Climate Resolve · Website case study

Showing the full reach of Climate Resolve's climate work

A redesign and rebuild that put an equity-focused climate nonprofit's programs, campaigns, and impact up front. It began as a donated homepage concept and grew into a long-term partnership covering the website, security, and staff IT.

The Keeping Cool program page on climateresolve.org, with a yellow header bar, an orange Donate button, a photo of a blue cool-surface running track, and The Challenge and Solutions side by side below it.

Key outcomes

10: program areas, each with its own page of current and past projects, so visitors see the work is continuous
85%: of nearly 69,000 visits in the past year were engaged visits
Passed: Google's Core Web Vitals assessment for real visitors on phones
Since 2021: Climate Resolve's web partner, from a donated homepage concept to monthly maintenance, security, and staff IT support

Project at a glance

Client: Climate Resolve, a Los Angeles nonprofit founded in 2010 that builds collaborations to champion equitable climate solutions
Audiences: Community members and community-based organizations (CBOs), policymakers and public agencies, partners and funders, donors, journalists, and people looking for climate jobs
Services: Homepage concept, UX and visual design, WordPress development, content migration, SEO and analytics setup, staff training, and ongoing maintenance, performance, security, accessibility, and IT support
Platform: WordPress with Elementor Pro and The Events Calendar Pro, now on SiteGround behind Cloudflare
Integrations: Embedded donation forms, Constant Contact newsletter sign-up, a live Instagram feed, Yoast SEO, GA4, Google Tag Manager, and Google Search Console
Timeline: Donated homepage concept in 2021, then design, build, and launch in November 2022
Standards: Ongoing accessibility audits and fixes, PCI compliance for online giving, and Core Web Vitals performance targets
Engagement: Donated concept, then a contracted redesign and rebuild. Since 2024, a monthly maintenance retainer, plus IT support for Climate Resolve's staff. Client reference available on request.

The challenge

Climate Resolve works on many fronts at once: cooling neighborhoods during extreme heat, wildfire resilience, transportation, smart growth, nature-based solutions, climate science, and free grant-writing help for communities applying for climate funding. It works alongside grassroots groups and policymakers, so its website has to speak to residents, partners, funders, and decision-makers all at once.

The organization had a lot to show and a small communications team to show it:

The breadth of the work was hard to see. More than a decade of programs, wins, and partnerships needed a structure that made the whole portfolio, and the impact behind it, clear at a glance.
Campaigns move fast. Action alerts, events, and policy moments come and go, and the team needed a way to feature what's live now without losing the record of what came before.
Every visit is a chance to build support. Donations, newsletter sign-ups, and calls to action needed to be everywhere a visitor might be ready to act.
Staff needed to own the content. Stories, campaigns, events, team pages, and job listings change constantly, and Climate Resolve's team needed to publish them without a developer.

What success had to look like

Make the full range of Climate Resolve's programs and their impact easy to see
Feature current campaigns while keeping a visible record of past work
Turn visitors into supporters, with donation and newsletter paths throughout
Let staff publish stories, campaigns, events, team members, and jobs themselves
Carry over the existing content and search value from the old site
Keep the site fast, secure, and accessible as it grows

Our approach

The project started as a donated homepage concept. When Climate Resolve secured funding for the full website, it contracted us to design and build the rest, and we've stayed on as its web partner since launch.

