Your nonprofit’s website is one of the most important tools you have at your disposal. It serves as a hub of information for both current and potential supporters, and it’s at the heart of your marketing strategy. Your website also provides many opportunities for supporters to engage with your organization, whether by subscribing to your newsletter, registering for an event, signing up to volunteer, participating in advocacy efforts, or giving online.
According to Loop, the best nonprofit websites provide a streamlined, intuitive user experience while effectively communicating the organization’s mission. If you’re considering updating or optimizing your organization’s website, this combination of user experience and clear messaging can guide your approach.
In this guide, we’ll review four characteristics of optimized nonprofit websites that you can apply to your organization’s online presence. Make sure your website is:
If you optimize your website in these ways, visitors are more likely to return to it, helping your organization retain their support long-term. Let’s dive in!
Maintaining intuitive navigation is commonly considered a nonprofit website best practice. A clear, easy-to-use navigation system helps visitors find exactly what they’re looking for when they arrive on your website and encourages them to browse for longer.
Use the main navigation bar, usually found at the top or left side of your website, to direct visitors to core pages such as:
To encourage supporters to donate through your website, use a call-to-action button to link directly to your donation form rather than putting it under a different menu category. However, if you’re wondering how to categorize other information on your website, it’s often helpful to put together a group of volunteers and see how they would organize topics through card sorting or tree testing, as pictured below.
This graphic shows how to perform card sorting and tree testing on a nonprofit website using the categories “Get Involved” and “Mission.”
Once your website is fully built, conduct a final usability test to ensure your navigation system is as easy to use as possible. If your volunteers have difficulty finding any pages you ask them to look for or provide feedback that certain pages should fall under different categories, you can use the results to make any last-minute adjustments to your website before it goes live.
To make the most of your website, it should be navigable not only on a computer screen, but also on a tablet or smartphone. According to Double the Donation’s fundraising statistics, half of all nonprofit website traffic in 2022 came from mobile devices, emphasizing the importance of designing mobile-optimized websites.
Some ways to make your website more friendly for mobile users include:
As the trend of mobile-first communications seems to be here to stay, it’s important to design a website that meets supporters where they likely are — on their smartphones.
No matter what device supporters use to access your website, you’ll make a stronger first impression on them if your website is consistently branded. Branding helps your nonprofit stand out from other similar organizations, makes your marketing materials instantly recognizable, and instills a sense of trust in supporters that makes them more likely to express interest or take action.
When developing your nonprofit’s brand, focus on the following elements:
Once you’ve decided on these standards, compile them into a single document called a nonprofit brand guide. This way, anyone who works on your website design or other marketing channels has a reference for how to apply each aspect of your organization’s brand. This will ensure you’re telling a cohesive story across all digital channels.
If your nonprofit’s website is truly optimized, everyone who wants to use it should be able to do so easily. This includes individuals with low internet connectivity, as well as those with temporary or permanent disabilities.
To make this possible, ensure your website follows the internationally agreed-upon standards outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Some areas to focus on include:
These accessibility guidelines can also be useful as you create content for other digital marketing channels. For instance, consider captioning the videos you post on social media and checking the color contrast of your email templates to make sure your marketing materials are inclusive of all of your nonprofit’s potential audience members.
Whether your nonprofit is finalizing the first iteration of your website or updating an existing version, keeping these four characteristics in mind will help you optimize your site.
Always prioritize your supporters’ experience on your website as you make design choices. If visitors can easily navigate the site on both desktop and mobile, recognize and trust your brand, and find it accessible no matter their ability or internet connection, they’ll keep coming back again and again!