Case Study: Site redesign wins Metallica’s support

Photo by Tim Saccenti

Meet the Client

Nellie’s is a gender-based violence organization in Toronto. Since 1973, Nellie’s has been a place of respite and rejuvenation for women and their children fleeing violence, abuse, and homelessness.

We have been working with Nellie’s since 2018, acting as their outsourced communications team to write and design much of their donor communications materials. (See Case Study: Creating continual donor-centric content and Case Study: Easing the burden of producing an annual report.) In 2024, we were hired to refresh their brand. (See Case Study: Refreshing and relaunching a brand identity.)

The Client’s Challenge

The website had been a pain point for Nellie’s for many years. Designed 15 years earlier and written and designed by a number of staff members as well as volunteers, it had been neglected to the point that it was difficult to navigate, wasn’t mobile friendly, and much of the information was outdated and not fully aligned with their style, tone, and current messaging. The development team, executive director, and even program staff often pointed people to anywhere but the website to find needed information. 

It certainly wasn’t attracting many donors, and was likely confusing program participants and those in need of shelter by providing out-of-date information. 

Our Solution

Overhauling the website became part of the 2024 brand relaunch project. We started by redrafting the site map to heighten user experience. As a non-profit, Nellie’s has multiple audiences visiting their website at any given time — clients looking to access their services, like-minded organizations, individuals interested in better understanding gender-based violence, and donors looking to support their work. With clear sections and subsections based on ‘who’ was visiting, rather than ‘what’ they did, we created a well-defined path for each audience segment. 

From there, we began to write 30+ new pages of content, carefully considering style, tone, calls to action, messaging, language choice, and more to make sure that every page spoke to its intended audience, while also ensuring that those same words resonated and created an emotional connection with the other audiences as well. Once the content was finalized, we worked with our trusted web design partner, to create a beautiful, easy-to-navigate website.

The Results

The new website launched in fall 2024. Six months later, Nellie’s received an unexpected phone call from the foundation arm (All Within My Hands) of the band, Metallica. All Within My Hands is dedicated to creating sustainable communities by supporting workforce education, the fight against hunger, and other critical local services. On every stop during the band’s world tour, two to three local non-profits are chosen to receive grants. In Toronto, Nellie’s was chosen to receive a $40,000 grant. The decision was based primarily on the strength of the information found on the website.

Here at Luminate, the entire rebranding project, including the new website, won a TITAN Brand Award for Non-Profit Rebrand.