Latest update APRIL 2020
Beginning a
custom-designed
nonprofit
website project
The complete guide
Are you considering a website redesign project? You’ve
made it to the right place. At Elevation, we have been
designing nonprofit websites for over 12 years and have
knowledge to share. Whether your starting your first
website, or revamping your current site, we’re excited to
start this process with you.
There are many questions that arise and decisions that
must be made throughout this process. In this guide,
you’ll find answers to some of the most common
questions we’ve seen from our clients, as well as advice,
checklists and more to ensure you’re equipped with the
knowledge you need to make the best decisions for your
nonprofit website.
Let’s get started!
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CONTENTS
Investing in your Nonprofit Website
3
8 Things to Decide Before Starting Your Project
7
Three Steps to the Perfect RFP
10
Matierals for your New Website
14
Introduction to User Experience
17
Does Your Nonprofit Logo Need An Upgrade?
20
Importance of a Brand Style Guide
22
Importance of Ongoing Support
28
Continued Reading & Next Steps
33
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INVESTING IN YOUR
NONPROFIT WEBSITE
Think of your website as a store. When you walk inside a store, you
should feel safe and comfortable. You should feel that you are in a
reputable establishment, one that’s well-maintained, provides a
delightful, frictionless experience, and is responsive to your, the
customer’s, needs. Without these things, you won’t be spending your
time or money inside. Donors and constituents of your organization
share the same perspective while visiting your nonprofit website.
When arriving at your website, they will, however subconsciously,
critically evaluate its contents prior to partaking in your services,
utilizing your resources, or giving a donation.
Your nonprofit’s website is no longer an expense, but a long-term
investment into the future and longevity of your organization. Here are
5 reasons why your nonprofit should invest in your website.
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1. Build trust with your users and donors
New visitors and donors who arrive at your site are wondering one thing - can I trust this
organization? Remember, they can’t see what goes on behind the scenes. Your website is
your time to show your visitors all of the incredible work that you’re doing. An outdated
design and unmaintained website can be a red flag to your visitors.
Think about your own online presence. What are your visitors learning and understanding
about your organization from your website? Are they quickly seeing the results and progress
you’ve made since the birth of your organization? While your website doesn’t need to cost a
fortune, making the investment into a professional, custom-built site will sooth donors,
corporate partners, and grant foundations evaluating your organization.
2. Be available on-the-go
Picture this: a potential donor is scrolling through Twitter feed while on the bus on the way
home from work. An article pops up about a recent catastrophe that needs support, so they
turn to Google and search how to help. They’re taken to an article which suggests that they
support an organization that is offering aid and support directly. After tapping on the links to a
few related organizations’ websites, they see only one of them has a website optimized for their
iPhone, so they donate $50, all before they get home from work.
This is only one example of why a responsive website is more important than ever. Our lives are
getting faster and we’re able to be connected from anywhere. Just look at the statistics: giving
by mobile device increased 50% while donating from a desktop has decreased by 10%. As well,
41% of donors are giving in response to natural disasters. Don’t miss out on these donations.
Ensure your website is responsive and easy to navigate on every device.
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3. Increase your online donations
In 2019, overall giving increased by 4.1%, while online giving increased by 12.1% over the past year.
Donors are moving online, quickly, and your website must be ready to provide the online donation
experience donors are expecting. Investing in your website is an investment in your online donation
experience. With the right tools, your website can be your nonprofit’s top fundraiser.
PROVIDE A SEAMLESS DONATION EXPERIENCE
The online donation form needs to be as simple and easy to complete as possible. Any hindrance
and the donor has an extra second to re-think whether donating to your organization is the best
idea. Start with an online donation form embedded into your webpage. Gravity Forms is a great
option on WordPress sites, or try embedding your form through a standard iFrame. Make sure that
your form matches your branding as well.
MONTHLY GIVING PROGRAM
Did you know that 45% of worldwide donors are enrolled in a monthly giving program? A
recurring donation program brings in donations every month, making long-term support of your
organization simple. Ensure that your nonprofit’s donation page is equipped with the ability to
accept monthly donations. Giving a small donation of $10 a month for a year sounds much
better to donors than a one-time donation of $120.
