In this paper, we describe the notion of a semantic information portal. This is a community information portal that exploits the semantic web standards to improve structure, extensibility, customization and sustainability. We are in the process of developing a prototype directory of environmental organizations as a demonstration of the approach and outline the design challenges involved and the current status of the work. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.4.0 [Information Systems applications]: General General Terms Design, Experimentation. Keywords Semantic Web, Information Portals.