Although it’s common for nonprofits to think of their website as something to check a box, simply having a website is not enough. A solid nonprofit website is one of the most important tools to amplify your efforts and drive your mission forward.
In this blog, we will explore the importance of having a functional website, the elements that go into it, and nonprofit website examples to reference.
Why A Nonprofit Website Is Important
These days, with everything taking place online, a nonprofit website is one of the most important ways the public can learn more about your cause.
Your website:
- Communicates your organization’s mission and vision
- Promotes ways to get involved such as upcoming events and volunteer opportunities
- Solicits support and drives charitable donations
- Showcases impact with personal stories of those who have had their lives changed by your work
- Provides resources such as educational materials and toolkits
In a nutshell, your website does a lot and a great nonprofit website is one that engages visitors and encourages them to take action.
What Makes A Nonprofit Website Great
“People ignore design that ignores people” – Frank Chimero
Website design is so much more than just looking good; it has to perform well. With a growing emphasis on user-friendly experience in the online world, a nonprofit website should be designed with your end users in mind.
Sure, your layout and content will vary depending on the nonprofit’s industry but there are core features that should be present on every nonprofit website.
Mobile-Optimized Design
Recent stats show that over 60% of online traffic comes from people using mobile devices, which makes it that much more important to prioritize responsive, mobile-friendly design.
For instance, imagine if someone visited your website and they’re forced to scroll from side-to-side or pinch-to-zoom because the content didn’t size correctly or the buttons were too small. Maybe it takes forever to load or it’s flat out confusing to navigate. These are all culprits of a frustrating UI (user interface) that can cause visitors to quickly abandon your page.
Additionally, not having a mobile-friendly design can hurt your cause in other ways. Since 2015, Google has pushed a “mobile friendliness” ranking factor for users searching on mobile devices. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re penalized by ranking lower on their search engine results pages (SERPs). This, in turn, means you’ll lose out on organic searches.
Pro Tip: Unsure if your website is mobile-friendly? Google has made it easy to check with their free, algorithmic testing tool. Simply plug in the URL you want to test.
Clear Navigation & Structure
Along with optimizing for mobile, ensure you have a clear and concise message. Your visitors should be able to quickly understand what your organization does, why it’s important, and how they can get involved.
Whenever a user has to dig around to find what they need, chances are, they’ll end up frustrated and leave your site. To optimize usability, clearly label links and buttons and create intuitive paths in such a way that allow users to effortlessly navigate, transact, and access information.
Compelling Visuals & Impact Stories
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – good storytelling matters!
Humans are meaning making creatures. We are constantly seeking purpose and significance in the world. One of the primary ways we do this is through story. In our 2023 CauseVox Giving Study, we found that 39% of donors say testimonials from beneficiaries would boost their likelihood to donate. Personal stories have an undeniable impact on fundraising efforts, they breathe life into missions, evoke empathy, spark action, and provide a compelling, authentic narrative thread that intertwines your organization’s purpose with the hearts of its supporters.
Visual storytelling also holds remarkable power. Moving photos and videos of your impactful work in action is crucial, but so are the stats. In fact, 33% of donors say clear visuals like charts and images would increase their likelihood to donate. Consider employing tools like infographics to effectively communicate your nonprofits quantitative measures of impact.
Search Functionality
Including a search bar on your website serves as your website’s personal search engine and helps deliver a smooth, seamless experience by quickly connecting your visitors with what they need. It makes sense – the easier it is for users to find what they’re looking for, the more likely they are to stay and browse.
Pro Tip: To see how often people searched for a particular term, integrate your search bar with Google Analytics. This data is valuable because it lets you know whether you need to create new content to meet demand or to make popular content more readily accessible.
Social Media Profiles & Sharing Buttons
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that social media is entrenched in people’s daily lives.
Social media profiles are a way to give your visitors a glimpse into your nonprofit’s personality in a way that a website can’t. It’s a means for people to engage with you and for you to connect with your audience. If you have active social media profiles, don’t forget to add them somewhere on your website. Of course, you want them to be visible but make sure you put them in a place where they won’t be distracting. We’ve commonly seen them nestled in footers but headers and sidebars are also good options.
