What Should a Nonprofit Website Include?

Your nonprofit’s website should help people understand your mission, trust your organization, and take action. That means clear program information, evidence of your impact, accessible pages, and straightforward ways to donate, volunteer, or seek support.

The right features depend on the people you serve. A parent looking for a community program needs eligibility details and registration steps. A potential donor wants to understand what their contribution supports. Your staff needs tools that make updates and enquiries manageable.

Planning web design for nonprofits starts with those needs. This checklist explains which pages, features, and behind-the-scenes tools to consider before briefing a designer or starting a redesign.

Start With a Clear Mission and Website Structure

Start your nonprofit website checklist with two questions: Can visitors understand what you do, and can they find what they need? Plan clear paths for donors, volunteers, and people seeking services.

1. A Homepage That Explains Your Mission

Your nonprofit homepage should state who you help, what you do, and where you work. Pair that summary with a clear next step, such as “Find Support,” “Volunteer,” or “Donate.”

For example, a community food program could introduce its work with: “We help families access fresh food and weekly meal programs.” Follow that statement with its actual service area and links to available support.

Give the main action visual priority while keeping other visitor journeys easy to find.

2. Navigation and Program Pages People Can Understand

Use familiar navigation labels such as About, Programs, Get Involved, Impact, and Contact. Add a donation link where fundraising supports your work.

Each program page should explain:

• Who qualifies and which communities it serves.
• What support is available, including any costs.
• How to apply or register.
• Who to contact with questions.

Add search, resource filters, or multilingual content when your audience and content library justify them.

Make Donating and Getting Involved Straightforward

Every invitation to support your nonprofit should lead to a clear next step. Place donation links near fundraising appeals, volunteer registration beside available roles, and event sign-ups alongside dates and attendance details.

3. A Clear, Reliable Donation Experience

If public fundraising supports your mission, your nonprofit donation page should explain what gifts support and make the giving process easy to follow.

Include:

• Clear giving options: Show donation amounts, a custom amount field, and supported payment methods.
• An obvious giving frequency: Clearly distinguish one-time gifts from recurring donations.
• Helpful support information: Explain whom donors can contact about payment problems or changes to recurring gifts.
• Confirmation: Show whether the donation succeeded and explain what email acknowledgement to expect.

Confirm which features your payment provider supports before including them in the design. Test the full journey on mobile, including error messages, payment redirects, and confirmation screens, using the provider’s test environment.

4. Simple Volunteer, Event, and Newsletter Sign-Ups

A volunteer registration form should sit beside useful role details: responsibilities, location, time commitment, and any application requirements. For an in-person opportunity, include a spot or confirmed place, or whether it enters a waitlist or review queue. Finally, state what immediate next step the volunteer should expect (such as a confirmation email, screening call, or orientation invite).

Ask only for information needed at that stage. Explain whether submission reserves a place, starts an application, or requests a callback.

Keep newsletter sign-up optional and clearly separate from event or volunteer registration. Assign a staff member to receive submissions, check that notifications arrive, and tell applicants when to expect a response.

Give Visitors Reasons to Trust Your Organization

Before people contribute money, time, or personal information, they need to understand who runs your organization and how it delivers on its mission. Make that evidence easy to find near donation appeals, program details, and registration forms.

5. Impact Evidence and Respectful Stories

Show what your work achieves with dated, clearly explained results. Distinguish between activities delivered, such as workshops held, and outcomes achieved, such as participants gaining a skill.

For each published figure, identify the reporting period and link to the supporting report where available. Avoid presenting an estimate as a measured result.

Pair nonprofit impact reporting with stories that explain the human context. Obtain permission before publishing names, photographs, or personal experiences, and respect anyone who prefers to remain anonymous.

6. Leadership, Financial Information, and Contact Details

Help visitors understand who is accountable for your work. Include:

• Leadership and governance: Relevant staff and board profiles with clear roles.
• Financial transparency: Current annual reports and financial statements approved for publication.
• Organizational details: Your official name and verified registration information, where applicable.
• Working contact options: A monitored email address, phone number, and accurate office or service hours.

For public-facing locations, publish the full street address, opening hours, and directions to the correct entrance. Include nearby transit stops, parking options, and verified accessibility features, such as step-free access or an accessible washroom. Assign a staff member to keep these details current. 

Build an Accessible, Mobile-Friendly Website

People should be able to find support, read your reports, and complete forms across different devices and ways of browsing. Include accessibility and mobile testing in the project scope from the start.

7. Accessibility Across Content, Forms, and Documents

Ask your designer to check that visitors can:

• Navigate menus, links, and forms using a keyboard, with a visible focus indicator.
• Read text with sufficient contrast and enlarge it without losing content.
• Understand meaningful images through appropriate alternative text.
• Identify form fields and understand how to correct errors.
• Access video information through captions and other appropriate alternatives.

These checks reflect W3C’s introductory accessibility guidance, which also makes clear that basic checks alone cannot establish full accessibility.

