Nonprofit organizations play an important role in improving our communities and supporting the causes we care about to make the world a better place.
It's crucial for a nonprofit organization to have a website. It helps to engage and encourage more like-minded people to volunteer or make a donation to help the cause. It's the fastest way to reach more people and raise more money.
Now let's talk about how to create a nonprofit website from scratch without any coding or designing experience. I will cover everything from choosing a domain name to designing and publishing your website using a beginner-friendly website builder.
So let's dive in and create a nonprofit website that will make a difference to the world.
How to Create a Nonprofit Website
I will discuss the step-by-step process of creating a website with zero coding and design knowledge. Please read all the steps thoroughly to understand how easy it is to create one for your organization.
A nonprofit organization is a type of organization that relies on donations and exists to serve a specific purpose or mission. The purpose is often related to promoting a social or global cause, helping people in need, etc. Unlike commercial organizations, nonprofits do not aim to generate profits for owners or shareholders but rather reinvest any revenues back into the organization's mission-related activities.
Here are 3 simple steps to create a nonprofit website:
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Step 1: Select Your Domain Name
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Step 2: Choose a Website Builder
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Step 3: Design the Website Using the Builder and Publish
Select Your Domain Name
Selecting a domain name is a good starting point for every website creation journey, as it is fun, and you will instantly get hooked on the project. There are two stops at the domain selection point.
Choose a Domain Name
Choosing a domain name involves two parts. The first part is researching and brainstorming potential names. Take your time with this step, as selecting a name relevant to your website's goal is important. You can also read our guide on choosing a perfect domain name to get some ideas.
Buy the Domain Name
To purchase a domain name, visit a domain registrar's website, such as GoDaddy or Namecheap, to check for its availability and buy it.
Choose a Website Builder
When looking for a website builder to create a nonprofit website, here are some features to consider:
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Nonprofit-specific Templates: Look for a website builder offering mobile responsive templates tailored to nonprofit organizations. These templates should be optimized for fundraising and donation features and other nonprofit-specific elements.
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Donation Tools: Ensure the builder offers donation-receiving features, such as secure payment gateways and customizable donation forms.
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SEO and Analytics: It should have built-in SEO features and integration options to analytics tools like Google Analytics to help you track website performance and optimize your website for search engines.
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Responsive Design: Your website should be optimized for viewing on various devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. Choose a builder with mobile-friendly responsive design options to ensure your website structure looks great on any device.
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Social Media Integration: Look for a builder that makes it easy to integrate your social media accounts into your website, allowing you to share content and engage with your audience across multiple platforms.
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User-friendly Interface: The builder should have a user-friendly interface and a drag-and-drop editor that makes it easy to create and manage your non-profit website, even without coding knowledge.
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Support and Customer Service: Choose a builder that offers comprehensive customer support and resources, including tutorials, forums, and live chat or phone support. This will ensure you have access to help when you need it.
Now that you know what features to look out for to create a nonprofit site, let me introduce the Dorik no-code website builder that offers them all. On top of that, Dorik provides some extra features that can benefit you.
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Unlimited Hosting: You will get unlimited hosting storage with every premium plan of Dorik. You can upload as many photos and videos as you want without worrying about running out of hosting space.
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Site Security: Dorik provides a free SSL/TLS certificate with all the websites built on this platform to ensure your site and its data remain secure from hacking.
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Built-in Image Optimizer: Dorik's built-in image optimizer can automatically optimize all the images on your site without compromising quality. This will increase your site's speed.
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White Label Branding: Dorik allows users to build sites with their branding without requiring any credit to be given to Dorik. This feature is available with every premium plan.
Those features make Dorik one of the best website builders out there. If you want to learn more about Dorik, here's a list of features that explains how Dorik can bring your website higher on Google Search.
To start building your website, you can pick the free mobile responsive nonprofit website template of Dorik and start designing your site.
