Is it time for a website redesign for your non-profit?

This is your chance to create a website that is uncluttered, straightforward, and easy to navigate to help attract supporters and maximize donations. We’ve compiled a list of essentials for your redesign with elements you should think about including:

1) Clearly State Your Mission

What makes your organization stand out? Why should someone support your cause? What impact are you making? When someone accesses your site, your mission should clearly be visible on your homepage.

This may be an obvious point, but spell out your mission and vision in a vivid and concise way that emotionally resonates. Your website is the digital face of your non-profit’s brand. When people land on your site, you want them to know immediately what you’re all about.

2) Keep It Minimal

When designing your website, keep the idea of ‘less is more’ in mind. It can be tempting to want to include all the latest design elements, a bunch of pictures, and big blocks of text, but it is usually not necessary.

You should have plenty of white space around your content to break up the information for users and only include the essentials on each page. We recommend making a ‘must-have’ list for each page of your site so you can easily eliminate elements that don’t fit your criteria.

A simple and streamlined website allows your users to navigate your site more easily and your organization to better maintain.

3) Use Visual Storytelling

Choose compelling photos and videos that visualize the work that your non-profit does. Include video interviews and footage of your work, and testimonials from the people you have impacted, along with photos of your staff and volunteers. These elements contribute to the overall human voice of your organization and are far more impactful to viewers than plain text.

You can also use infographics and icons to tell the story of your impact.

Rather than stating facts and figures, you can lay out your content in a visual way. Try creating an infographic for representing numbers and key data about the amount of people you impacted last year, or how much money you’ve raised since inception.

Just remember to find the right balance so it is presented in a clean, simple manner.

4) Optimize For Mobile Devices

With more and more people using their phones to browse the internet, it is crucial that non-profits make the user experience enjoyable for everyone.

Responsive design allows your website to be adjusted to fit any screen size on any device. Without a mobile-friendly design, it would be difficult for viewers to navigate and view your site and could potentially deter supporters.

A simple rule of thumb for responsive design is to limit the number of items on each webpage. Your layout should flow according to which device they are using; making it feel natural as they are scrolling.

A few takeaways for mobile design is to stick to a vertical layout and drop-down menu and to reduce clutter.

5) Organize Your Navigation Bar

Your navigation should be easy to understand and readily accessible from every page of your website. There are a few things you can do to make sure your navigation is intuitive:

1. The Donation Button: Make sure your donation button stands out by using a color contrast to your site and include it in your main navigation bar so that it’s always present and easily spottable no matter where users land on your site.

2. Sticky Navigation Bar: This means that your website has a fixed navigation. Fixed navigation bars can scroll down a page with you, reappear panel by panel, collapse and expand at the click of a mouse, interact with users as they browse, or skulk discreetly in the corners of the screen.

3. Clear navigation: Keep all navigation simple with titles between 1-3 words, avoiding drop-down menus (if needed stick to only one level), and using language that clearly portrays the content the page it is linking to.

6) Streamline Your Donation Page

Don’t forget about your donation page when you are redesigning your website. Your donation page should reflect the same look and feel of the branding and design you have created with the new site while creating a user-friendly donation experience.

Make sure your donation page doesn’t have any distractions (such as links) to direct people off the page before making their gift. The page should be short and contain only the most important information necessary to complete the donation. Just as your website, your donation form should be mobile-friendly.

7) Prioritize Engagement Strategy

Connect with your supporters by giving them options to engage with your organization. Determine what outcomes your organization is hoping to gain through engagement and create calls-to-action (CTAs) around your site that prompt users to take desired actions.

The CTAs should not only be easy to find but also easy for your users to complete the action. Successful CTAs are clear and concise while also creating a sense of urgency. Be sure your CTAs standout by using bold text and color. Some common CTAs include:

• Subscribe to newsletter
• Sign up to volunteer
• Join our event
• Follow us on social media
• Share this on social media

Incorporating social aspects into your website helps expand your reach and gives your supporters another way to engage with your organization online. Be sure to add links to your social media sites so users can easily connect with your organization. Adding social sharing buttons into your website articles and web forms makes it easy for supporters to share your content with their friends.

Need help with your non-profit website redesign?

A great non-profit website doesn’t have to take a lot of resources, it just has to be straightforward and easy to navigate. We would love to help you make it easier for visitors to understand your mission, see the impact, and find what they’re looking for when they visit your site.

If you’ve been thinking about a website redesign and aren’t sure where to start drop us an email using our contact page.