Moreover, adding social media sharing buttons to your website can be useful for disseminating information. For example, including share buttons on blog posts and fundraising campaigns lets visitors share your content out with ease, thereby increasing the reach of your post.
Branding & Design
Your campaign page is the first thing potential donors see, and first impressions matters. Fear not, you can create a professional campaign page without hiring a pro by employing a few design tools. Consider the strategic use of color schemes to evoke specific emotions, selecting readable fonts for optimal communication, and leveraging logos to enhance brand recognition and establish trust.
CauseVox’s site editor allows you to easily customize and brand your campaign site so you can tell your story, your way. It is intuitive to use and does not require any web design or coding experience.
Donation Page Button
A well-designed donation page is the linchpin of successful fundraising, providing a seamless and trustworthy platform for supporters to contribute to a cause. The bottom line is if you confuse, you lose. That is why an intuitive, visually appealing and clear donation page is crucial. It not only streamlines the giving process but also instills confidence in donors, ultimately maximizing the potential for engagement and support.
Make sure that your campaign page is clutter free and has an easy to find donate button. Ideally, make sure your donation button is on every page. Consider also using tools like payment via mobile wallets to make the giving process even easier.
Strong Accessibility
Making sure your website is accessible for everyone isn’t just a box to check. Focus on eliminating barriers that block a user’s access to a website to you ensure that no one is left out, including those living with disabilities. It’s not just the right thing to do, it also makes a lot of business sense when 20% of the population rely on assistive technology to access the web.
So how do you make your website more accessible? Luckily, there’s an extensive set of internationally recognized guidelines for improving web accessibility. Meeting certain accessibility requirements may require you to work with a third party but here are some basic accessibility solutions you can implement right away:
- Add alternative text to every image to provide a helpful description for screen readers.
- Enable closed captions for video or audio elements for users with disabilities or for users who may be browsing your website in a place where they can’t play audio.
- Use colors that contrast well to ensure that users (especially those with visual impairments) can differentiate between various components on your page.
- Have a clear layout by using the proper headings and subheadings. This helps search engines efficiently crawl your page and makes it easy for screen reader users to navigate.
Clear Calls to Action
Chances are, you don’t want your visitors to leave without doing anything, which is why a nonprofit website should have clear calls to action. If you want your visitors to take specific actions (such as donating, volunteering, registering for an event, or sharing a message on social media), make sure they are prominently displayed. Think big, bold text or eye-catching colors that’ll make someone pause to look rather than scroll on by.
Analytics Data
To better understand who’s visiting your website, make sure you’re collecting information about your website behind the scenes. Analytics data can provide relevant information about your website’s performance such as where your visitors come from, what they’re doing when they’re on your site, and more. These insights can then be leveraged to improve your user experience. For instance, if you noticed that the majority of your users are accessing your website through Chrome, you might focus your efforts on making sure everything renders well on this browser.
To get started, check out Google Analytics. It’s a free and powerful tool for reliably collecting website data.
Website Privacy & Cookie Policy
Cookies are essential to the Internet. They’re small files that store data to help personalize user content. If your website uses cookies such as a shopping basket, login portal, or social media ‘like’ buttons, it’s best practice to include a cookie policy. With GDPR and the growing number of laws focused on privacy, it sends a positive message to your visitors that you want to be transparent with the type of information you are gathering about them and how that information will be used.
Note: If your website already has a private policy page, it’s unnecessary to add a separate cookie policy – simply append a section with the cookie details to your private policy page.
Regular Maintenance
Finally, it’s important to regularly update and maintain your website. All too often, nonprofits fall victim to pouring time, effort, and money into perfecting their website only to let it fall to the wayside over time.
We get that maintaining a website isn’t the most fun job, but it’s necessary to ensure that nothing breaks or gets hacked. However, maintenance goes beyond security – you also want to focus on content. Outdated information and broken links not only give a bad impression of your organization’s credibility, but it’ll also negatively impact your website’s usability and ranking.
Remember to be proactive with your approach. You’ll thank yourself later when you’re not having to deal with an outage or a complete overhaul.
Nonprofit Website Examples
If you’ve been evaluating your nonprofit’s current website and wondering if it’s time for a redesign, start by studying other successful nonprofit websites to see what is working well for them. Then once you’re ready, you can leverage best practices as you redesign your fundraising website.
