Supporting Conservation Through Nonprofit Website Design and Ongoing Optimization
The Mono Lake Committee is a nonprofit citizens’ group dedicated to protecting and restoring the Mono Basin ecosystem in California through education, conservation, and community engagement. Their website plays a critical role in this mission, serving visitors to their on-site Information Center and bookstore, participants in in-person education programs, and supporters from around the world.
When the Committee first partnered with Cornershop Creative, their website was dated, difficult to navigate, and challenging to maintain. We designed and built a clean, well-organized WordPress website using the Blocksy theme and Gutenberg blocks, with a focus on clarity, usability, and long-term flexibility.
A Clean WordPress Rebuild Focused on Usability and Organization
As part of the initial website redesign, we:
- Improved site navigation to help users quickly find key information
- Added taxonomies to organize more than two decades of news and content
- Integrated the site with Luminate Online
- Designed a new, visually engaging donation form
The result was a modern nonprofit website that better reflected the Mono Lake Committee’s mission and made it easier for visitors to learn, engage, and give.
From Launch to Long-Term Partnership
After launching the new site in 2020, the Mono Lake Committee continued working with us to keep the website running smoothly as their programs and content expanded. By 2023, recurring technical issues were consuming valuable staff time and creating a reactive maintenance cycle.
To address this, the Committee added a website maintenance and retainer plan, allowing our team to move beyond short-term fixes and invest in long-term improvements.
Full Site Audit and a Shift Away from Reactive Maintenance
Our first step under the retainer was conducting a comprehensive site audit. This audit identified opportunities to improve performance, stability, and workflows—helping us move the site out of a reactionary phase and toward predictable, proactive maintenance.
We prioritized resolving technical issues that slowed down staff workflows and negatively impacted user experience. Once those core issues were under control, we shifted focus to strategic enhancements that would support future growth.
Improving Donations, Ecommerce, and Conversion Tracking
With a more stable foundation in place, we began enhancing key revenue-driving areas of the site, including:
- Modernizing donation forms originally built in Luminate Online
- Improving conversion tracking for donations and ecommerce
- Enhancing the online store and event browsing experience
These updates make it easier for visitors to shop, register for events, or make a gift—removing barriers that previously limited engagement.
Flexible Support for Ongoing Improvements
In June 2024, the Mono Lake Committee expanded their retainer to include a maintenance and support plan with fast tasks. This additional flexibility allows us to handle small fixes and one-off requests quickly, without pulling time away from larger development and optimization projects.
The result has been steady, strategic progress toward a more stable, efficient, and optimized nonprofit website.
A Strong Digital Foundation for Conservation Work
Today, the Mono Lake Committee has a reliable digital platform that supports education, advocacy, and fundraising. By combining proactive maintenance, strategic planning, and forward-looking optimization, we’re helping ensure their website remains a powerful tool for advancing conservation goals—now and in the future.
With these improvements in place, upcoming SEO and Google Ads campaigns will be able to drive even more meaningful engagement from supporters discovering the Committee through search.
