Whether they’ve recently learned about your nonprofit and want to do more research or are already familiar and ready to give to your cause, your supporters expect to be able to find your organization online. A well-designed nonprofit website is central to staying connected with your supporters and encouraging future donations.
Potential supporters will be most eager to give to your nonprofit organization online when you’ve created a beautiful site for them to interact with. The best designed nonprofit websites are those that:
Ready to transform your nonprofit’s website into a beautiful one? Whether you’re creating a new website for your nonprofit or giving your current site a makeover, we’ve compiled a list of the most valuable best practices for nonprofit web design. As you work to improve your organization’s online presence, we’ll show you some of the ways that you can:
From the moment a visitor arrives on your site, you want them to have a good idea of your nonprofit’s mission and an understanding of the important work that you do each day. Introduce or reinforce these aspects of your organization with a beautiful website that tells your story right from the homepage.
Your website is a primary location for new visitors to be introduced to your nonprofit organization and your work as well as for familiar supporters to stay updated on your latest projects. Visitors to your website should be able to grasp your nonprofit’s overall mission as well as your most urgent goals quickly and easily.
A beautiful website begins with a clean and modern layout that’s easy for your site’s visitors to navigate and for your nonprofit’s team to update. If you're like most nonprofits, it’s unlikely that your team members are experienced web developers. In this case, you’ll benefit from choosing to host your site on a content management system (CMS) designed specifically for nonprofits.
A nonprofit CMS makes it easy for your organization to convey your story to visitors and direct them to the most important pages on your site. Some of the features to look for as you choose a nonprofit CMS include:
Looking for another place on your site to share your nonprofit’s goals, latest achievements, and other key aspects of your story in more detail? Choose a CMS that features robust and easy-to-use blogging tools so that your team can share even more valuable information with supporters and other visitors to your site.
When your nonprofit web design is both beautiful and easy to navigate, your supporters will be encouraged to explore your site further and use it to make their gifts. Keep them engaged and demonstrate your trustworthiness with a site that’s branded to your organization on every page.
Your website is an excellent location to build brand recognition for your nonprofit. No matter the size of your organization, supporters will be more enthusiastic about giving to your nonprofit when they’re able to associate your name, logo, and other branding elements with all of the good work you’ve demonstrated.
Branding is also essential to making your site trustworthy so that supporters know exactly where their contributions are going. The presence of your branding elements on all of your website’s pages—and especially your donation page—assure supporters that their gifts are going straight to the cause they care about.
Some of the most important branding elements to incorporate into your nonprofit web design include:
Beautiful nonprofit website design makes your site visitors feel confident about supporting your organization because they associate your branding with quality work.
As you create or refresh your nonprofit website, remember that many of your online supporters will be visiting your site and your donation page on their mobile devices. Your branding elements should appear just as prominently on mobile as on desktop displays of your site.
Whether your supporters are visiting your website to catch up on your organization’s most recent progress, make a gift, or register to join you at your next event, you’ll want to make sure that your nonprofit web design facilitates their journey through your site and takes them exactly where they want to go.
Your nonprofit’s team works hard each day to better your community and the wider world. You have so much to share with your site visitors and plenty of opportunities to offer them when they want to get involved! Encourage your site visitors to engage with your organization by designing a nonprofit website that’s easy for them to navigate.
When visitors can find exactly what they’re looking for as soon as they land on your website, they’ll have a positive experience that will lead them to think more highly of your organization. Because they have found what they need so quickly, many of them will be motivated to explore more of the components of your site, increasing the likelihood that they’ll find new ways to get involved.
Ready to design a website that will connect supporters with the information they need and boost engagement with your organization? Make sure that your nonprofit website design is:
Your supporters visit your website to learn more about your organization and explore the ways in which they can get involved in contributing to your good cause. For many of them, this means donating to your organization.
Make your donation page prominent within your site’s navigation and ensure that you engage in nonprofit web design best practices when it comes to this essential component of your website.
Your donation page is one of the most important—and most searched-for—components of your nonprofit’s website. Many site visitors will arrive on your website for the specific purpose of making gifts to your organization! Design your nonprofit website so that visitors can access your donation page from any location on your site.
An effective donation page is one that is as easy for your nonprofit’s team to create as it is for your site’s visitors to access and use. By building an on-site donation page using your CMS designed for nonprofits, you’ll be able to:
When it comes to online giving, supporters value convenience. You can simplify the process by offering a quick donation option on your homepage like that of the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast. A simplified donation form will allow donors to give to your cause as soon as they arrive on your website.
The most beautiful and effective nonprofit website designs encourage visitors to return to your site again and again. Provide your site’s visitors with several convenient ways to stay connected so that they can stay updated on your progress and support you whenever they’re inspired!
Engaging nonprofit web design does more than simplify the donation process. A beautiful website can transform one-time donors into recurring givers and motivate supporters to seek out additional forms of involvement in your organization. Look for a CMS that allows your nonprofit to incorporate forms, widgets, and other tools that keep you connected to your supporters.
Supporters who choose to stay connected with your organization value your work and want to stay up-to-date on your latest progress. Share your achievements and encourage their engagement in helping you reach your next goals by incorporating website elements such as:
You can use social media elements on your site to keep visitors updated on your upcoming events and follow your organization’s work in real time. These elements work especially well when combined or placed near each other on your site.
When visitors are captivated by your nonprofit’s web design and motivated to explore the site through easy navigation, your organization will have no trouble encouraging them to become supporters and stay involved with your good work.
A beautifully designed nonprofit website is central to keeping your supporters engaged and giving. Below, you’ll find a few more valuable resources that you can use to create or refresh your site in ways that are sure to inspire your visitors:
Categories: Website Design