Have you ever paused to poke around on a seller’s website before you swiped your card to buy their products?

Why did you do that? You did that because you wanted to justify buying from this business, so you checked out their website to confirm their credibility. 

The same goes for a non-profit. Your website is your major tool for communicating your impact to the world, which determines how much support and funding you get for your work.

A website for nonprofits must be well-designed, simple, and aesthetic. Below are five major features every website must have ;

• Your story: Non-profits are regarded as a major pillar in the growth and development of any society because they selflessly provide solutions to social problems. However, non-profits don’t just come to be; there’s always a story behind every one. Sharing the why behind the organization, the vision, mission, and core values with people help them to better connect with the work you do. Besides, your why makes your non-profit unique, and your audience wants to hear it. More importantly, your team should be a part of your story. It’s a great way of humanizing your non-profit and making it more approachable.

• High-quality content: Here, you profile your impact as a non-profit. When you show people your results, they believe more in what you are doing and sre highly likely to support you. Also, as a non-profit, you have a lot of knowledge and experiences that other people can benefit from. You can turn your website into a content hub that provides enriching information. Also, you can create content around your work, such that anyone visiting your website falls in love with what you do at a first impression. Additionally, high-quality, search-engine-optimized content can drive quality traffic to a website for nonprofits, broadening your reach. It’s advisable you use lots of videos as they drive more engagement and help people connect more with your work.
• Call-to-Action (CTA)-  A nonprofit website should always have a CTA.  A CTA is a sentence that tells your readers what to do. It should not express more than one action so as not to sound confusing. Do you want your visitors to sign up for your newsletters? Check out your social media pages or donate to a cause? Let them know. Be clear about it.  A website for nonprofits should have an attractive button that makes your CTA easy to see and access. Your CTA should be clear, simple, and highly visible to everyone.            

• Chat Feature– Another major feature of website design for nonprofits is a chat feature; this can make all the difference in your fundraising programs. Everyone wants answers to their questions immediately after they ask, and if your website can leverage that, you will gain more support as an organization. You’ll also make more money as people will be easily convinced about your work. 

• Mobile-friendly: According to Statcounter, 59.53% of web traffic comes from mobile phones. That means that every hour, many people are constantly flipping through websites on their mobile phones. Why should they carry a computer all around when they can easily do anything they want on their mobile phones? A website design for nonprofits must be mobile-first to sustain the visitors’ attention. To do this, only display important elements on the homepage. Avoid using pop-ups or ads as they cover the screens.

Your website is a major determinant of the impact of your work, your value, and whether you are worthy of the support you seek in cash or kind. As such, you must ensure your website has the five major features listed above for better communication and easier fundraising campaigns. For more marketing tips for your nonprofit, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Instagram @socialsrunway.