How important is it for a nonprofit organization to have a well-designed, professional-looking website? In my experience—very important!
Ten years ago, you might have been able to get away with having a rudimentary website, or none at all, but that is no longer the case. People expect a legitimate organization to have a legitimate website—no exceptions!
Your website might be the first interaction someone has with your organization, so you want to make sure it represents your nonprofit well! A website that is confusing, difficult to navigate, outdated, or otherwise poorly designed can present your organization in a bad light. It can give visitors the impression that your organization is poorly run, disorganized, and/or unprofessional, even if it is anything but those things in reality!
You need a website that tells the world: We have an important mission. We are meeting needs in tangible ways. We are an organization that is worthy of your support.
While I won’t claim to be an expert on website design or programming, I can speak from my years of experience working with website designers and programmers on nonprofit websites. I’ve definitely learned some things over the years, and hopefully my experience will help you navigate the world of nonprofit websites better and avoid some costly mistakes.
Hire a Professional
My first piece of advice when it comes to nonprofit websites is to pay a professional to design your website. This could mean hiring an outside web design company or giving the job to one of your paid staff members (assuming he or she is qualified to take on a project like this).
As tempting as it can be to utilize volunteers for your website’s design, this rarely ends well. Volunteers, while typically well meaning, are not always reliable. They might start out strong, but when it comes down to it, volunteers will almost always prioritize their paid work over their volunteer work—and understandably so! However, this means your organization’s website can get pushed to the back burner, and its completion date will inevitably get delayed. It is very hard to hold a volunteer accountable to deadlines. It’s also difficult to demand a high level of quality from volunteers. After all, they are working for free.
Pay someone to design your website so you can more easily hold them accountable to deadlines and results!
Carefully Consider the Content
Even if you hire a professional web design company that includes copywriting in their cost to produce your website, they will still be relying on your organization to provide a good amount of the copy. At the very least, they will want talking points from you in order to craft the copy for your website. You should choose your verbiage very carefully.
I recommend having all of the copy go through one person for editing—whether that person is part of your team or at the web design company you hire. You can have various people on your team draft the copy for their areas of expertise, but it’s important that it has a consistent “voice,” and that all verbiage reinforces your mission.
Before you start drafting copy, you might want to start by preparing a short document for your web designer that includes phrases your organization likes to use, as well as ones you don’t. For example, at VitalChurch Ministry, where I work, we say things like, “We are pastors, not consultants,” and “We don’t work with all churches—we work with churches who are aware of their need for change and are willing to surrender to God and His purposes.” Phrases like these will help your copywriter know how to accurately represent your organization online.
Unlike a business website, which will typically speak only to potential customers or clients, a nonprofit website typically has two audiences: the people the nonprofit serves and those who support the nonprofit. You’ll need to find ways to address both audiences effectively.
You also might want to offer resources on your website that will provide immediate help to those you serve. For example, at VitalChurch Ministry, we offer an online church survey that church leaders can use to easily assess their congregations. What can your organization offer online that fits within your mission that can help meet the immediate needs of those you serve?
Keep it Updated
Once your website is completed and launched, appoint a single person or a well-managed team to be in charge of all updates. If you allow anyone and everyone to make changes to the website, things can get messy very quickly. It may seem easier in the moment to just allow the people who need a change made to go in and make it themselves, but before you know it, there will be information on your website that never should have made it there. This can include typos, misinformation, or simply things that are not consistent with your organization’s mission. You need to carefully guard who has access to the back end of your website!
Your website manager should also make sure that outdated information (such as an event that has passed or a program that has been discontinued) is removed in a timely manner. I’ve been to nonprofit websites that have events that happened more than a year ago listed on their “Upcoming Events” page. It’s not a good look.
About once a year, you should take a hard look at your website to see if any major changes should be made. Does the homepage highlight the things that are most important to your organization? Do any pages need to be removed or added? Is your site starting to look outdated? Has anyone mentioned that certain information is hard to find? Does it work well on all types of devices (smartphones, tablets, and computer monitors)? If necessary, get an outside opinion from someone who will help you honestly answer these questions.
At the end of the day, your organization’s website should be an asset, not a liability. It should represent your nonprofit well, offer helpful information to those in need, and inspire people to get involved!
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