1
Phase 1
Concept
We met with Climate Resolve's team, reviewed its brand book and the sites it admired, and designed a new homepage concept as a donation.
Key deliverables
- Discovery meetings with the communications team
- Brand and inspiration review
- A donated homepage redesign concept
2
Phase 2
Design
With the concept approved and funding in place, we designed every interior page type, working through feedback rounds with Climate Resolve's team before development began.
Key deliverables
- Desktop and mobile designs for every page type
- A program page template with current and past projects
- Campaign, story, events, jobs, team, and impact page designs
3
Phase 3
Build and migrate
We built the site in WordPress so staff could edit every page visually, and carried over the old site's content.
Key deliverables
- WordPress build with Elementor Pro and The Events Calendar Pro
- Migration of blog posts, stories, and events
- Donation, newsletter, and Instagram integrations
- Analytics, Tag Manager, and Search Console setup
- Yoast SEO, social sharing images, redirects, and 404 monitoring
4
Phase 4
Train and launch
We trained Climate Resolve's staff, tested the site with them, and launched in November 2022, with staff accounts ready to post jobs on day one.
Key deliverables
- Hands-on website review and training session
- User acceptance testing with Climate Resolve's team
- Launch and post-launch fixes
5
Phase 5
Optimize and support
After launch, we kept improving the site and took on more of Climate Resolve's technology, from performance and security to staff IT.
Key deliverables
- Speed and stability work, including caching, Cloudflare, and image compression
- PCI compliance for online giving
- Accessibility audits and fixes
- A move to SiteGround, with retired sister sites preserved as fast static pages
- Monthly maintenance, UX consulting, and remote IT support for staff

What we built

Ten program areas, each with a living record of the work

A "What We Do" menu organizes Climate Resolve's work into ten program areas, from Keeping Cool and Wildfire to Transportation and No-Cost Grant Writing Assistance. Every program page uses the same template:

The challenge and the solution, side by side, so visitors understand why the work matters before they read the details
Current projects with photos and short summaries, such as cool pavement across South LA and cool surfaces in Pacoima
Past projects kept on the same page, so the record of what Climate Resolve has achieved stays visible as new work begins

The Current Projects section of the Keeping Cool page, with three photo cards for Cooling South LA, the Shine On Initiative, and Cool Surfaces in Pacoima, each with a short summary.

Campaigns that turn visitors into advocates

The Take Action page splits campaigns into Current and Past tabs. Staff publish a new action alert in minutes, and when a campaign ends it moves to the archive instead of disappearing, so funders and partners can see the full arc of Climate Resolve's advocacy.

The Campaigns section of the Take Action page, with Current Campaigns and Past Campaigns tabs and two action alert cards about LA County's infrastructure plan and heat pumps.

Impact up front, and a path to give on every page

The homepage leads with Climate Resolve's purpose and mission, then shows its impact in plain numbers, such as the cool roofs installed across Los Angeles since the legislation it led in 2013.

Support is never more than a click away: a Donate button in the header on every page, a donation section with other ways to give, a newsletter sign-up, and a "Get Involved" band that points visitors to speak up, show up, and sign up.

The Our Impact section of the homepage, with icons and statistics for cool roofs, millions of gallons of stormwater captured, and years in operation.

Content the team runs itself

Every page is built in a visual editor, so Climate Resolve's staff publish stories, events, team profiles, and press releases on their own. A Climate Jobs board lets staff post openings from partner organizations, with a "Share a job" link for anyone with an opportunity to list. Team pages include optional pronouns.

Since launch, the site has added 33 stories and news posts, 30 pages, and 43 team profiles.

More than a decade of history, carried over

We migrated the old site's stories, news, and events, more than 85 posts going back years, and set up redirects for retired program addresses so links from partners and press still land in the right place. Analytics, Tag Manager, and Search Console moved over with the site, and Yoast SEO and social sharing images were set up on every page.

Fast, secure, and reliable

After launch, we focused on performance and reliability. We added caching, put the site behind Cloudflare, compressed images, and fixed the scheduled-task problem that was slowing the server. In 2025, we brought Climate Resolve's online giving into PCI compliance and moved its sites to SiteGround, turning retired sister sites into fast static pages.

Today the site passes Google's Core Web Vitals assessment for real visitors on phones, and it scores 100 for Best Practices in Google Lighthouse.

Before and after

The previous Climate Resolve homepage in October 2022, with a white header of cyan text links, a full-width photo of downtown Los Angeles, and a heading about regional climate resilience beside a video. — Homepage. The old homepage opened with a large photo slider and a video. The new one leads with Climate Resolve's purpose, its mission and equity approach, and a clear path to donate.