Get your ideas flowing with these 20 great nonprofit website examples organized by industry below.
International
1. World Bicycle Relief
World Bicycle Relief is a nonprofit focused on providing bicycles to entrepreneurs, healthcare workers and students across rural Africa through sustainable work-to-own and study-to-own programs.
What we love about their website:
- Large, clear call to donate in a red button box that stands out on the page
- Call to action for “Real Change. Riding into your inbox” is readily available for anyone interested in learning more and receiving information by email.
- Large charts and client testimonials demonstrate how World Bicycle Relief is helping provide reliable transportation to people, and how the nonprofit continues to expand its impact.
- Sharp, compelling storytelling photography makes for an engaging user experience and leads to higher donor retention.
2. Operation Groundswell
Beginning with a group of friends, Operation Groundswell, a self-professed “backpacktivist” organization, devotes its efforts to service-based immersion excursions for those accepted to participate. To date, the organization has run hundreds of programs in more than 20 countries around the globe.
What we love about their website:
- Lots of information, provided in manageable pieces.
- Large, compelling photography which breaks up verbiage to make the site easier to look at, as well as providing visual validity to the nonprofit’s story and cause.
- Use of testimonials to develop credibility with prospective donors and participants.
- Travel and tourism-related badges displayed in the footer, certifying the organization’s credibility.
- Live chatbot that offers user support, file sharing, and a fun game to play while you wait for assistance during business hours.
3. Doctors Without Borders
For more than 50 years, Doctors Without Borders has provided independent, impartial medical humanitarian aid to those people affected by conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and more. Since its inception in 1971, the organization has helped tens of millions of people, and grown from a group of 13 doctors and journalists to an international movement of more than 45,000.
What we love about their website:
- Modern design with copy that informs
- Powerful, people-centered images throughout
- Collapsible search bar that includes commonly asked questions
- Selective use of numbers on the homepage to highlight the most significant areas of impact
- Financial transparency on how funds are being used is displayed in the footer
- Information on ways to give is segmented by the most popular ways to give, company and foundation support, and planned/major giving
- Donor services chatbot on fundraising-related pages
Environmental
4. Rainforest Alliance
The Rainforest Alliance is an NGO working to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods. Based in New York City with offices throughout North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe, it operates in more than 70 counties.
What we love about their website:
- Bright, eye-catching colors that contrast
- Frog motif that’s closely associated with the organization’s brand is splashed across the homepage banner (and is woven throughout the website).
- Most recent articles and news on program impact are available on the homepage.
- Catered content using tabs at the top of the page for users to self-select whether they are an individual or business.
- Financial transparency is provided in the footer with a link to learn more.
5. Charity: water
It seems like Charity: water pops up on every best practice example list and it’s no coincidence – their work is outstanding. In a world where over 600 million people live without clean water, Charity: water works with local experts and community members to provide clean, safe water access to those in need.
What we love about their website:
- Simple navigation with call-to-action buttons displayed at the top
- Issue and impact is succinctly laid out in their ‘Work’ section
- First-hand testimonials from the field are provided
- Unique call to action for users to “add impact to your inbox” by subscribing to their newsletter
- Donation page that features a fundraising thermometer and includes copy letting donors know the impact of their gift
6. The Nature Conservancy
Since 1951 The Nature Conservancy has been working in partnership with individuals, local communities, government agencies, and private businesses across 70+ countries to protect against climate change and biodiversity loss, ensuring a thriving natural environment for future generations to come.
What we love about their website:
- Beautiful, high-resolution nature shots throughout
- Super clean user interface that adheres to a natural green and white high-contrast palette
- Geolocation feature that grabs the geographical position of the user and prompts them with locally relevant conservation efforts.
- Filters that help users find information most relevant to them. (For example, the perspectives section provides a wealth of tools, reports, blogs, interviews, and more that’s searchable by keyword. In addition, prospective volunteers can get involved and search for volunteer opportunities by role or by state.)
- Interactive calculator for users to learn about their carbon footprint and action to take to reduce it
- Collapsible information icon under every photo detailing what the photo is and crediting who took it.
