What happens when no one knows how to update your grassroots organization's website? A WordPress Website Redesign Transformation

Four Mounds Foundation is a nonprofit on the bluffs of the Mississippi River in Dubuque, Iowa. Its mission is simple and enduring: preserve, educate, and serve. The Foundation operates a historic bed and breakfast to help fund its programs, including a workforce development initiative that offers hands-on training to at-risk youth and adults with barriers to employment. Historical preservation happens on-site, where staff and students work to conserve Iowa's last remaining gentleman's farm, as well as in the community, where service learning projects restore homes in Dubuque's most vulnerable neighborhoods.

Four Mounds' website was a DIY WordPress build showcasing a unique intersection of history, beauty, and social impact. But when staff turnover left no one to manage it, it quickly became a liability.

A nonprofit with a broad scope of work needs a website with a lot of functionality. Four Mounds needed a website that would better highlight the beauty of the bed and breakfast, accept donations and event inquiries, attract donors and grant funding, promote each unique program, and accept applications. In service of the organization's overall credibility and history, they also wanted to make public information—like the Four Mounds archive—easy to find.

Before working with NBD on their new website branding and design, Four Mounds' digital presence undermined the organization's own credibility with scattered content, verbose messaging, outdated branding, and a lack of visual appeal. Despite its many visitors, the website was disconnected from Four Mounds' mission and actual social impact. With poor site navigation, plug-in bloating, and broken mobile interface, it was both confusing for users and difficult to maintain. Four Mounds brought NBD on board to help realign their web design with their mission and history.

A well-executed brand refresh and digital rebuild can re-inspire trust, increase audience engagement, and improve workflows for entire organizations.

NBD took the Foundation's branding design to another level by modernizing their logo with a nod to its heritage, expanding the color palette with hues inspired by the land, and updating the typography using modern web fonts rooted in traditional forms. Together, the team turned historical illustrations of the property into brand assets. Combined with new professional photography and drone videography, Four Mounds now can now draw from a refreshed media library that celebrates place with dignity and purpose.

This refreshed media library was used to populate the new website: Today, a clean, accessible design highlights all the most important information using intuitive hierarchies and clear calls to action. Interactive elements and thoughtful layouts invite exploration with a focus on conversion. And perhaps most importantly, the website's backend was streamlined so Four Mounds staff can continue to manage it in-house.

Stripe was integrated for donations, and custom form flows connected inquiries directly to the correct inboxes. The website was optimized for search engines and AI tools, and the mobile site was cleaned up. The results were immediately measurable. Within two weeks of launch, active users increased by 72%, event engagement rose 180%, engaged sessions climbed 114%, and average session duration nearly doubled. The website's bounce rate dropped by 23%.

A website is so much more than just a place on the internet. The new Four Mounds website will help preserve its history and secure its future. It tells a story—one that invites people to participate in preservation, education, and service for years to come.