4 Essentials for a Dynamic Nonprofit Website

Nonprofit websites are a dime a dozen. Dynamic nonprofit websites that truly reach their specific target audience, result in tangible and consistent action, and boost online donations? Those are harder to find and even harder to forget. Here are four essentials for building a dynamic website for your charitable organization.

1. Provide opportunities for mobile and online giving.

In today’s mobile-centered society, people complete certain financial tasks, like banking and shopping, on their smartphones. Meet their needs by allowing them to do the same for supporting your cause. Make sure your site is mobile responsive, and emphasize your mobile and online giving platform.

Be sure to choose an online giving service that makes the process easy and doesn’t require the donor to fill out a long form with personal information in order to give. It is critical that the process be fast and easy and only require the most basic functions in order to donate.

With the Givelify™ platform, you can give your website visitors the opportunity for mobile and online giving with a simple click of a button.

2. Include clear calls to action.

A dynamic nonprofit website with compelling text and rich images is still a waste without clear calls to action. People need to be invited and persuaded to participate in the mission. Though it fights against basic human nature to ask for things (e.g., money, involvement), it is paramount to do so if you want your website to attain results.

Also, remove any obstacles that could stop people from following your calls to action. Do all of the links work, and do they take visitors to the correct place? How quickly and easily can supporters complete the online giving process? With Givelify, for example, visitors to your website will see a clear online giving button and within a few clicks, have successfully completed their donation.

When you make it easy to follow your calls to action, more people are likely to take the course you’ve laid out for them. It’s not only easy for your donors; you don’t need an advanced IT department to set up mobile giving. Givelify is simple to set up for mobile donations, and it’s easy to place an online giving button on your website and add a Donate button to your Facebook page.

3. Know your audience.

One of the most impactful exercises you can do is identify an individual who most closely represents the majority of your audience. When coming up with messaging on your website, picture that you are talking to that person. Anyone who peruses your website will feel more personally connected if it speaks to one person instead of a crowd.

Using “you” language is powerful. Learn what your audience needs in order to invest in your cause and then speak directly to those needs.

4. Be transparent with your financials.

Post a copy of your annual report. Explain the impact of a financial gift. Especially if you take little or no money out of a gift for overhead costs, showcase the percentage that goes directly to meet the need. People want to know that when they make a financial contribution, it will have a real impact on a cause that matters to them. For your website to really drive those donations, show potential supporters how far their money will go.

Transparency is generationally important, too. Millennials and members of Generation Z value transparency more than older generations. The more information you share with them, the more willing they will be to show their support. To view donation information and analytics that you can communicate with your supporters, Givelify member organizations can view detailed reports on the Givelify dashboard.

With Givelify, you can also create custom giving envelopes that allow donors to direct their gift to a specific fund. For example, if you have multiple fundraisers running at the same time, they can give to the one that means the most to them. That extra transparency goes a long way in letting your supporters know that their donations will end up exactly where they want it to go.