Righteous Sites
We create badass, impactful websites that help our clients connect with their community and advance the good they do in the world.
Not exactly the Dalai Lama? No worries. We interpret “doing good in the world” many ways, from non-profits focused on solving food desert issues to social sports leagues helping folks make friends. We just want to make the world a better place!
Check out some of our recent projects. 😀
Carbon Free Skills
Lightning Fruit is an end-to-end digital powerhouse. We build websites, yes, but our focus is on the entire journey – from discovery to launch—and beyond. We create a strategy around your website that gets results, whether that’s building your community or driving conversions. And we make you look damn good while we’re at it.
Website and Web Apps
This is where we started and it’s the core of what we do, and we do it well. We work with WordPress, Vue, and Shopify (to name a few) to build fully custom websites that rock!
- Websites, microsites, web apps… what else you got?
- Super easy to use interface for your team
- Ongoing support & lasting friendship
Design With a Purpose
Everyone at Lightning Fruit is a creative, and we put the power of our entire team behind our work. We design sites that are not just beautiful but smart and useful. We start with discovery to dig deep into the why and who, then we geek out on data and design.
- Website planning & design
- UX-driven discovery
- Style & site documentation + fashion advice!
Digital Strategy
We connect all the dots: what’s happening now, what you’re getting out of it, and how to improve. We look beyond the website to include email, social media, customer management, and everything that connects to your digital machine.
- Assessment of tools & connections
- Recommendations for site improvements
- Ongoing strategy (with optional star charts)
Incredible Team
Lightning Fruit is a wild digital ship sailing from the port of Washington, DC. Our crew of scallywags comes in all flavors, has universal nerd streaks two miles wide, and several ship’s dogs. We do our best not to be too serious about things (except keeping the internet pesticide-free, of course). We play video games in the office, discuss astrology signs over lunch, and have been known to hunt the fiercest of tacos.
All of us believe in using our business to make the world a better place. Much of our work is with non-profits, progressives, political groups and social enterprises, trying to make this planet better for all of us. Past clients have included DC Central Kitchen, the ACLU, Transparency International, Union Kitchen, and DC Fray. We figure the least we can do is make their websites look dope.
We want to grow good in the world through creative websites.
Introducing...
Brandon Amey
Senior Web Developer
Brandon is a developer with 10+ years of experience. Knowing several different programming languages, he designs and develops beautiful web elements and applications. He's worked with several different brands helping them to showcase their work in the best light. When he's not being a developer, he's at brunch or cooking something awesome.
Nerd-ery: can quote the entire first Harry Potter movie and frequently watches/reads the entire series.
Keairis Michie
Senior Creative
Ke is a designer and artist with 7+ years of experience. She works at the intersection of sharpness and eccentricity by creating meaningful, challenging and eye catching solutions. She has worked with agencies and brands to help tell their story, or create the entire story. When not being an artist/designer she enjoys music, sarcasm, and the studies of the universe.
Nerd-ery: can tell you everything about your star sign... moon sign ... ascendant... be ready to get deep
MJ Watkins
Director of Technology
Knowledgeable with many programming languages and complex web development, MJ Watkins brings over 15 years of experience managing and executing all phases of digital development projects ranging from websites and online applications to overall creative direction, information architecture, and UI/UX (User Inerface and User Experience) and identity design.
Nerd-ery: will pre-order the Collector's Extra-Special Limited Edition of all the latest games (even though he has been TOLD not to, because pre-orders are bad). Did we mention he speaks Japanese?
Stephanie Acks
Director of Operations
Stephanie’s background in marketing stretches from small businesses in the DC area, to global non-profits, to tech startups (including Lightning Fruit, whose marketing she also handles!). She’s a wizard at project management, timelines, and keeping things on track, when she’s not meticulously crafting the perfect sentence and explaining to the rest of the team the importance of the Oxford comma. She’s handled million-dollar digital advertising campaigns, crafted compelling stories for social media and blogs, and is leading the charge on turning Asana from a checklist into a hyper-responsive, hyperspeed, possibly-self-aware machine for hurtling projects across the finish line.
Nerd-ery: currently working her way through all of Star Trek (by show/movie release date not star date, in case you were wondering)
Lars Dabney
Founder & Anti-CEO
Lars started building websites in college, took a detour through the non-profit sector (where he worked as a humanitarian attorney) and journalism (where he worked as a war correspondent), and founded Lightning Fruit four years ago to help bring advanced technical awesomeness to causes he believes in. His combination of technical-mindedness, personal passion, and good humor helps make every project not only a success, but enjoyable from start to finish.
Nerd-ery: where to start?? runs a sci-fi bookclub, DM's a DnD campaign that includes doggos, can't get through the day without watching a preview for a new game... dare we go on?
Check out our blogs
Friends... Maybe?
Let's Start Something Awesome!
Wait, but how much is this going to cost me?
(Tap to find out)
Builds start at $10,000 and depending on complexity go up from there. Our hourly rates for retainers or smaller builds/fixes is $150/hour, and $135 for non-profits. If you’re a non-profit and your budget is a bit tight, we’re here to help you out! As long as you have a cause we can get behind, we can figure something out (NRA need not apply).