Sussex Wildlife Trust

The Challenge

Sussex Wildlife Trust came to us with a problem we see surprisingly often: their "website" was actually six different websites. One ancient proprietary CMS nobody could update, five self-hosted WordPress micro-sites with different themes, different login details, and different levels of neglect.

The content team were spending more time fighting their tools than creating content. Donation forms were clunky. Event bookings required phone calls. And the whole thing was painfully slow.

Our Approach

We started where you should always start—talking to the people who actually use the thing. We ran stakeholder interviews across the organisation, from the marketing team to the nature reserve wardens. Everyone had opinions. Most of them were useful.

Puree Design handled the visual identity while we dug into the information architecture. The old site had accumulated years of content—some valuable, some... less so. We audited everything, agreed some proper KPIs with the team, and started wireframing.

The technical decision was straightforward: Perch Runway. It's not the flashiest choice, but for a charity that needs reliability over bells and whistles, it's perfect. Easy for non-technical staff to update, fast to load, and stable enough that we're not getting calls at midnight.

The Results

The numbers told the story. Donations increased measurably after launch—partly the better UX, partly because people could actually find the donate button. Membership sign-ups followed the same pattern.

But the real win? The content team can actually do their jobs now. One CMS, one login, one place for everything. They're spending their time writing about hedgehogs and wildflower meadows instead of wrestling with WordPress.

We're still looking after the site years later. That's either a sign we did something right, or we're just very difficult to get rid of.