Include donation tools, embedded forms, and downloadable reports in the review. Ask for a documented testing scope, combining automated checks with manual evaluation. Agree on an accessibility target, such as WCAG 2.2 AA, and verify applicable legal requirements separately.

8. Mobile Usability and Fast, Dependable Pages

Test complete tasks on a phone: open the menu, find a program, register, and follow the donation journey. Check that buttons are easy to select, text stays readable, and forms work when the on-screen keyboard appears.

Review large images, background videos, and third-party embeds when investigating slow pages. Agree on performance goals and test representative pages across devices and connection speeds.

Include the Tools Your Team Needs After Launch

Your nonprofit website needs to work for the people managing it. Before launch, decide who will update pages, respond to enquiries, and keep connected tools running.

9. An Editable CMS and Clear Content Ownership

Choose a content management system (CMS) that lets staff handle routine updates, such as changing program hours, publishing reports, and adding events.

Ask your designer to demonstrate these tasks during training. Include written instructions and give each editor access suited to their responsibilities.

Your organization should also retain control of its domain, hosting, website content, and connected accounts. Record who manages each account and how access transfers when staff changes.

10. Connected Forms, CRM, and Email Tools

Map what happens after someone submits a form. A volunteer application might enter your CRM, notify a coordinator, and send the applicant an acknowledgement.

For each nonprofit CRM integration, confirm:

• Which information transfers and where it goes.
• Who receives notifications and handles follow-up.
• How duplicate records and failed transfers are handled.
• Which subscriptions or additional fees apply.

Test the complete workflow before launch and after major changes. A successful on-screen message should be followed by a check that the submission reached its destination.

Alt text: Nonprofit website form workflow connecting submissions, acknowledgements, staff notifications, and follow-up.

11. Privacy, Security, and Ongoing Maintenance

Document what personal information you collect, why you need it, who can access it, and how long you retain it. Have the relevant privacy requirements reviewed for your organization.

Assign responsibility for software updates, backups, account security, and recovery. Ask how backups are restored and who responds when something breaks. Include ongoing website maintenance costs in your budget.

Make Your Website Discoverable and Measurable

Your website should help people find relevant programs and give your team a clear way to assess whether visitors complete useful actions.

12. SEO Foundations and Meaningful Conversion Tracking

Start nonprofit SEO with clear, useful program pages. Describe the support offered, who qualifies, and the actual service area. Give each page a descriptive title and heading, connect related pages with internal links, and ask your developer to check that public pages can be indexed.

For nonprofit website analytics, track outcomes separately:

• Completed donations.
• Submitted volunteer applications.
• Event registrations.
• Service enquiries.

A donation-button click shows interest; it does not confirm a completed gift. If visitors move to another platform, include that journey in your measurement plan and test it before relying on reports.

Keep names, email addresses, payment details, and sensitive enquiry information out of analytics events and page URLs.

Turn the Checklist Into a Web Design Brief

Turn your nonprofit website checklist into a project plan by recording what you need, when you need it, and how you will confirm it works. This gives your team and designer a shared definition of a finished website.

Separate Launch Essentials From Future Improvements

Prioritize features around your main visitor journeys and staff capacity. Clear program information may need to launch immediately, while a searchable resource library can wait until you have enough content and someone to maintain it.

Questions to Ask Your Nonprofit Website Designer

Before choosing a partner, ask:

• Which pages, integrations, and testing are included?
• Who provides content and approves it?
• What will staff learn during handover?
• Who owns the accounts, and what support costs continue after launch?

Use these requirements when discussing web design for nonprofits with Ankit Designs, so the proposed scope reflects your organization’s actual needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Pages Does a Nonprofit Website Need?

A practical starting point includes a homepage, About page, program or service pages, impact information, and a Contact page. Add donation, volunteer, event, or membership pages when they support your activities.

A small organization can combine related information on one page. Give a topic its own page when visitors need detailed instructions or a distinct next step.

Does Every Nonprofit Website Need Online Donations?

No. Choose nonprofit website features that match your funding model. An organization funded through memberships, grants, or service fees may prioritize member registration, partnership enquiries, or program access.

If you accept donations, explain how contributions support your work and what acknowledgement donors receive. Confirm your organization’s eligibility before promising official donation tax receipts.

Can a Small Nonprofit Use WordPress?

Yes. WordPress can be an option for a small nonprofit, provided the website is built around its editing needs and someone takes responsibility for maintenance.

Before choosing a nonprofit CMS, ask staff to try common tasks, such as updating program details or publishing news. Compare training, hosting, integrations, and ongoing support costs alongside the initial build price..

Plan Your Nonprofit Website With Ankit Designs

Your mission deserves a website that helps people understand your work and take the next step. Use this checklist to identify what your visitors need and what your team must manage behind the scenes.

Bring those priorities to Ankit Designs to discuss your nonprofit website project, from program pages and supporter journeys to editing needs and ongoing support