The current Climate Resolve homepage, with a yellow and teal header, an orange Donate button, and the headline "Our purpose is a just and resilient future" over a photo of Los Angeles. — Homepage. The old homepage opened with a large photo slider and a video. The new one leads with Climate Resolve's purpose, its mission and equity approach, and a clear path to donate.

The previous Keeping Cool page in 2022, with a red and orange skyline banner and two columns of text titled The Challenge and Solutions. — Program page. Before, program pages were mostly text under a photo banner. Now each one pairs the challenge with the solution and shows current and past projects with photos.

The current Keeping Cool page, with a photo of a blue cool-surface running track and The Challenge and Solutions sections on a teal background. — Program page. Before, program pages were mostly text under a photo banner. Now each one pairs the challenge with the solution and shows current and past projects with photos.

Results

The new climateresolve.org launched in November 2022. Four years on, it carries Climate Resolve's campaigns, stories, events, and job listings, and Climate Resolve's team keeps it up to date.

In the past year, the site welcomed nearly 69,000 visits, and 85% of them were engaged visits. It passes Google's Core Web Vitals assessment for real visitors on phones, and its online giving is PCI compliant.

Goals, what we delivered, and the evidence
Goal	What we delivered	Evidence
Make the full range of programs and impact easy to see	Ten program pages on one template, a homepage impact section, and an Impact page with Climate Resolve's annual reports	Every program area has its own page with current and past projects.
Feature current campaigns while keeping the record	A Take Action page with Current and Past Campaigns tabs	Ended campaigns move to the archive instead of being deleted.
Turn visitors into supporters	A Donate button on every page, a donation section on the homepage, newsletter sign-ups, and Get Involved calls to action	85% of the nearly 69,000 visits in the past year were engaged visits.
Staff publish on their own	Visual page editing, plus templates for stories, campaigns, events, team profiles, and jobs, and hands-on training	Since launch, the site has added 33 posts, 30 pages, and 43 team profiles.
Carry over content and search value	Content migration, redirects, 404 monitoring, and analytics and Search Console continuity	More than 85 posts from the old site live on in the new one.
Fast, secure, and accessible as it grows	Caching, Cloudflare, image compression, PCI compliance, accessibility audits, and a move to SiteGround	Passes Core Web Vitals for real mobile visitors, with a 100 Best Practices score in Google Lighthouse.

Sources: Google Analytics 4, October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026; Google PageSpeed Insights (Chrome UX Report, 28 days, and Lighthouse on the mobile homepage), October 26, 2026; post, page, and team profile counts from the site's WordPress content, October 26, 2026. Before screenshots are from the Internet Archive, 2022.

In their words

Their service has been excellent.

— Development & Communications Director, Climate Resolve · Read the Review on Clutch

An ongoing partnership

Climate Resolve is still a Digital Mountaineers client. Since 2024, a monthly maintenance retainer has covered updates, content changes, accessibility audits and fixes, and UX consulting, and in 2025 we added remote IT support for Climate Resolve's staff. We've also supported its Resilient California Summit website and are deploying an internal app that helps its team track projects and budgets.

Is this project like yours?

This case study is most relevant if your organization:

Works across many programs and needs to show the full picture of its impact
Runs advocacy campaigns that change often and wants a record of past wins
Has a small communications team that needs to publish without a developer
Needs a secure, PCI-compliant path for online giving
Wants one partner for the website, hosting, security, and staff technology

Capabilities demonstrated

UX and visual design
WordPress and Elementor development
Content migration and SEO preservation
Analytics setup
Staff training
Performance and security
PCI compliance
Accessibility audits and fixes
Hosting and infrastructure
IT support
Ongoing support

Planning a redesign or issuing an RFP?

We'd welcome the chance to bid. Tell us about your timeline and requirements, and we'll share relevant work, references, and an approach tailored to your organization.

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