11 RESOURCES FOR BUILDING A NONPROFIT WEBSITE
updated 11/9/2023
Think of your website as your organization’s ‘home’ on the internet. Your website visitors, or your nonprofit’s audience, may find your ‘home’ through a variety of paths—like social media, paid marketing, or Google ad grants—and when they do, it must be crystal clear who you are and what your organization stands for. Media Cause has worked with numerous nonprofits, large and small, to build their digital presence, oftentimes starting first with a core website design.
Whether your organization is looking to create a website for the first time, revamping your current site, or looking for nonprofit web design inspiration, our marketing experts curated and compiled articles and tools that will help you understand what makes a good nonprofit website.
Create Your Digital Dream ‘Home’
1. Planning a Website Redesign—the Ultimate Resource
Come up with a plan for your nonprofit website strategies and redesign project. Taking the time to go through a thorough discovery process on your current website’s opportunities for improvement and doing prep work to prepare to launch a redesign will set you up for success. Check out this guide for an in-depth look at the process.
2. Best Website Builders for Nonprofits—Compare Your Options
There are hundreds of Content Management Systems (CMS) on the web today, but they are not all created equal. Check out this resource for help choosing the right CMS for your organization.
3. 10 Website Design Best Practices for Nonprofits
Study the current online environment and get to know the website design practices. We highly recommend checking out this resource from Nonprofit Tech For Good.
4. 14 Essential Nonprofit Web Design Best Practices
Explore this resource to see a good blend of best practices and actionable steps your organization can take to start your website project.
5. The Power of Figma as a Design Tool
Creating wireframes helps the entire organization get a sense of the overall website project and helps facilitate conversations. There are a lot of tools online that can help you with the process but Figma is a good place to start, as their free version provides a lot of the tools you need. For information on how teams can use Figma, read the article above.
6. How to Create a Wireframe in Canva
If a full wireframe tool is out of reach or intimidating for the team, consider using a tool like Canva. This guide shows you exactly how to dive into building a nonprofit website at any skill level.
7. How to Follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines—Resources for Nonprofit Design
The Internet is for everyone, and in 1994 the World Wide Web Consortium was created to address the need for robust standards. Anyone who designs for the Internet needs to be familiar with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and Media Cause has created the resource above to make it easier to understand and adopt.
8. Cybersecurity Strategies for Nonprofits
Data breaches and ransomware attacks are more common than ever, and nonprofit organizations are not exempt. These 8 strategies can help your organization level up your cybersecurity game, on and off your website.
The internet is home to more than 1 billion websites—so, how do you make sure the right people see yours? That is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play. SEO is an ever-evolving discipline; make sure to familiarize yourself with this resource at the start of your website project to capitalize on the benefits of SEO.
10. Web Accessibility by Level Access
As you are preparing to launch your new website, utilize a free accessibility checker, like the resource above, to make sure your website is barrier-free for every person.
11. Why You Need a Website Privacy Policy in 2023 (and How to Create One)
Every website needs to have a Privacy Policy these days, but writing one can be completely overwhelming. This wonderful write-up from One Nine Design lays out why a privacy policy is so important, why copying one from another organization may not be great, and what you should include in your own.
Gain Nonprofit Website Strategies and Support from a Team of Experts
If you have any additional questions about what makes a good nonprofit website—from redesign to nonprofit website management—connect with Media Cause’s website design and development team now.
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