed a network of almost 700 volunteers who help manage the website and contact organisations on behalf of users who report inaccessible websites.
After its initial funding of £50,000from social investment group Nominet Trust, the project has been operating for a year without external funding. Most recently, Fix The Web hoped it would secure funding from the UK government’s £10 million Social Action Fund, but was not successful.
Fix The Web founder and director of programmes at Citizen Online, Gail Bradbrook, told E-Access Bulletin, the project “still has huge potential, but it needs some design work and some funding to oversee the work by volunteers. Come the New Year, if there isn’t a clear plan for the project, Citizens Online might have to withdraw because our brand will be associated with something that isn’t being looked after properly.”
While the project can be sustained by small donations, it needs £150 000 over the next 18 months for continued maintenance. Citizens Online has managed to raise pledges for services worth around £270 000, showing a level of support from communities for the project.
Fix The Web has attracted some high profile publicity and handled over 1000 reports of inaccessible websites, including the Coventry Building Society, various BBC websites and the online scheduling service Doodle.
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