Community & Social Services
7. Life Remodeled
Based in Detroit, Life Remodeled focuses on renovating vacant school buildings into one-stop hubs of opportunity for families to thrive in the city. Centered around intentionality and equity, their website has an excellent page dedicated to volunteer/corporate stories.
What we love about their website:
- Simple, clear-cut copy that informs
- Blog entries feature a different Life Remodeled partner, sharing their experience and attesting to the organization’s impact.
- Colorful infographic that illustrates their impact in a clear, succinct way.
- People-centered imagery and media throughout
8. Double Up Food Bucks
The Double Up Food Bucks program, which is run by the Fair Food Network, doubles the purchasing power of SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) by matching EBT/Bridge Card dollars spent on fruits and vegetables, up to $10 a day.
Subsequently, this site in particular focuses on Michigan-based efforts that partner with local grocery stores and farmer’s markets to double the amount of fresh food a family can buy. This means healthier foods for families, more business for producers, and a boost for local economies. It’s a win-win-win.
What we love about their website:
- Interactive landing page that features local images and Michigan-specific content
- Directory of other state-specific Double Up Food Bucks websites for those who are not in Michigan
- Use of headers, subheaders, and sections on pages to keep everything organized and make it easy for search engines to crawl
- Mix of grocery-related photos, animations, and vectors
- Pop out side panel that houses recent updates
- Dropdown menus for easy navigation and to reduce clutter
Animals
9. ASPCA
Headquartered in New York City, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) works to put an end to animal abuse and neglect. As the first humane society to be established in North America (and one of the largest in the world today), they’re a national leader in animal rescue, advocacy, and education.
What we love about their website:
- Abundance of animal imagery guaranteed to tug at your heartstrings
- Bold, large call-to-action buttons on every page
- Ample whitespace and visuals to break up the text so it never feels overwhelming.
- Global search bar at the top makes it easy for an end user to find exactly what they’re looking for.
- Donation page includes a carousel of animal photos overlayed with a brief description of what each donation amount will do.
10. The Humane League
You may not be aware that factory farming causes unnecessary animal suffering every day. Well, that’s where the Humane League comes in. For the past 16 years, this organization has worked tirelessly to end the abuse of animals raised for food production through policy and advocacy.
What we love about their website:
- Bold use of high-resolution imagery to tell their story
- Prominently displayed red ‘Donate’ button at the top along with a way to make one-time or recurring donations directly from their homepage
- Powerful quotes and photos captured from donors and volunteers to empower potential supporters
- Four options for changing language and locale
11. The Memphis Zoo
Ranked as “one of the top five zoos in the country”, the Memphis Zoo is home to 3,500+ animals representing over 500 different species. Through education, conservation, and research, the zoo is creating adventures and saving wildlife.
What we love about their website:
- Carousel of animal photos and video clips in their natural habitat.
- Their interactive features: live animal cams peer into a handful of exhibits and allow users to virtually experience the zoo
- Daily schedule, exhibits, events, information on planning a visit, and more are easily accessible from the homepage.
- Information on ways to support the zoo is easily accessible using the dropdown navigation. Visitors can choose to support a specific fund, contribute to an endowment, donate bamboo, or volunteer.
Religious & Faith-Based
12. Abundant Church
Abundant Church is a non-denominational church headquartered in El Paso, TX that provides a community-focused place for worship.
What we love about their website:
- Modern, minimalist design displays information in an easily digestible way.
- Events, programs, and more are described in two sentences or less.
- Live streamed sermons let visitors attend services in the comfort of their own home.
- Their recorded content: previous sermons are archived on a designated ‘Previous Teachings’ section.
- Multiple options offered for ways to give including giving online, sending in a check, or giving stock and crypto.
13. World Vision
World Vision is a very large, well-known humanitarian organization made up of Christian partnerships. Their nonprofit website must provide tons of information to account for their wide variety of services. They do a fantastic job at taking lots of information and breaking it down into bite-sized pieces for their audience.
What we like about their website:
- Clear, concise, and direct copy.
- There is ample white space so that the photos and the words are the focal points.
- Financial information specifying Return On Investment (ROI) and overhead is provided, so as to build trust with their donors.
- Badges from third-party organizations such as Charity Navigator, Better Business Bureau, Guidestar, CharityWatch, and the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability are displayed in the footer, certifying that the organization has a good reputation.
