To build a nonprofit website: decide the one action you want visitors to take, choose a platform your staff can edit, connect a donation tool and an email signup, write your mission, impact and get-involved pages, then launch and make sure every page has a donate button. Here's each step in plain English.
1. Decide what the site is for
Before you pick colors or a platform, write down the one thing you most want a visitor to do. For most nonprofits that's donate, volunteer, sign up for updates or enroll in a program. Every page should point to one of those actions. A site that tries to do everything equally usually does nothing well.
2. Choose a platform your team can update
You have three broad options:
- Free website builders. Quick to start and $0, but limited donation integrations, their branding on your site, and no one to call when something breaks.
- WordPress. Flexible and widely used, with many nonprofit themes and donation plugins. It needs someone to keep plugins and security updates current.
- An all-in-one platform. Website, donations, email and contacts in one system, so a gift shows up in the same place as the donor's record.
Whichever you choose, the test is the same: can someone on your staff change a page or add an event without calling a developer?
3. Connect donations and email first
Your donation form and your email signup are the two parts of the site that pay for the rest. Set them up before you write a single page. Make sure a new donor is added to your email list automatically and gets a thank-you. If you run campaigns, see our guide to online fundraising campaigns for nonprofits.
4. Write the pages every nonprofit website needs
- Home: your mission in one sentence, a donate button and one story of impact.
- About: who you serve, where, and who's behind the work.
- Programs: what you do, in plain language.
- Get involved: volunteer, donate, partner, attend.
- Events and news: proof the organization is active.
- Contact: an address, an email and a form.
For more detail on what to put on each page, see what a nonprofit website should include.
5. Show your impact
People give to results they can see. Use real numbers you can stand behind, short stories about the people you serve (with their permission), and photos of your work, not stock images. One honest story does more than a page of statistics.
6. Make it accessible and mobile-first
Most visitors will see your site on a phone. Check every page on a small screen. Use readable text sizes, strong color contrast and descriptive alt text on images, so people using screen readers can follow along. Accessibility is part of your mission, not an extra.
7. Launch, measure and improve
Connect analytics before launch so you can see which pages people visit and where donations come from. Once a month, check whether visitors are clicking the donate button and finishing the form. Fix the page where people drop off first.
How much does a nonprofit website cost?
A free builder costs nothing to start and suits a brand-new organization. A professionally built site from Latimer Digital costs $1,000 to build, plus $80 a month for maintenance (hosting, updates and support hours), and is typically live in about two weeks.
Should you hire a partner?
If your team has the time and someone comfortable with the platform, you can build it yourself. If not, ask any partner four questions: have they built for nonprofits, will your team be able to edit the site, does it integrate with your donation platform, and who owns the site and domain when the project ends? See how we build nonprofit websites.
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