Building an Effective Website for a Nonprofit Organization

Published On: November 7th, 2022Categories: Nonprofit Website DesignTags: ,

Does your nonprofit website inspire visitors?

We have designed and developed several nonprofit websites over the past few years and found they have much in common and, in order to be effective, should include key elements and functions. Here is what we have learned…

The design should leave no uncertainty around who the organization is, what they do, and where visitors can go to start supporting them. The design should be inclusive and informative with well organized and easily accessible content. This will make it easier for users to find what they’re looking for and take action, resulting in deeper online engagement and more donations!

Your site should create engagement and encourage visitors to:

  • Become a member
  • Make a donation
  • Sign up to volunteer
  • Register for an event
  • Apply for an open position on your team

What to include

We want to help you advance your organization’s mission by exploring what website elements you can include in your site. Here are just a few…

Donations and Fundraising

Effective messaging can raise awareness and inspire visitors to make donations and help your fundraising efforts. Streamlined ecommerce forms that offer customized options such one time donations and recurring subscriptions and will make that process even easier.

Membership

Your website can be a central hub for membership functions such as new registrations and renewals. Content can be protected with dedicated user accounts. Your website should convey the benefits of being a member to drive new membership and participation.

Resource Management

Offering informative online resources such as a blog, videos, and documents will keep visitors coming back to your site. Organizing the information in a searchable, filterable library will allow visitors to find the information they need quickly. Resources can include a blog, videos, webinars, case studies and reports.

Event Management

Events calendar software is a great way to organize events. Events can be categorized and include venue information and digital content. Registration and ticket sales can also be added to events.

Privacy Policy

A privacy policy is a must for any organization. Your privacy policy will tell visitors how you are using their data and how it is being stored. This includes data from a contact form, membership, event registration and payment. For more information on privacy laws and GDPR read this article: GDPR Compliance  – How Does it Affect Me?

ADA Compliance

Website Accessibility ensures that people with disabilities are not denied equal access to information. An inaccessible website can exclude people just as much as steps at an entrance to a physical location can. Your website should be built with accessibility elements in place. These include things like color contrast, font size, form labels and navigation. Read more about Website ADA Compliance.

Language Translation

Keep in mind your audience and if you need translation for one or more languages. There are low cost/free software options that you can add to your site that translate pages on demand. These solutions are not always 100% accurate. Full language translation, where the pages are manually translated and viewable based on the user’s browser language, are more accurate but more costly.

Responsive Design

I shouldn’t even be writing about this in 2022 but there are still websites out there that are not mobile friendly. I can’t even….

Secure Hosting Environment

Website hosting plays a huge part of a successful website and even more so if you are a nonprofit organization and rely on your publicly facing website to be the driver of goals such as membership, donations and events. Hosting will affect site security, site speed and overall user experience.

I hope this article has inspired you to think about your website and what it could mean to your organization. Contact us for a website consultation and learn how we can help move your nonprofit to the next level!

Nonprofit Websites From Our Portfolio

Let’s Talk About Your Website

Get your Free Consultation

Your Name(Required)
We never share your email or other contact information.
So we can take a look at your existing website.
Tell us a little more...
Just checking if you are human.

About the Author: Carla Baldwin

Carla Baldwin
Carla is the owner of Baldwin Web Design. She is the lead developer and project manager with over twenty years of professional experience in web development and digital marketing.