CORPORATE MATCHING PROGRAM
Your online donation platform should also offer the ability to double every donation through
corporate match programs. Many corporations offer these programs to their employees. Make
sure that your online platform has this option. Not only will this double the amount donated to
your org, but it might also be the reason a donor chooses your organization over another.
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4. Create a memorable experience for the right users
The user experience of your website relates to the way your visitors engage with your website - this
includes the buttons, navigation bar, and content on your pages. When a website’s content aligns
with what the user is interested in learning about or an action they want to take, they engage with
your site for longer, which means it’s more likely they’re building a memory about your organization.
When designing your nonprofit website, always begin with the User Experience (UX). Who are your
ideal donors, volunteers, or visitors? What are they here to do or learn? Everything about your
website should speak to them, guiding them through their thought processes, taking them where
they want to go. Save time and money with a website designed to convert volunteers and donors and
spend less on follow-up targeting campaigns.
Many organizations hire a UX consultant to aid in the redesign process. Elevation offers a UX
consultation for every web design project. However, if you decide to do the UX in-house, here are
the analytics you should track to see if your UX has improved:
Sessions per user: should increase
Pages per session: should increase
Avg session duration: should increase
Bounce rate: should decrease
Loading time: should decrease
5. Attract the younger generations
Millennials have been found to be more likely to give than other generations, with 84% of millennial
employees giving to charity and 70% volunteering for at least one hour. While older generations still
give more money overall, more millennials are standing behind causes they believe in, donating both
their time and money.
When millennial donors reach your site, they have higher expectations for communication and ease
than your other donors. Having grown up in the age of the internet, for millennials, navigating
through a frictionless online experience is a given and not a delight. If their expectations are not met,
it’s easy for them to find another amazing organization. Make sure your loading time is fast, your
design is modern, and your site is receptive to the millennial donor.
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8
THINGS TO DECIDE
BEFORE STARTING
YOUR NEW WEBSITE
Approaching a website redesign or creating a new website from
scratch can seem like a daunting task. However, a well-designed
website is essential for any nonprofit to successfully attract
volunteers, collect donations and increase exposure. It can seem
overwhelming but knowing a few tips going into it will help in the
long run! In order to help simplify the process for you we have
compiled a list of 8 things you need to know before beginning.
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Define Your Website Purpose / Goal
Determine the goal of your nonprofit website. Considering and defining the main goal of your website is
one of the most important tasks of site-building. Before you start thinking about color schemes or
copywriting, you should first work out what you hope to achieve by creating a site.
Domain
Do you already have a registered domain name for your nonprofit? A domain name is your website’s
address on the internet; your webpage won’t exist without it. If you don’t have one yet, you can get your
domain through your hosting provider, or at www.domain.com.
Hosting
Web hosting is where your website/blog lives; their “home” on the internet. If you already have a working
website, you also have a hosting provider. Do you know who your hosting provider is? Do they also act as
a webmaster for making edits to the site? When does your contract expire?
Technologies / CMS / PHP
Most websites are now created using
open-code platforms, such as Wordpress or
Drupal, both of which are developed using
PHP language. It is important you take into
account the pros and cons of platforms such
as Wordpress and Drupal when deciding
which one you should use for your website.
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Accepting Donations
Are you currently receiving donations online? When it comes to online donation platforms, the sky's the
limit. After you have your website set up, you can set up a third-party donation processor through sites
like PayPal or Stripe. These sites allow you to receive donations and for them to be directly deposited in
your bank account.
Create an RFP
Sitemap + Content
Working in the nonprofit sector, you
probably have heard of a request for
proposal, or an RFP. An RFP is a
document that an organization posts to
elicit bids from potential vendors for a
desired IT solution. The RFP specifies
what the customer is looking for and
establishes evaluation criteria for
assessing proposals. Creating an RFP
is the best way to communicate your
needs and goals to your vendors.
Your website without content is
useless. If you are about to embark on
creating a new website or even doing a
redesign for your current site, it’s
essential that you first think about your
content and how you want it structured. This is where your sitemap
comes in, to help organize all of the
information you would like to share
with your audience.
