Transform your Nonprofit’s Website

Your first impression is fundamentally shaped by its online presence. Your website serves as a virtual storefront, a hub for information, and a crucial tool for engagement and fundraising. If your website is outdated, difficult to navigate, hasn’t grown with you, or fails to communicate your mission effectively, it might be time for a redesign. Get your website from good to great.

Taking on a website redesign project, especially as a nonprofit, can be daunting. It’s expensive, time-consuming, and the final product—the thing that you have been looking forward to seeing the most—can take a while, and a lot of work, to be fully realized. It can be helpful to reframe the idea of a redesign—it doesn’t have to have all the bells and whistles on day one. You can start with the basics and add incremental, strategic improvements over time. But, the benefits far outweigh the costs.

1. Make the best first impression

A website is a digital representation of the organization’s values, mission, and impact. A poorly designed, cumbersome website prevents people from getting the information they need easily and efficiently. Ease of use should be number one! This includes intuitive navigation, mobile responsiveness, and fast load times. It may seem obvious, but a badly designed and built website can turn visitors away—even those that need services, are looking to donate, or volunteer for upcoming events. Don’t make it harder for people to get involved in your work, see your website do more for you.

For the National Residency Matching Program IOP rearchitected and reengineered their site to maximize self service for the 50,000+ Medical Students using the site every year.

2. Build your brand, bolster your reputation

Your website is crucial to the organization’s success, it’s your brand’s foundation and the entry point to your story. Is your website outdated or old-fashioned? Does it accurately reflect your organization’s current brand, work that’s being done, and long-term goals? Aligning your brand identity with your work happening on the ground, while communicating that to all key audiences is the promise of the web. And, if needed your brand can get a refresh within the website redesign process. You might be surprised what a website redesign can reveal about possible improvements for other areas in the organization.

For Kids In Crisis, IOP rebranded the organization, highlighting their messages and impact while simplifying the website, helping revitalize the organization.

3. Getting the basics right

Mobile-friendly design, accessibility, and search engine optimization (SEO)—these elements might seem obvious, but are integral for a successful website. A modern, well-structured website is more likely to rank higher in search engine results, increasing your visibility and attracting more visitors—so make sure your site can be easily found, and read by anyone. Optimizing a website for accessibility—structured code, alt text, keyboard-compatible navigation, and text-to-speech compatibility—can empower everyone to participate in your important work. Implementing best practices for SEO can improve its visibility and reach even as AI moves the goalposts.

4. Better tell your story

Your website is a powerful storytelling tool. An effective redesign can help you clearly articulate your mission, values, and impact. Is the text clear, compelling, and concise? Does it explain your work—and your impact—accurately? Effective storytelling can be a powerful tool to connect with visitors to the site, sharing the organization’s impact on the community, inspiring people to donate or to volunteer or to get involved in another way. Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees, there are benefits of working with an expert writer.

Through a multi-year collaboration with IOP, NYU Summer Housing has improved their site. We added clarity so students and interns seeking summer housing understand the process, costs, and steps involved.

5. Show, don’t only tell

The web is a visual medium. Compelling images help explain your work, garner interest, and generate visual appeal. Are there enough photos on your website? Are they yours, or generic? Are they interesting, engaging, and good quality? Investing in photography, illustration or even icons can help your organization clarify its brand, tell its story, and get people more excited about your work. High-quality images really are worth a thousand words.

Make the Case for the Budget

Understandably, budget constraints are a concern for nonprofits, and all businesses. (We’ve yet to meet a client with a blank check.) But, it’s important to view a website redesign as a strategic investment rather than an expense. A modern, engaging website can lead to increased donations, volunteer sign-ups, and event participation, or decreased calls for assistance, providing a measurable return on investment. An efficient, user-friendly website can reduce administrative burdens and save time and money in the long run.

Ideas On Purpose Can Help

For over 20 years IOP has been helping companies of all sizes with their purpose-driven communications, websites, sustainability reporting and storytelling. Our strategy, content, digital and creative teams are ready to help you define and tell your story. Feel free to email us, we’re happy to discuss the possibilities.

Photo by Jamie Fenn on Unsplash