Redesigning the Hub for a
Greener Newton
How 118Group helped Green Newton transform an outdated website into a modern platform for climate education, community engagement, and sustainable action.
Redesigning the Hub for a
Project Details.
Services Provided.
Digital Strategy & Discovery
Website Design & Development
Information Architecture
Content Strategy & UX Writing
User Persona Research
Accessibility & Compliance Design
Membership & Donation Strategy
RSS Newsletter Configuration
Staff Training
Governance Documentation
The Client.
Green Newton is a community-based climate action nonprofit serving the city of Newton, Massachusetts. Founded roughly 30 years ago, the organization educates residents and businesses on sustainable living, advocates for environmental policy, and runs programs spanning clean energy, waste reduction, green gardening, and urban ecology.
With a small staff led by Executive Director Judy Jacobs, a 10–15 member board of directors, and a base of dedicated volunteers, Green Newton punches well above its weight in community impact. Its weekly e-newsletter reaches over 3,000 subscribers—one of its most valuable assets—and its programs like the Energy Coach and Green Pages business directory serve as trusted local resources.
But its digital home hadn’t kept pace with the organization’s ambitions.
The Challenge.
Green Newton’s previous website was built on good intentions but had become a liability. Years of accumulated content, inconsistent updates, and no underlying information strategy had resulted in:
- Confusing, cluttered navigation built around internal logic rather than how visitors actually look for information.
- Hundreds of pages with no clear structure, many receiving zero traffic over the prior twelve months.
- An outdated visual identity that felt heavy and pessimistic—at odds with the optimistic, action-oriented mission of the organization.
- Overlapping donation and membership pathways, that confused supporters and cannibalized both revenue streams.
- Limited staff capacity to manage content with image uploads rendering poorly and no easy way to publish events, news, or resources consistently.
The result was a site that obscured rather than amplified Green Newton’s work—making it harder for residents to find actionable information, for volunteers to get involved, and for donors to understand the organization’s impact.
The website is very much in the stone ages. It’s confusing, messy, and doesn’t get our message across. It doesn’t invite people to use it as a tool to inform themselves.”
Our Focus.
From the outset, 118Group’s goal was to build a digital platform that could make climate action feel accessible and inviting—giving homeowners, businesses, volunteers, and donors clear pathways to engage with Green Newton’s mission.
The team centered the project around three objectives:
Redesign the site around real users, not internal structure.
Five core audience personas guided every architecture and content decision, from sustainability newcomers to environmentalists, volunteers, donors, and business owners.
Create a content framework built to grow
Three content hubs organize the site so staff can publish pages, resources, and events consistently without any technical support.
Make sustainability feel optimistic and actionable.
A visual identity built around hope, community, and practical next steps meets residents wherever they are on their sustainability journey.
The Highlights.
Clearer Paths for Every Visitor
The new site replaces a sprawling structure with navigation built around how people actually engage with sustainability. Three content hubs—Clean Energy Home, Low-Carbon Lifestyle, and Green Business—lead to deeper topic pages on solar, composting, weatherization, the Green Pages directory, and more. A dedicated “Get Involved” section brings volunteering, membership, donations, and events into one clear pathway.
Collaborative Co-Creation
With input from eight or more contributors—including a board member, executive director, energy advocate, and fundraising lead—the project required careful consensus-building. Over nearly 30 meetings across a year, 118Group navigated competing preferences on everything from homepage layout to call-to-action language, always grounding decisions in user research.
A Brighter Visual Identity
118Group guided the team away from a dark, heavy palette toward a lighter, more vibrant scheme that communicates optimism—a deliberate choice in a space often dominated by anxiety. Clean typography, generous white space, and warm photography make the site feel welcoming and modern, while subtle scroll animations add a sophistication that static mockups couldn’t convey.
Empowered Content Management
Reusable templates for hub pages, topic pages, resource posts, news items, and events give staff and volunteers the tools to keep the site current without developer support. A custom taxonomy system, integrated event calendar, site search, and Mailchimp RSS newsletter configuration ensure the site works as a living platform—not a static brochure.
Key Outcomes.
By clearly defining our focus for the project, we were able to deliver transformation outcomes for our client across a few key areas.
A Clear, Mission-Aligned Digital Home
Visitors can now easily navigate from understanding Green Newton’s mission to taking concrete action—whether that’s scheduling a home energy assessment, signing up to volunteer, attending an event, or becoming a member.
An Optimistic Home in a Doom-and-Gloom Space
The lighter visual identity positions Green Newton as an accessible, hopeful entry point for sustainability—inviting the “light green” residents who represent the organization’s greatest growth opportunity.
Empowered Staff, Scalable Framework
With modular templates, clear image standards, and hands-on training, the Green Newton team can manage and grow the site independently—publishing news, updating resources, and promoting events without outside help.
A Foundation Built for the Next Five to Seven Years
The flexible WordPress build, scalable content hubs, and integrated technology ecosystem—event calendar, site search, RSS newsletter, dynamic taxonomy—give Green Newton a platform that can evolve with its mission without requiring a full redesign.
118Group has deep knowledge of the nonprofit sector and how to drive action & conversions. They are strategic, pragmatic, flexible, and really easy to work with!”
Interested in Results Like These?
Let’s talk about how we can help your organization improve service access, user trust, and internal capacity.