Choose the Right Web Design Agency / Designer
When deciding on which agency or designer to hire for your new website, it’s important to ask yourself a
few questions first. How much experience in the nonprofit sector do they have? Have they worked with
organizations similar to your nonprofit? How strong are their references or social media presence?
Consider all of these factors in order to guarantee you are making the right decision.
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THREE STEPS
TO THE
PERFECT RFP
An RFP (Request for Proposal) is the first step to any website design
project. Writing an RFP can be a daunting and involved process when
you’re just starting out. This is a document your organization creates in
order to seek services for a given task (ie a redesign for your nonprofit
website). An RFP provides your nonprofit with the opportunity to
express its needs and find the firm best suited to execute them. Similar
to a comprehensive job posting, you are on the search for that perfect
fit whose capabilities match your needs perfectly.
As with any form of business communication, RFPs should be concise
but still provide plenty of detail. Luckily, there is a straightforward
framework you can follow to cover all of your bases.
Over the years, we’ve received hundreds of RFPs, and know exactly
what it needs in order to be successful for both your nonprofit and your
potential web design team. Here are some best practices to creating
the perfect RFP.
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1. Determine exactly what you’re looking for
The first step, before you even begin writing an RFP, is to know your guiding
principles. In other words, be certain of what you require
from a proposal and what you will not accept.
Take it from us - we’re web design experts.
This will help you frame your request to target
your exact wants and needs. Also, with this
framework in place, you will have a clear
understanding of when you’ve found the right
candidate for the job.
Take this time to also determine whether
your priorities lie more in optimal price or in
highest quality. Establish where, if at all, you are
willing to compromise. Doing this early will prevent any last-minute surprises
and keep you on track for the creation of your ideal web project.
2. Outline your RFP
Create an outline for your request. To do this, you must first specify which
categories you want to include. Usually, an RFP will include some
combination of the following categories:
INTRODUCTION
You will want to provide a preliminary explanation of a few things here. Start
with a quick organizational overview -- tell people what your organization
does, its missions, and specific goals for this project. Explain why you are
submitting this request and what needs it will be filling. Identify your target
audience, who the project will directly affect, and any additional information a
candidate may need to understand the scope of the project. Keep everything
high-level in this stage, for you will be delving deeper into detail in the coming
sections of your RFP.
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REQUIREMENTS, SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES
Clarify exactly what you want out of this process. Include all specific deliverables
and specify what you will expect through every step of the process. Include
every component that you will want from the vendor. The more you include
here the better - this will help those submitting proposals know the full scope of
work, and will also help you get a more accurate price quote. Use this space to
include logistics such as completion dates, budgets, expectations throughout
development, and rigid requirements versus room for creative liberties.
TIMELINES
Delineate your timelines. Let the vendors know how long they have for each
step of the process - deadlines for submitting proposals, how long you plan to
take in evaluating them, general project timelines, the whole nine yards. Make
sure that whoever you choose will be able to meet these deadlines, or is able to
suggest an alternative schedule that also fits within your time frame.
POINT OF CONTACT & OTHER LOGISTICS
Include pertinent information such as who on your team vendors should contact
with proposals, by what method (physically or digitally), and in which format
(PDF, Word document, hard copy, etc.). If there are any
other specific things you’d like to receive in your
proposals, include them here.
SELECTION CRITERIA
Let applicants know specifically what you
are looking for in them. With the high
volume of proposals you may receive,
defining what you want will ensure that the
right people apply and that you are able to
easily filter through other criteria. Make
your process as straightforward for yourself
as possible by requesting examples of
previous similar work, references, etc.
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3. DISSEMINATION
One of the largest components of the RFP process is your strategy for
getting it out there. Determine first if you want the proposal submission to
be open-ended such that anyone who sees it can apply, or if it is to be
invite-only to people of your choosing. Next, determine your method of
dissemination, be it through snail mail, email, your website, social media
posts, submitting it to potential firms, or online job forums such as
upwork.com.
Getting your RFP in front of the right people ultimately determines the
quality of your return, so don't neglect this important step! We’d love to
receive your RFP! Go to go.elevationweb.org/submit-rfp to submit your RFP
when you’re ready.
