Annual Report - Website Upgrades and Future Plans...

 

Website Upgrades Taking Hold

The Aftermath Foundation website has undergone significant upgrades in the past year.  The first initiative was to convert the bulk of the site over to WordPress, a state of the art, user-friendly software package which affords multiple options for customization, increased functionality and easier updating capability.  Once the conversion was complete a lot of new material was added.

As a result, we’ve experienced a dramatic increase in new and returning visitors to our site.  We grew from 20,915 users in the 1st Quarter 2015 (of which 73.9% were new visitors) to 33,985 users in the 4th Quarter (of which 76.1% were new to our site).  We believe this increase is due to our newly updated, user-friendly design as well as expanding our horizon by translating our website into a variety of languages.  Although English-speaking countries, such as the USA, UK, Canada and Australia, still provide the bulk of our visitors, we have witnessed an increase from Spain, Mexico, Germany, India and Indonesia.  Our translation team is seeking new multi-lingual volunteers who can assist with other languages!

New Pages and New Content

We’ve also made several important changes to our content.  Many new pages were added, including a streamlined Membership Renewal page, a direct link to our Annual Report as well as our revised Privacy Policy. Likewise, links to Escrip and Amazon were strategically placed for those wishing to support the Foundation through their third-party purchases, as the use of these links provides the Foundation small commissions on every sale.  The Aftermath Foundation Store has also been upgraded to allow ready updates of new books and the potential to offer Aftermath Foundation products for sale.  Several new books were added this year, including Born To Destroy and The Secret Life of Captain X, both written by Aftermath Foundation members.

Because of our commitment to be a science-based resource for current information about psychopathy, a series of scientific journal articles were summarized in “plain English” and posted on the homepage.  Translation efforts are underway to bring these scientific findings to others, as well.

Fundraising Outreach

As part of our fundraising outreach program, a short article on corporate psychopathy was made available to those in the public who expressed an interest in learning more about psychopathy and the Foundation.  A sign-up option was placed on the homepage for visitors wishing to receive email updates about the Aftermath Foundation.  A short year-end video was produced and placed on the homepage to thank those who had donated during the year and, hopefully, entice others to become members.

Education Initiatives Expanded

In the past, Aftermath Foundation Executive Committee members have conducted live training programs throughout the United States.  Audiences have included psychologists, therapists, and members of the legal profession.  As a precursor to our goal of developing and providing online programs, two "web conversations" were held for current Members.  Drs. Robert Schug and Paul Babiak, members of the Board of Directors, discussed their psychopathy research with groups of current Aftermath Members and students interested in psychopathy.  In addition, videos were made of a couple of lectures conducted at the recent Conference of the Society For the Scientific Study of Psychopathy (SSSP) held in Chicago this year.  These materials along with others that are planned will form the basis of future online webinars and courses.

More Changes on the Way in 2016

The next phase of upgrades will include the addition of a secure, private Members section designed to provide unique resources to Members, a page recognizing those who make donations, the upgrade of our Forum registration process as well as a newly designed Forum with improved functionality.   And, ”back by popular demand,” we are very excited about the return of Aftermath Radio in the Fall of 2016, hosted by Dr. Robert Schug!  Stay tuned…..

 

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