They help people get to their doctor. Their website got in the way.
Making a proven program easier to understand, share and support.
Problem
The website had become an obstacle: more than 200 PDFs, outdated content, dead ends and no clear path for people trying to understand, access or support TRIP. We expected brand foundations to come first, but the client pushed us to look at the website first — and Funder Ready Discovery proved they were right.
Solution
We paused the broader brand work and rebuilt the site as a focused, accessible minimum viable website. The new site clarified what TRIP is, who it serves, how to get started and why the program matters — giving ILP a stronger public tool for riders, partners, funders and prospective board members.
Turning a proven program into a clear public story
Independent Living Partnership is a Riverside County, California, nonprofit that runs TRIP — a transportation reimbursement program built around dignity, flexibility and trust. TRIP works differently from most transportation programs. ILP does not assign a driver. Riders choose their own volunteer driver, often a friend, neighbor, family member or caregiver. TRIP reimburses the rider for mileage, making it possible for them to pay the driver and get to medical appointments, grocery stores, counseling, family visits and the everyday destinations that help people remain independent.
The program works because people show up for each other. But to benefit from it, prospective riders have to be able to find the program, understand how it works and take the first step toward enrollment. Partners, funders and community leaders also need to understand why the program matters, who it serves and how it fits into the broader transportation and independence landscape in Riverside County.
ILP’s old website made all of that harder than it needed to be. The site had been built on WordPress, a platform that can be familiar and flexible for day-to-day content updates. But over time, WordPress sites also require ongoing technical maintenance: plugin updates, PHP version changes, security checks and troubleshooting when things quietly stop working. For a small nonprofit where every hour is already spoken for by the mission, that kind of upkeep can become an unfair ask.
So the site did what many nonprofit websites do: it accumulated. More than 200 PDFs. Overlapping information. Outdated pages. Dead ends. Important content that existed somewhere, but not necessarily where a rider, caregiver, partner or funder would know to look. The result was a public face that no longer reflected the strength, care or urgency of the organization behind it.
ILPConnect.org, rebuilt in Squarespace— a site ILP's team can maintain over time and their riders can actually use every day.
Discovery: The front door had to come first
Our original plan had been to start with Brand Foundations: the work of clarifying ILP’s messaging, voice, personality and brand architecture. That is often where we want to begin. It is also work we believe in deeply. But discovery told us something different.
The website had become the urgent barrier. A full brand process would still matter, but it would not give ILP the immediate public-facing clarity it needed. The organization needed a usable front door first: a site that could help riders understand the program, help partners share it and help funders see the seriousness of the work. Together with ILP, we made the call to hold Brand Foundations and stabilize the site first.
We rebuilt ILPConnect.org from scratch in Squarespace, a platform designed for organizations that need a professional, maintainable web presence without a developer on retainer. No plugin conflicts. No PHP updates. No technical back room that quietly becomes someone’s second job. Just a site ILP’s team could own.
The build was intentionally restrained: 12 pages, clear navigation and plain-language content designed around one question above all others: How does someone go from not knowing about TRIP to understanding the service and taking the next step?
We translated document-heavy content into readable web pages. We clarified the TRIP enrollment path. We built in required compliance pages. We organized partner and funder information. We created a Community Impact section. We made the site responsive and easier to use across devices. We also held back every feature that was not essential: no news hub, no resource library, no document archive pretending to be strategy.
ILP did not need more places to put information. It needed a site that worked for the rider who was not sure if they qualified, the family member helping a parent navigate the process, the senior center staff member making a referral, the funder looking for credibility and the prospective board member deciding whether this was an organization worth joining.
Early outcomes: Clarity created momentum
The new site quickly became more than a cleaner digital presence. It became a practical outreach tool. After launch, ILP shared the website with partners, cities and senior centers. Cat Ferguson, Director of Community Engagement, said the response was immediate: partners applauded the user-friendly improvements and felt the site captured the TRIP Program professionally, with a clear focus on user experience.
Senior center partners appreciated that the site focused on helping people stay mobile and making information easy to find. Funding partners appreciated seeing their support acknowledged. And, as Cat put it: “Everybody likes it because it sounds like us, just better.”
Within days of targeted outreach, ILP reported that nine new doors had opened for potential conversations and opportunities. The site also received unsolicited third-party validation. The RAP Foundation reviewed ILPConnect.org as part of a cohort of 89 nonprofit websites and identified it as one of the higher-scoring sites. The review looked at accessibility, transparency, donor engagement, clarity and overall user experience. RAP’s reviewer noted that the site had a strong foundation and reflected care in making the information accessible, authentic and useful for TRIP riders, partners and the broader community.
“The new site connects with both audiences we need to reach: people looking for access to services and the partners who help fund the work. Write Design Group took paragraphs of information about who we are and what we do and made it caring, clear and simple. Their communications work has given ILP a major boost as we move toward the next level of nonprofit success and service to our communities.”
— Cat Ferguson, Director of Community Engagement, Independent Living Partnership
For ILP, the website became more than a place to send people. It became one of the organization’s best introductions to TRIP — a clearer way to explain the program, acknowledge partners, invite support and open new conversations.
What comes next
The new site did not solve every communications challenge. It was not meant to. It stabilized the system.
Now ILP has a clearer place to send riders, a more credible tool for partner and funder outreach and a stronger container for the brand work still ahead. Brand Foundations comes next. And when that work is complete, there is a place for it to land: a clean, maintainable and accessible website structured to evolve with the organization.
For Write Design Group, the project reinforced something we see often: strong organizations do not always lack impact. Sometimes they lack the communications infrastructure that makes their impact easy to understand, trust and support. ILP already had the substance. Our job was to help make that substance visible.