Design the Website Using Dorik and Publish
Now, let's focus on your nonprofit website's design and development process with Dorik. I'll break it down step by step. Just follow my instructions, and at the end of this blog, you'll have a website for your nonprofit organization where you can share your mission and vision and collect donations.
Step 1: Sign Up for Dorik
To explore the website builder of Dorik, visit the website and click the "Try Dorik Now" button. This option does not require any registration. However, if you wish to publish your site or save it for customization later, you must sign up for Dorik. I recommend you take the sign-up route, as it will unlock many features.
After signing up, you will be directed to the Dorik Dashboard to manage your projects and control website settings. If you need to create a static site without blogging features, and membership pages, you can select the Dorik Classic option to create a new website.
But if you plan to build a dynamic website with a lot of flexibility and fantastic functionalities, you can choose Dorik CMS. You can publish blogs, create gated content, create membership pages, and unlock more features by clicking on Dorik CMS in the dashboard and selecting New CMS Site.
CMS stands for Content Management System, in case you didn't already know.
The website-building process will be almost the same. You can manage your website's content easily from the Dorik CMS Dashboard.
For a nonprofit website, it's best to use the CMS option as it offers all the required functionalities and keeps the door open for more.
Step 2: Select a Template
Clicking the "New CMS Site" button will take you to the starting point of creating your website. Here, you will see a list of templates to choose from to customize your website according to your needs.
For this blog, I am selecting the free nonprofit website template that is "Help Charity Template." This template has all the elements, buttons, and pages you will need to share your message and activity and collect donations pre-built into it.
Step 3: Explore the Builder
Now that we have our preferred template, it's time to explore the website builder where you will customize your website. But before entering the builder, you will see a pop-up form asking you to set a project name for this nonprofit website project and a domain name.
Initially, you can set up a subdomain name to be published as a subdomain of Dorik.
You can also connect any domain your own to your website later from the CMS Dashboard with a Dorik premium plan, and I'll discuss the "how" part later in this blog.
For now, I'm showing you the demo with a subdomain name as I'm using the free plan of Dorik to build this site.
When you click Create, it will take you to the CMS dashboard. It will be the central hub where you can manage everything related to your site. Check out all the available settings to get a clear idea of what you can do from the dashboard.
To visit the builder, where the magic happens, you need to click on the "Design & Pages" option.
Inside the builder, you can first check out all the available options to familiarize yourself with the interface. You will see options to change the page settings, check the responsiveness, save the progress, preview and publish the website, and more.
Explore them to make yourself familiar with every available option.
You can drag, move, edit, and delete existing elements or add new ones to the template. Hover over any block, and the options will appear. Play around with them to understand what you can do with them using the drag-and-drop interface. Change the logo, images, and texts, and replace them with your nonprofit organization's info to see how they look.
You'll find the most crucial settings in the sidebar of the builder. You can see all the pre-built pages of the template and add, copy, remove, and customize them as much as you want. You can add a new blank page or copy an existing page with all the styling and then change the elements for faster design.
You can right-click on any sections, elements, or cards to duplicate them. It creates a copy of that section with the same elements and styling. You can also save them to your collection to use them later in any other part of your website or pages.
You can change the text and image of any card or section to get a personalized view; it's that easy. To change images or text, click on them, and a pop-up card will appear with all the customizable settings.
You can also set some global styles (available in the left sidebar of the builder) that will be applied to all the pages once set.
Besides that, you can also add multiple integrations to your website and make it feature-rich and more user-friendly.
You can see a short video on Dorik builder's basic introduction and learn about the fantastic things you can do inside this builder.
Step 4: Publish Your Website
Let's say you made the necessary changes and customizations to the template and are ready to publish it. Before you click "Publish," you can preview your site to see if everything looks perfect by clicking the "Eye Icon."
Then, you can click "Publish" to make your site live and see the live version by clicking the upward arrow icon sitting beside the publish button.
