Build a Website for Your Non-Profit or Charity
A good website gives your non-profit organisation a place to explain what you do, connect with your community and keep supporters informed.
With a website builder, you can create and manage your own professional website without needing to know how to code or rely on a developer every time you need to make a change.
Whether you run a charity, community organisation, club, trust or other non-profit, your website can provide a central place for people to learn about your organisation and get involved.
What Does a Non-Profit Website Need?
Your website should make it easy for people to understand who you are, what you do and how they can support or participate.
Depending on your organisation, your website might include:
- Information about your organisation
- Your mission and values
- Programmes, services or community activities
- Upcoming events
- News and updates
- Volunteer information
- Ways to donate or support your organisation
- Membership information
- Contact details
- Frequently asked questions
- Success stories and testimonials
- Resources and useful information
You don't need to include everything from the beginning. Start with the information your visitors need most and build your website from there.
Make It Easy for People to Get Involved
People visit non-profit websites for different reasons. Someone might want to make a donation, volunteer, attend an event, become a member or simply find out more about your work.
Make these actions easy to find.
Use clear navigation and straightforward calls to action so visitors can quickly find what they are looking for.
For example, your website might have prominent links to:
Donate | Volunteer | Become a Member | Upcoming Events | Contact Us
The right calls to action will depend on your organisation and what you want your website to achieve.
Share Your Organisation's Story
Your website gives you an opportunity to explain the work you do and the difference your organisation is trying to make.
Use your About page to explain:
- Who your organisation is
- Why it exists
- What it does
- Who it supports
- Where you operate
- How people can get involved
Keep the information clear and easy to understand. Visitors should not have to read several pages before they understand what your organisation does.
Keep Your Community Up to Date
A non-profit website should not be something you build once and then forget about.
Use your website to share current information such as:
- Upcoming events
- News
- Announcements
- Projects
- Campaigns
- Community activities
- Changes to services
- Volunteer opportunities
A website builder makes it easier to update your own content as things change.
Accept Donations or Payments Online
Some non-profits need their website to do more than provide information.
Depending on your organisation, you may want to accept online payments for:
- Donations
- Memberships
- Event registrations
- Tickets
- Fundraising activities
- Products or merchandise
If your organisation needs online payments, check that your website builder supports the payment and ecommerce features you require.
Build Trust With Your Website
People need to feel confident that they are dealing with a genuine organisation.
Your website can help build trust by providing clear information about your organisation, its people and its activities.
Consider including:
- Your organisation's full name
- Contact information
- Location or service area
- About your organisation
- Information about your team
- Current projects and activities
- Relevant registrations or affiliations
- Policies and important documents
- Regularly updated news and information
Good photography can also help visitors understand your organisation and the people you support.
Make Your Website Easy to Find
Your website can also help people discover your organisation through Google.
Create useful pages around the information people are actually searching for. This could include your organisation's name, services, location, programmes, events or areas of community support.
Make sure your page titles, headings and website content clearly explain what each page is about.
A mobile-friendly website is also important because people may access your site from phones and tablets.
Choose a Website Builder That Is Easy to Manage
Non-profit organisations often have limited time and resources, so managing your website shouldn't be unnecessarily complicated.
A website builder lets you make changes to your website through an online editor rather than requiring you to manage code or technical updates yourself.
Look for a website builder that provides:
- Professional website templates
- Easy content editing
- Mobile-friendly designs
- SEO tools
- Secure hosting
- Domain name support
- Online forms
- Ecommerce or payment functionality if required
- Ongoing support
The most important thing is that your organisation can actually manage the website after it goes live.
Create a Website That Can Grow With Your Organisation
Your website doesn't need to contain every possible feature on day one.
Start with the pages and functionality your organisation needs now. As your activities grow, you can add new pages, resources, events, forms or other features.
This makes it easier to keep your website useful without making the initial project unnecessarily complicated.
Build Your Non-Profit Website With Website World
Website World gives you the tools to create and manage a professional website without needing to build everything from scratch. You can choose a professionally designed template, add your own content and customise your website to suit your organisation. Website World also provides hosting, SEO tools and other website features in one place.
Build Your Non-Profit Website with Website World - Explore the Website Builder to see how you can create and manage your organisation's website.