14. World Help
World Help is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to meeting the needs of impoverished people worldwide. Their nonprofit website is highly informative, engaging, and provides a sense of urgency to prospective donors.
What we like about their website:
- An abundance of individual stories and quotes across the entire website allows users to journey to the farthest regions of the earth, and emotionally connect with individual people being impacted by World Help’s work.
- Clear metrics and graphics presented in visually stunning ways.
- Live chatbot that connects the user with a real person for assistance during business hours.
- Inclusion of a donor portal that allows donors to access their giving summaries, update their contact information, and view sponsorship information.
- Badges from third-party organizations such as Charity Navigator, ECFA, MinistryWatch, and the Accord Network are displayed in the footer, certifying that the organization has a good reputation, particularly in the religious sphere.
Children & Youth
15. Girls Who Code
Girls Who Code works to close the gender gap in the technology industry by engaging and training girls in computer science and coding skills. They’ve served 450,000 girls through their variety of summer camps, clubs, and college prep programs.
What we like about their website:
- Participant images and organization’s mission statement that immediate greets the user on the homepage
- Use of bold, contrasting colors that meets accessibility requirements
- Impact is highlighted in a clear succinct way
- Quotes from program alums are woven throughout
- Newsletter sign-up is segmented by audience (adult or student) ensuring that recipients receive updates most relevant to them
- The donate page provides information and transparency about where funds go
16. Boys & Girls Clubs of America
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) provides after school and mentorship programs for kids with clubs located across all 50 states. They empower youth to excel in school and lead healthy, productive lives.
What we like about their website:
- Clear user journey starting on the homepage, with a drop-down menu for parents, teens, supporters, alums, and educators.
- Interactive gauge charts that succinctly illustrate club impact
- Powerful video and written testimonials from alums showcasing how BGCA changed their lives for the better
- Pop-up donation form offering flexible payment options including mobile wallet, major credit cards, PayPal, and bank transfer.
17. YMCA
Committed to strengthening communities across the U.S., the YMCA empowers youth, improves the overall health and well-being of people of all ages, and promotes social responsibility.
What we like about their website:
- Uplifting photo of smiling youth and the organization’s mission statement that immediately greets the user on the homepage
- Simplified navigation with an expandable hamburger menu for more options
- Ample use of high-quality photos to break up text, add whitespace, and reduce clutter
- Most important impact metrics are highlighted with an additional link to explore further
- Consistent branding with typography and graphics that match the logo
Healthcare & Medical
18. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s mission is to advance cures for pediatric cancer through research and treatment.
What we like about their website:
- Clean and simple structure with a clear navigation, search function, and call to action buttons displayed at the top.
- Children-centric photos teeming on every page
- Free assistance services (located in the footer) are available for 15 languages, further promoting inclusivity.
19. American Heart Association
As one of the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organizations, American Heart Association (AHA) strives to save and improve lives by fighting heart disease and stroke. Their website serves as a hub for donations and valuable educational resources for learning more about various health topics.
What we like about their website:
- High-contrast color palette that meets accessibility requirements
- Search bar to help visitors find what they’re looking for faster
- Prominent donate buttons for one-time and monthly recurring gifts
- Flexible payment options on their donation page along with a padlock symbol from the world’s largest commercial certificate authority to indicate security
- Displaying accreditations from third-parties such as the Better Business Bureau and Charity Navigator to indicate that they’re a trusted and reputable organization
20. Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the largest global nonprofit fighting to cure blood cancer through groundbreaking research, education, and advocacy.
What we like about their website:
- Use of a contrasting color palette to increase accessibility for all
- Embedded chatbot to help users find the answers they’re looking for faster
- Simple navigation with a search icon, donate button, and option to translate to Spanish
- Dedicated section highlighting the voices of LLS along with client photos
It’s Your Turn
Implementing the best practices for nonprofit websites is crucial for maximizing impact and fostering meaningful connections with supporters. Websites are often the first touch point of potential donors and by prioritizing user-friendly design, compelling storytelling, and easy donation features, your organization can enhance its online presence and drive positive change.
Download our complete guide to building your donation page below to ensure that your website is fully equipped to seamlessly accept donations.