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MATERIALS
FOR YOUR
NEW WEBSITE
Starting a website for your nonprofit can
seem like a daunting task. Don’t let that
deter you as many great things come
from stepping out of your comfort zone.
Let us help you get started with this list
of 7 things you need to have before you
start your website.
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1. Logo
As one of the first things that a visitor sees, the logo is an essential part of any organization's
website. Your logo sets you apart from other organizations and, therefore, should be memorable
wordmark, pictorial, mascot, emblem, or any combination of these. When choosing your logo,
consider colors and fonts that will be used across your site to keep your brand identity
consistent.
2. Platform
The platform that you choose to build your website on is important for many reasons. First, you
will interact with this platform anytime you edit your site. It should be user friendly enough for
website platforms. Do the research to decide which option fits your needs the best.
3. Domain Registration
To have a website, you will need to purchase a domain, or address where your site will be found
(URL). You can often purchase a domain through your hosting provider, however, there are also
several domain name services available. Often, the domain will need to be renewed annually for
a small fee.
4. Hosting
Before the website can become live, you will need to decide on a website hosting provider. The
company that you choose will host, or store, your site. Important features to consider when
certificate availability, and regular site backups
5. Donation platform
While it is not necessary to have a donation platform chosen before building your website, it’s
nonprofits, each with various advantages. Decide whether you’ll want transactions to take place
on your site or if you are comfortable with your donate links leading to an external site for
donations.
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6. Sitemap
It is important to consider the content that you will want on your website. Whether you have a
small amount of content or much more than that, you should start organizing it into the sepaContact Us, etc. Once you have a basic idea of your pages, you can build a sitemap. A sitemap
is a hierarchical list of these pages and will eventually become the main navigation of your site.
7. Photos
Photos play an essential part of your website’s design. Your images should compliment the
identity that your organization represents. You should have at least 10 high-quality (think 2100
x 1600 pixels) to use for the main design of your site.
Author: Candace Bundick
Once you’ve gathered these 7 things, you’re ready to get started!
Whether you are building it yourself or working with a company that will walk you
through it, you’re armed with a foundation for a great website!
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INTRODUCTION TO
USER EXPERIENCE
YOUR
NONPROFIT
MATTERS
As someone who works at a nonprofit, you know that special
considerations apply to the rules and guidelines for running
your organization.
Nonprofit websites also have their own set of special
considerations when it comes to UX (user experience).
Utilizing a design process which includes a close look at UX is a
great way to ensure that the visitors coming to your site will
have an easy time finding the content that is most important to
them. After all, as every UX professional will tell you – the user
comes first!
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5 UX Best Practices
Let’s take a look at some of these best practices and recommendations for the UX phase of
your site redesign project:
Your users are first
One of the biggest reasons we start every UX phase with a client call is to help us understand
what audiences are visiting your site. Take the time to understand not only who is coming to
your site, but what they want from your site. Are they there to download resources? Maybe
they are coming to your site to register for vital services or events. When thinking about content
and functionality, always put yourself in the shoes of your primary audience and ask yourself “is
this something that I would want as a visitor?”. If the answer is yes, it’s a great candidate for the
site. Make sure it’s easy to find as well.
Donation UX is vital
make donation page mistakes on your site. Found in a study by UXMag, one of the top reasons
why UNICEF outperformed competition on donations is that users felt like it was the easiest site
to use. This included both ease of use in making a donation, and in finding other information they
needed. Great UX will enhance these processes to make donating a snap for your visitors,
resulting in more and recurring donations.
Establish trust
When your users visit the site, they often need a reason to trust your brand and organization
before they’ll make a commitment to donate or engage in another way (volunteer, register for
services, download resources, etc.). Your job as an organization is to create reasons for them to
trust you. There are several ways to do this, and our first recommendation is often an Impact or
Success section that talks about what your organization has accomplished and where donated
money is going. In addition, great stories from your clients or visitors go a long way towards
telling your visitors that your organization is a successful and trustworthy entity.
Simplify your content
It can be tempting to include all of the content and resources at your disposal on your site,
because you never know what may be useful for visitors. Resist the urge, as the “kitchen sink”
an audit of your content and add only the most useful pieces to your site. This keeps the site
and navigation simple, and makes it a lot easier for your audiences to find just the right content.