Now, let's look at how the "Help Charity" Template looks when you publish it. Exploring the live version will give you a gist of all its features and give you ideas about what you can do with them.
You can see the header section with navigational links and buttons. Besides the home page, this template includes About (Who We Are?), Programs, Contact Us, and Blog pages. Those are must-have pages for any nonprofit organization's website.
You can also consider creating a one-page website to keep it simple and short. If you do that, you'll need a clear understanding and plan of what to keep and avoid on the page.
You can see a Donation button that people can click to send donations to help with the cause. Dorik supports payment integration from PayPal, Gumroad, Stripe, and Paddle to help you receive donations worldwide.
You can keep your organization's about section right after that. People will want to know about it.
You can showcase your organization's success statistics on the homepage to let visitors see what you have accomplished and why they should trust you with their donations.
You can also have a section to invite the visitors to become a volunteer and work with you. You can use a custom form for the registration process.
Sharing your past activities is another crucial part of a nonprofit website to build trust and credibility. People will feel more comfortable donating if they know what you do with their money.
Having a blog page can be a great way to educate people about news and information relevant to your cause. Dorik CMS is great for blogging and managing your website content, so you won't face any hurdles in managing a blog page for your nonprofit.
Finally, you can see the footer section. It’s one of the most important parts of any website as it provides easy access to important pages of the website and to the brand’s social handles. You can check out these best footer examples to get inspiration on how to design one effectively.
Step 5: Add a Custom Domain
Let's talk about adding that custom domain now. To begin with it, you need to opt-in for a premium CMS plan. Dorik offers very budget-friendly plans. After purchasing a plan, go to the dashboard.
You can add a custom domain by clicking the custom domain option that you will see on the left sidebar. To own a custom domain, you can buy one from a domain registrar like Namecheap or GoDaddy.
You can also watch this video tutorial to learn how to add a custom domain on Dorik.
Step 6: Practice and Gather More Knowledge
In this step, I'll discuss how you can gain more knowledge about using the Dorik website builder to create a visually enticing nonprofit organization's website.
Watch Some Tutorials
Dorik offers a huge collection of tutorials explaining all the significant functionalities to make the process easier. You can watch those tutorials to gain in-depth knowledge and become a better web designer without design knowledge.
Read the Documentation
Documentations are goldmines for new users of any software. Dorik's documentation page answers almost every question a Dorik user's brain might contemplate.
Get Some Inspiration
Visit other nonprofit organizations' websites and see how they are keeping their website on point and making the interface visually appealing at the same time. Try to include those sections or elements in your site. Dorik has a healthy collection of UI blocks and elements, so you'll find whatever you need.
What Are the Purpose and Goals of a Nonprofit Website?
The purpose and goals of a nonprofit website are:
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Raise Awareness: A nonprofit website can be used to increase public awareness about the cause your organization is working with. You can provide your mission statement. You can educate people about the cause, why it is happening, and what they can do to prevent it. You can also encourage them to do more charity work and help the affected people, animals, or places.
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Fundraising: One of the primary goals of a nonprofit website is to raise funds for the organization's cause through donations, sponsorships, and other fundraising efforts. If your cause has loyal supporters, there is a vast fundraising potential to explore.
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Volunteer Recruitment: The website can also be used to recruit volunteers to help with events, fundraising, and other activities. It is a key component of any nonprofit organization.
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Education and Advocacy: Nonprofit websites can provide educational resources and information to website visitors about issues related to the organization's cause. They can also be used to advocate for specific policy changes or to mobilize supporters to take action.
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Branding and Online Marketing: A website can help establish the organization's brand and promote its message to a broader audience. It's considered to be one of the most accessible outreach efforts.
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Share Activities: Nonprofit websites can be used to promote upcoming events, such as fundraisers, rallies, and awareness campaigns. Doing this can motivate many potential donors to become active donors.
