Friends of Asheville Muni. June 2026 to present. Fractional creative director.
One launch day. Memberships up 20% in four weeks.
Friends of Asheville Muni is the volunteer nonprofit behind Asheville's 1927 Donald Ross municipal golf course. I led its rebrand and relaunch in the summer of 2026: messaging, brand direction, a new website, and one coordinated launch on September 1, a few weeks before the PGA Tour's Biltmore Championship came to Asheville.
The work.
Each slot is labeled with the asset that goes in it.
The results
- Launched the new brand, website, press release, email, social posts, and newsletter blast together on September 1, 2026, on schedule.
- Paying memberships grew 20% from launch through September 28, 2026 (FOAM's paying-member count). Growing paid membership was the main business goal behind the rebrand.
- In the first month after launch, compared with the month before (Squarespace Analytics): unique visitors up 97%, daily visits up 60%, page views up 20%.
- Instagram and Facebook each grew 10% over the same month.
- WNC Golf Insider picked up the story, with a feature on the Muni scheduled for September 30, 2026.
The starting point
FOAM formed around 2022, when it became clear the course needed organized support. Hurricane Helene raised the stakes in September 2024: the front nine flooded and is still closed while the City works through the FEMA rebuild.
The organization was run entirely by volunteers, and the way it presented itself showed it. Social posts went out scattered through the year with no theme, design, or story tying them together. The website had been pieced together by different volunteers over several years. It covered the basics but had no story, no consistent look, and no clear structure. Plenty of people didn't know FOAM existed, that it's all-volunteer, that it isn't funded by the City, or that it does more than raise money.
That's what a volunteer group looks like when everyone gives the time they have. Nobody did anything wrong. It just looked like a small local club, and FOAM needed to look like an organization people would trust with a membership, a donation, or a hole sponsorship.
What I built
Messaging.
I started with discovery homework for the group, then wrote the messaging foundation: who FOAM is, what it does, and how it's different from the City, which owns the course, and Commonwealth Golf Partners, which runs it. The line that came out of it: "The City owns the Muni. Commonwealth Golf Partners runs it. Friends of Asheville Muni is the volunteer nonprofit that helps it thrive." The rule for everything after was clarity first, then warmth, and never country club.
Brand direction.
I ran a three-brand analysis for Paul and the team, then directed designers through 99designs on the system we chose. I didn't draw the mark. I set the direction and ran the process to a final logo (a mountain-bear silhouette with a Blue Ridge ridgeline motif and a green palette), then carried it into a full brand across the website, social, and print.
Website.
I planned the architecture, wrote the copy, and built the site in Squarespace, rebuilt in place on FOAM's existing domain with the old page addresses redirected. Every page points to one ask: join the Friends, a single $50 membership.
Launch kit.
Collateral, the press release and companion email, a media list for the release, the launch-day social posts, and the Constant Contact launch email. After launch, a fall social calendar built around FOAM's event season.
One launch day, and what I'd change
I'm a big fan of launching everything at once, so the story shows up everywhere on the same day. The August newsletter told the list, "Coming in September you will see Friends of Asheville Muni with a new brand and new website." On August 24 I flipped the new site live quietly, while daily traffic was low, so we could catch problems before anyone was looking. On September 1 the email went out, the press release went out, and the social posts went live together. Everything had been built the day before, so launch day itself took about 15 minutes of work.
The part I'd change is the order of the board review. It ended up happening September 2, the day after the site went public, so any board feedback had to go into later phases instead of the launch. With a volunteer organization I'd now do three things before a project starts. Define roles and tasks in writing. Get a clear commitment from each volunteer on what they're taking on, especially anything other people are waiting on. And tell the board well in advance what they'll be asked to review, when, and how much of their time it will take.
Where it stands today
The brand and site are live, and I'm on a monthly retainer running social (two to four posts a week, scheduled two weeks at a time in Buffer) and keeping the site current. I'm also working with FOAM on new membership options and sponsorship packages for local businesses. Neither is confirmed yet.
One month of numbers is a start. The real test is January 2027, when every FOAM membership comes up for renewal, and the fuller results (renewals, donations, sponsorships) come in 2027.
My role.
Fractional creative director, June 2026 to present, at a nonprofit rate. I owned the messaging, brand direction, website architecture, copy, and build, and the launch kit and press release, and I now run social and the site on retainer. Paul Bonesteel, FOAM's president, was the sole decision-maker and approver. My scope was the brand and the launch. I wasn't held to membership targets. The bet was that a clearer brand and site would make joining easier, and the first month points that way.
Start with the free call.
Sixty minutes. I'll tell you what I'd do and what I think it's worth. Within 48 hours you get a written playbook you can run with or without me.