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Take advantage of social media
Many nonprofits have social media accounts, but they often times aren’t taking advantage of all
per week. News stories, upcoming events, volunteer opportunities and more are all possible
shareable chunks of content. How users interact with your feed will give you incredible insight
about the visitors coming to your site. This will be helpful when building your user personas.
Author: Jeremy Schweitzer
Wrapping Up
Every web project should include a UX phase, but for nonprofits it’s doubly important. Take a
look at your current web content to see if it includes some of these best practices. If not, then
consider
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Does Your Nonprofit Logo
Need an Upgrade?
Your nonprofit relies on your logo to represent its mission, vision, personality, and even its level of success. That’s a lot to
expect from a small icon. The visual identifier of your mission and organization online and at your events, it carries a lot
of weight. Unsure if your logo is up to professional standards? Debating if its time to redesign? If you agree with any of
the following 10 statements, we would advise either a partial or complete logo refresh.
1
Your logo is outdated
Does your logo represent an organization from 2017, or does it seem dated
and old-fashioned? If the latter is true, it will also make your organization
seem old-school and out-of-the loop. What was in style 10 years ago is old
news today, so make sure your logo uses timeless elements in order to
prevent having to redo it every decade. Take it from the classics: Coca Cola,
Pepsi, Walmart, Apple, etc. all have logos that have withstood time because
they use design elements that aren’t necessarily the latest trend. 2 Therefore,
when they update their logos, they don’t have to drastically change the
design.
3
Other nonprofits have a similar logo
This can definitely happen, and it’s more likely to happen than you think.
Great minds think alike, and it’s very possibly you could have a similar-looking
logo for your organization as do four other nonprofits. You must perform a
thorough investigation before creating your logo, otherwise you might find
yourself in an uncomfortable situation or even a lawsuit. Let’s just hope you
catch the mix-up before they do.*
5
2
Your logo is confusing
Have you ever seen a logo that gave you a completely wrong idea of what the
company or organization is actually dedicated to? Maybe you’re a hospital and
your logo looks like you sell real estate, or what’s more maybe you’re a
nonprofit and you look like you sell tacos. Be careful about giving your
audience the wrong idea about your cause. Don’t try to make your logo
complex or too “hip” at the cost of steering donors away because your
identity is confusing. When people identify with your brand, they will be more
likely to want to be a part of it.
4
Your logo is missing something
Is your nonprofit logo missing a vital part of what it represents? Luckily, this
can be corrected. Below is an example of the transformation that Feeding
America undertook when rebranding its organization. By adding the wheat
stalk in its logo and taking away the American flag, it drastically transformed
the message it was communicating.* Make sure your logo is communicating
your cause and that something important isn’t being left out.
Your logo doesn’t represent the feel of your organization
This point goes along with #2. Not only should your logo not be confusing, but it should be representing the feel of your nonprofit. Who is your
organization helping? What is it dedicated to? If you’re helping elderly people with Parkinson’s disease, maybe a contemporary logo doesn’t go best with the your
nonprofit’s environment. Always keep the “who” in mind when coming up with your logo.
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6
Your logo doesn’t represent your
organization anymore
Your logo doesn’t go with your
marketing materials
As time passes, your nonprofit is going to change. This could mean expansion
into new communities or countries, diversifying your cause, or even making a
180 degree change on what your organization represents. If your logo was
created to represent a mission and vision which is now ancient history,
maybe it’s time for a logo update. "A logo isn't about where your business
was in the past, a logo should be aspirational, capturing the essence of your
business today as well as where you're headed in the future.3”
Is your nonprofit using marketing products and materials like business cards,
email designs, letterheads, campaign materials, etc.? Most nonprofits need to
be using at least some form of design materials for advertising purposes, and
it’s vital that your logo sit well with each format you use it with. Perhaps you
need a variety of colors or logo styles so that it is versatile and you can
reproduce it for different marketing materials.