How to Collect Donations Using Your Website
There are several ways to collect donations using a nonprofit website:
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Donation Buttons: Donation buttons can be placed prominently on the website to encourage visitors to make a donation. These buttons can link directly to a donation form or a third-party payment processing service.
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Donation Forms: It is among the most common ways to collect donations on a nonprofit website. These forms typically allow donors to select the amount they wish to donate and provide their contact and payment information.
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Crowdfunding: Crowdfunding platforms allow organizations to set up fundraising campaigns and accept donations online. There are many popular crowdfunding platforms for nonprofit organizations that you can use.
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Sponsorships: Nonprofit websites can also offer sponsorship opportunities, allowing businesses or individuals to make a larger donation in exchange for recognition on the website or at events.
6 Best Nonprofit Website Design Examples
Here are some nonprofit organization website examples for your design inspiration.
1. Charity: Water
The Charity: Water website is a great example of a website that is right on point. They are collecting funds to run clean water projects in areas that have water scarcity. You can see a donation form right at the top of the homepage, along with a message explaining their goal. They also kept a statistics section to showcase their previous achievements and a photo gallery.
2. World Wildlife Fund
When you visit World Wildlife Fund's website, you can see they kept every important info above the fold. Their goal is to save endangered wildlife, protect fragile ecosystems, and find ways that will benefit both people and nature. They kept adoption and donation buttons in the navigation bar to let you know how you can help out.
3. Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is helping people to fight cancer and spreading awareness about it. They are also providing online support and doing fundraising all through their website.
4. Ocean Conservancy
Ocean Conservancy's website is all about catchy visuals to instantly hook you with the cause. The interface is clean, and the messaging is right on point. They are working to protect the ocean from plastic pollution and climate change effect.
5. AlterYouth
AlterYouth's website is fully focused on its goal and its activities. It works with rural schools where the dropout rate is severe due to economical inability. They offer scholarships to economically challenged students to ensure they continue their studies. You can learn about what they do right when you visit the site. No irrelevant distractions are there.
6. International Rescue Committee
You can easily guess what International Rescue Committee does right from the name. It helps the people affected by war and natural disasters and provides them with shelter and food. They write blogs about current crises and collects donation to continue their project. You can see the Donate button right at the top of their homepage with other navigational buttons.
If any of the above-mentioned nonprofit organization's cause aligns with your ideology, consider donating to them or joining as a volunteer. Your small contribution will go a long way toward making our world a better place.
Also, you can try Dorik to build your nonprofit website without coding skills or web design experience if you have a nonprofit organization.
Which website domain extension is for nonprofits?
The ".org" domain extension is commonly used for nonprofit websites, as it is intended for non-commercial organizations. But you can use any one of the TLD (Top-Level Domain) for your website.
How much does it cost to run a nonprofit website?
The cost of running a nonprofit website varies depending on several factors, such as the website builder and hosting service you choose, any additional paid features or integrations you use, and the amount of traffic the website receives. However, many budget-friendly options are available, like the Dorik white-label website builder that offers unlimited storage with every premium CMS plan for no additional charge.
You can build a free website with Dorik with limited features. If you want to have more flexibility and dynamic features like offering membership, maintaining a blog page, white-label features, etc. then you can opt-in for a premium plan.
How many pages should a nonprofit website have?
There is no set number of pages that a nonprofit website should have. The number of pages will depend on the specific needs and goals of the organization. However, most nonprofit websites will likely have at least a homepage, an about us page, a page describing their mission and goals, a page for accepting donations, and a page for contacting the organization's executives.
Conclusion
Creating a nonprofit website can seem like a daunting task at first, but with the Dorik white-label website builder, it is a smooth process. By following the steps I mentioned in this blog post, you can easily create a visually appealing and functional nonprofit website. Remember to focus on your organization's goals and purpose and ensure your website reflects them.
You can try Dorik now to get started without wasting any more time. Remember, with a well-designed website; you can increase public awareness, raise funds for your cause, and recruit volunteers to help with your activities.
