friends of charleston national parks
A nonprofit renamed, rebuilt, and found — from the Fort Sumter Trust to Friends of Charleston National Parks, with a new identity, a new website, and the search presence to match.
CLIENT
Friends of Charleston National Parks
INDUSTRY
SERVICES
Full Spectrum
TIMELINE
Long (6+ months)
THE BRIEF
a new name for a mission that had outgrown its old one.
The organization began life as the Fort Sumter Trust — a name that pointed at a single fort when the work had grown to embrace all of Charleston Harbor's national parks: Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, and the ground where the country's story was written and defended. It had an aging website nobody could safely change and a name that no longer told the whole truth. The brief grew into the real thing: rename and rebrand the organization for the breadth of what it actually does, build it a proper home, and make sure the people who'd give and show up could find it. Fort Sumter Trust would become Friends of Charleston National Parks — with an identity, a website, and the search presence to carry the new name.
WHAT WE DID
01
the rename & rebrand
- Took the organization from Fort Sumter Trust to Friends of Charleston National Parks — a name as wide as its mission, embracing every park in the harbor rather than a single fort.
- Designed the new mark from the parks' own symbols — the Fort Sumter cannon, the palmetto, and the sun over the water — worked through cannon, palmetto, and sun-and-water directions to one rooted emblem, set into a full brand-guidelines system.
02
the new website
- Built a new WordPress site from the ground up — replacing an aging site that couldn't be safely touched — and redirected the old fortsumtertrust.org across to the new friendscnp.org, so the history came with the new name.
- Structured it around how a supporter actually moves from caring to giving: the mission, the parks, the ways to give, the events calendar, and a private area for the board's own documents.
03
events & collateral
- Designed the invitations and campaign pieces for the calendar the parks run on — from the Oyster Roast to the Concert in the Fort.
04
found in search
- Ran the organization's SEO — keyword research and rank tracking, on-page optimization, and local search — so the parks' cause turned up when Charleston went looking for it.
- Set up analytics and Search Console and delivered monthly reporting, growing the site to well over 100,000 search impressions a month at its peak.
THE OUTCOME
one fort's trust, remade as a friend to all the harbor's parks — and easy to find.
Renamed
FORT SUMTER TRUST → FRIENDS OF CHARLESTON NATIONAL PARKS
3
PARK SYMBOLS IN ONE NEW MARK · CANNON · PALMETTO · SUN
100K+
MONTHLY SEARCH IMPRESSIONS, FROM THE SEO WE RAN
NEXT CHAPTER
has your name stopped telling your whole story?
Let's rename, rebrand, and rebuild — a home as wide as your mission, and easy to find.