8
7
Your logo wasn’t made professionally, and you can tell
Don’t let a bad logo taint a good cause.*
9
You don’t like your logo
Seems silly, but do you actually like your logo? If not, there might be a
reason why. Maybe it’s bad, but you convinced yourself it was okay
because a friend designed it for you. Maybe you paid a lot of money for a
professional to design it and it didn’t end up how you expected. Or even
better, maybe you designed it by yourself in Word or Paint. Whatever the
reason, if you don’t like your logo, you have a problem that you should fix
ASAP. Think about getting (trusted) professional help.
“
10
You haven’t consulted a designer
Ultimately, our advice is that whatever you choose for your nonprofit logo,
that you take the time to research and create something that is timeless,
authentic, unique, and represents who you are as an organization. After all,
your logo is the “gateway” to your organization - it’s what someone often first
sees before deciding to learn more about your cause. For something so
fundamental to your cause, perhaps it’s best to leave it up to a professional.
The advantages to having your logo created by an educated, experienced designer are more than
initially meets the eye. Meaningful discovery and a design brief combined with color theory,
balance, and other professional know-how will result in a logo that is not only aesthetically beautiful
but also achieves brand recognition, identification and memorability with its audience.
http://www.achieveagency.com/nonprofit-logos-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
http://www.boredpanda.com/21-logo-evolutions-pepsi-cola-apple-nike-nokia/
3
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227903
4
https://ave25.com/blog.html/2014/08/20/10-signs-you-need-a-new-logo/#.WRC_mOXyvIW
1
2
4
*It should be noted that Elevation does not claim the creation of
any of the logos shown on this guide. With the exception of the
Feeding America logos listed on #4, all other logos are 100%
fictional and used as examples.
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GUIDE
Importance of a
BRAND STYLE GUIDE
for your Nonprofit
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What is a brand style guide?
A brand style guide is a collection of the pieces that make
up your organization’s personality. The most basic
guides include logo uses, color palettes, and fonts.
However, the options are extensive and more detailed
guides go on to include content rules, mission
statements, mood boards, use of imagery, icon design,
and much more. This valuable guideline outlines
how to keep your nonprofit brand consistent across all media so
that the trust built with your audience never wavers.
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In many ways, the logo is the face of your brand, which means that making
sure it’s always used correctly is crucial. Here are a few things to look for
when building your style guide.
ACCEPTABLE COLORS
Original colors are obvious, but you should
always have negative, black and white, and
single-color on hand as well.
WHITE SPACE
A lot of thought was put into this logo;
don’t take away from the design by
crowding it. The brand style guide should
always set a minimum white space area to
be used around the logo.
ACCEPTABLE LAYOUTS
INCORRECT USAGE
To help adhere to the white space and size
limits, there should be at least two layouts
of the logo available; portrait and
landscape. If your logo contains a longer
tagline, you may also want to consider a
standard super landscape version.
Finally, your style guide should show visuals
on how not to use the logo. Incorrect usage
can encompass, but is not limited to,
stretching/distorting, rotation, graphic
Whether on print or web, your logo should always be large enough to be seen clearly.
backgrounds.
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IMPORTANCE OF A BRAND STYLE GUIDE FOR YOUR NONPROFIT
Along with the logo, your organization’s color palette is the design element
that is interacted with the most. Using a consistent color palette across the
website, as well as print design, helps build trust with your brand and,
therefore, your organization.
Everyone that uses your organization’s colors should have the following
established color codes
CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and key) – used for
full-color printing
Pantone – ideal for logo and stationery printing
RGB (red, blue, green) – web use
Hex – web use
Acceptable color combinations
For palettes more complex
than two to three colors, laying out
color combination suggestions can help
keep the brand identity clear and obvious
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IMPORTANCE OF A BRAND STYLE GUIDE FOR YOUR NONPROFIT
It is easy to disregard the importance of keeping fonts uniform, but setting
a few ground rules about font usage can strengthen your brand identity
significantly
Main font
Your brand style guide should clearly outline the font
that will make up the majority of your content
Accent fonts
the hierarchies of the text and draw the reader’s attention
How to use the fonts
The brand style guide should lay out a sample paragraph of
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This outlines the basics of what a brand style guide should contain.
However, your guide can be as unique as your company. The end goal is
to have a set of guidelines that can help shape content without
restricting creativity.
