A nonprofit website serves more audiences than almost any other kind of site. Donors, the people you serve, volunteers, funders, partners, journalists and job seekers all arrive with different questions, often on a phone, and each of them needs an answer within a few taps. This guide covers what a nonprofit website should include and how to organize it so it works for every one of those audiences without becoming a maze.
Organize by audience, not by department
The most common failure on nonprofit websites is a menu that mirrors the org chart: Programs, Development, Communications, Administration. Nobody outside the building thinks that way. Organize the site around what a visitor wants to do: Get Help, Give, Volunteer, Learn About Us. Programs then sit under the audience that uses them, described in the words that audience would use to search for them.
The essentials
1. A homepage that explains you in one screen
Who you serve, what changes because of your work, and where you work, in language a stranger understands. One clear primary action, usually Give or Get Help depending on your model, and a visible path to the others. Real photographs of your work beat stock imagery.
2. Program pages written for the people who use them
Each program needs: who it is for, what it provides, eligibility, how to apply or enroll, what happens next, and a named contact. If the program serves people in crisis, put the how-to-get-help steps first and the background last.
3. Impact communication you can stand behind
Numbers persuade, but only real ones. Publish outcomes you actually measure, explain briefly how you measure them, and update them on a schedule. A single honest figure with context is stronger than a wall of statistics nobody can source. Stories from the people you serve, shared with permission, carry the numbers.
4. A donation page that does not lose people
The giving page should load fast, work on a phone, explain what a gift funds at a few levels, offer recurring giving prominently, and hand off to your donation platform without a jarring change of look. Test the full path on a phone yourself. Tribute gifts, employer matching and other ways to give belong on a secondary page so the main page stays simple.
5. Volunteer recruitment with specifics
“Volunteer with us” converts poorly. “Serve breakfast on Saturday mornings, 7 to 10, no experience needed” converts. List real roles with time commitments, requirements and a form or contact that reaches a person within a day.
6. Events and community resources
Event pages with dates, places, registration and a sentence on who should come. Resource pages, guides, directories and downloadable forms that people can find from search, which is how many of the people you serve will first reach you.
7. Grant-funded initiatives and partners
Funders often require acknowledgment and reporting on the web. Give each initiative a page that program staff can update, with the funder acknowledged as required, so compliance does not depend on the development team remembering.
8. Trust signals
Board and leadership with photos, staff contacts, financial transparency such as annual reports and a link to your public filings, registration details, and a physical or mailing address. Donors check these before giving; funders check them before calling.
9. Contact that works
A monitored email, a phone number with hours, a physical address if you have a public location, and a form that routes to the right person. For organizations serving vulnerable people, make it clear what is confidential.
10. News that stays useful
Annual reports, newsletters and stories are content assets. Publish them as pages with real text rather than only PDFs, so they can be found in search and read on a phone.
Accessibility is part of the mission
Many nonprofits serve people with disabilities, older adults and people reading in a second language. A site that fails them contradicts the organization’s purpose. The basics are not expensive: readable type, strong color contrast, descriptive alt text, captions on video, forms with proper labels and error messages, a heading structure that makes sense, and a site that can be used with a keyboard. Test with the free tools built into browsers, then with a real screen reader.
Mobile and speed
Assume most of the people you serve are on a phone, often on a limited data plan. Compress images, avoid heavy embedded widgets, and check the site with PageSpeed Insights. A donation page that takes six seconds to load is a donation page that loses gifts.
Keep it maintainable between grant cycles
Choose a platform, WordPress in most cases, that your staff can edit. Decide who owns which pages. Set a quarterly review of program details, staff lists and impact figures so the site does not drift out of date between campaigns.
A short checklist
- Homepage that explains who, what and where in one screen
- Navigation by audience: Get Help, Give, Volunteer, About
- Program pages with eligibility, steps and a contact
- Impact figures you measure and can source
- Fast, phone-friendly donation page with recurring giving
- Specific volunteer roles with a working form
- Events and searchable community resources
- Funder acknowledgments that staff can maintain
- Board, financials, registration and address
- Accessible, fast and editable by your team
Deehvine Marketing designs and builds websites, brands and digital tools for nonprofits and community organizations, including the NB4HS Digital Platform. Read about our nonprofit web design work or start a project.