Non-Profit Website Design
A non-profit website is asking people to give something — money, time or attention — for a return they will never personally receive. That makes evidence more important than emotion. The organisations that raise well describe exactly what happens to a contribution and show, with numbers, what happened to the last one. Small organisations also underestimate how much of their income comes from a handful of committed regular givers rather than from a large number of one-off donations, which changes what the site should be optimised for entirely.
Built for non-profits, social enterprises and community organisations. Describe your business in a sentence and a complete site is written and designed for you — then you edit every word of it.
Build my website free →What a non profit website needs
Every one of these is included from the first draft. Nothing here is decoration — each answers a question your visitors are already asking.
What a contribution actually does
What a specific amount buys. It consistently outperforms an open donation box.
Programmes described concretely
Where, with whom, and what is delivered. Abstract mission statements persuade nobody who is deciding.
Evidenced impact
Numbers with a period and a method. Unsourced claims are discounted by the donors who give most.
Transparency and governance
Registration, accounts, board. Serious donors check, and its absence is noticed.
Volunteering and other help
Time, goods and skills. Volunteers frequently become your most committed donors.
A short donation flow
One-off and regular, with as few steps as possible.
Three mistakes that cost non profit websites customers
These come up again and again in this trade, and all three are avoidable.
- A donate button with no explanation of what the money does.
- Impact claims with no numbers, period or method.
- No accounts or governance information, which careful donors specifically look for.
- Long donation flows that lose people who had already decided.
- Only asking for money, when volunteers and skills are often more valuable and easier to give.
- Photographs that strip dignity from the people you serve.
- A news section that stopped a year ago, which suggests the work did too.
- No named contact for corporate partners, who need a person rather than a form before committing anything substantial.
Six non profit designs to start from
Every industry ships with six distinct designs. Pick one as a starting point — the layout, colours, wording and images are all yours to change afterwards.
How you get your non profit website
Describe the business
One or two sentences about your non profit is enough. No brief, no questionnaire.
Get a complete first draft
Pages, sections, images and written copy — not an empty template waiting for you to fill it in.
Edit anything, then publish
Change any word, section or colour yourself. Publish to a free address or connect your own domain.
Non Profit website questions
What raises the most?
Saying what a specific amount achieves. Concrete outcomes consistently outperform an open donation box.
Should we publish accounts?
Yes. Transparency is the basis of the relationship, and donors who cannot find your accounts frequently assume the worst.
How should impact be evidenced?
With numbers, a period and a method. Unsourced figures are discounted by exactly the donors who give at scale.
Is volunteering worth featuring?
Yes. Volunteers cost nothing to recruit through the site and they become your most committed donors over time.
How short should the donation flow be?
As short as possible. Every additional step loses people who had already made the decision to give.
How should we photograph the people we help?
With dignity and with consent. Imagery that reduces people to their circumstances damages the organisation as well as them.
Can we update it ourselves?
Yes, and you must. Appeals and impact figures lose their power quickly, and a stale site raises very little.
How do we attract corporate partners?
Give them a dedicated route and a named contact. Corporate giving decisions are relationship-led and a general donation form does not support them.
Websites for similar businesses
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