Once the brand style guide is complete, distribute it to anyone that
comes into contact with your nonprofit’s content. Use it for the
website, brochures, business cards, newsletters, etc. A brand identity
primes your organization for growth by delivering a consistent message,
and a brand style guide will keep that identity on track!
Author: Candace Bundick
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IMPORTANCE OF
ONGOING SUPPORT
Website builds and redesigns require a special attention to detail.
You spend hours mulling over design specifics, content creation and
user experience, and finally you are ready to launch the site! While
it’s exciting to see your work come to fruition, you’re not out of the
woods yet. Every website is a living, breathing tool and, just like your
car, needs a tune up from time to time. Putting together a support
plan with your vendor allows you to have a trustworthy
“site mechanic” who can perform these tune ups, So let’s take a look
at the technical care they should keep in mind:
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1. WordPress/Plugin Updates
Staying on top of software and plugin updates is going to keep your website
healthy and secure. Each released update includes bug fixes and/or security
ever-advancing hackers.
Just like when updates are released for our smartphones, there might be things
that are thrown out of whack once the update is complete. We always
recommend having someone with technical knowledge of websites take care of
these updates so that they can catch any potential hiccups before they happen.
2. Hosting Needs
Every website needs a place to live, and this is where your hosting provider, or
server, comes into play. Think of your hosting as the garage for your car, a safe
place to keep an important item.
Navigating and talking about hosting definitely has specific terminology and
know-how, and having someone who can speak that language in your toolbelt is
invaluable. Your support team is able to communicate on your behalf, ensuring
that your organization’s online home has a safe and stable place to live.
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3. Style Adjustments on the Site/Restructuring
Your website should be a reflection of your organization, an ever-changing entity.
As your nonprofit goes through changes and updates, so should your site. Did you
recently change your logo? Or maybe you just signed up for a new CRM tool that
you need to have integrated with your site. These are things that your support and
development crew can take care of for you taking the technical headache out of
the picture whenever you need to make a new integration.
4. Site Backups
“Site backups” is probably one of those terms you’ve seen on a checklist or heard
mentioned by your hosting provider without anyone ever really explaining it. This
is an exact copy of your website. In the case of mishaps or crashes, this backup is
what is keeps you rolling .
We recommend taking a backup of your site at least once a month by contacting
your hosting provider. If your organization makes frequent content updates or
receives lots of form submissions, then you’ll want to do these backups more
often to make sure that those updates and entries are copied as well. Some
hosting provider and packages have this included and others require a manual
request. This will depend on your provider and account level so you’ll need to
check with them for all the details.
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5. Incidentals
To talk incidentals let’s return to our car example. Thinking back on lessons
learned from a used but beloved ‘03 Chevy Cavalier, maintenance is the key to
longevity. A trustworthy mechanic for regular checkups and nipping any potential
issues in the bud early on allowed that hunk of metal to keep on chugging for a
solid ten years. Be sure to find your mechanic to give that squeaky wheel some oil.
6. Matching Your New Designs to Your New Site
Active organizations are always designing new materials for their events,
fundraisers, and even general campaigns, and most of the time they refer
recipients back to their website. Another less technical, but very useful, way to
take advantage of your support hours is to work with the design team to put
these items together.
Maybe it’s time for new business cards, an updated brochure, or this year’s annual
report that’ll go digital. The designers who built your site already spent time with
your brand and can use your site as inspiration for these new creations ensuring
brand coherency. Other technical to-dos might take priority over new materials,
consistency.
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Your websites is your most important tool in giving communities the information
they need and is essential for your organization to remain relevant in a digital age.
It’s something that takes time and detail to properly complete and needs to be
maintained for any sort of longevity.
how we can help. We love hearing from you!
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YOUR NEXT STEPS
1.
Watch our webinar - Crash Course: Nonprofit Web Design
to get a great overview of the website design process:
go.elevationweb.org/crash-course-nonprofit-web-design.
2.
Complete and send out your Request for Proposal.
Share it with us at go.elevationweb.org/submit-rfp.
3.
Have questions about this guide or would like to get in
touch with a nonprofit website design specialist?
Reach out to us at go.elevationweb.org/contact-us.
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