Jul 23, 2025·8 min
Nonprofit Websites That Drive Donations and Volunteer Signups
Learn how to build a nonprofit website that raises more donations, tells your mission story clearly, and turns visitors into volunteers with simple forms.
Learn how to build a nonprofit website that raises more donations, tells your mission story clearly, and turns visitors into volunteers with simple forms.
A nonprofit website has three jobs: explain what you do, earn trust quickly, and make it easy to take the next step. If any one of those is unclear, visitors hesitate—and hesitation is where donations and volunteer signups get lost.
Start by choosing primary goals you can measure. Common ones include donating, volunteering, registering for an event, or subscribing to updates. Trying to push all of them equally on every page usually creates decision overload.
Pick one primary goal (your main “north star”) and one secondary goal. For example:
This doesn’t mean you ignore other actions—it means you design the site so the most important actions are obvious and friction-free.
Different people arrive with different questions. Identify your top audiences and what they need first:
Once you know who you’re speaking to, you can write clearer page intros, choose better navigation labels, and place calls to action where they match intent.
Limit your site-wide calls to action to one or two consistent buttons (for example, Donate and Volunteer). Repeat them in predictable spots—top navigation, end of key pages, and within relevant sections—without turning every paragraph into a pitch.
A focused set of actions makes your message feel confident, and it helps visitors act without thinking twice.
Your homepage has one job: help a first-time visitor quickly answer “Who are you, what do you do, and what should I do next?” When that path is clear, donations and volunteer signups follow naturally.
Treat the top of the page like a decision moment. Include a plain-language mission statement, a single impact line, and one primary call to action.
For example:
Keep the button label specific (“Donate now,” “Become a volunteer”) and avoid making visitors choose between five options before they understand your work.
Most visitors arrive with a simple goal. Your navigation should reflect that, with predictable labels and a clear hierarchy:
If you have multiple programs, use a dropdown for Programs—but keep it short. The more scanning people have to do, the more likely they are to leave.
After the hero section, add a few “proof and pathway” blocks that build understanding and invite action:
Each block should end with a clear next step, like “See our programs” or “Volunteer this month.”
Not everyone is ready to donate today. Offer lighter commitments in quieter areas (footer or a mid-page band): newsletter signup, upcoming events, and social links. These should be easy to find, but never compete with your primary CTA.
People give and volunteer when they quickly understand two things: what’s broken, and how your organization fixes it in a practical way. The best mission stories feel human because they’re specific, not grand.
A clear arc helps visitors stay oriented—especially on mobile.
If your “how to help” appears only at the end, add a small callout midway through the story with a button to /donate or /volunteer.
Avoid internal jargon and acronyms. Instead of “wraparound services,” say “we provide tutoring, meals, and rides to appointments.” If you must use a term, define it in one short sentence.
Emotion earns attention; specifics earn trust. Include numbers that a non-expert can understand:
“Last year, our team helped 312 families in East Denver keep their housing, and 68% avoided eviction after three months.”
Even better: tie metrics to one concrete moment (a safe night, a first paycheck, a clean water source).
A short quote makes the page feel lived-in:
“I didn’t need a lecture—I needed someone to show up. They did.” —Volunteer, community pantry
Keep quotes brief, confirm consent, and avoid details that could identify someone in a harmful way. If you want to go deeper, link to /impact for full stories and outcomes.
A donation page should feel like a straight path, not a maze. The best-performing pages remove decisions and distractions so supporters can act on the motivation they already have.
Aim for a simple sequence: amount → details → payment → confirmation. Avoid sending people to multiple pages unless you truly need to. If you must break it up, show a clear progress indicator so donors know how close they are to finishing.
Use a handful of preset amounts plus a custom option. Donors shouldn’t have to guess what “helps.” Add one short line under each preset to explain the impact (keep it concrete):
This kind of guidance increases confidence and reduces hesitation.
Give donors an easy way to switch between one-time and monthly. Explain the benefit in plain language: monthly gifts help you plan, respond faster, and spend less time fundraising.
Also make it safe to say “yes” by setting expectations: monthly donors can change or cancel anytime. If you have a donor portal, link it on the confirmation page (e.g., “Manage your gift at /donate/manage”).
Don’t stop at “Thanks!” Your confirmation page is a high-trust moment. Offer one or two next steps:
Keep it focused—one primary action is better than a menu of options.
People give when they feel confident their support will be handled responsibly—and when they can quickly understand what changes because of it. Your website should make that confidence easy to earn, without sounding defensive.
Add clear, skimmable signals that your nonprofit is real, accountable, and stable:
Keep these items easy to find from your donation flow and footer. A good pattern is a “Financials & Accountability” page linked site-wide (e.g., /about/financials).
Trust grows when impact is specific and recent. Highlight outcomes from the last 3–6 months: meals served, students supported, shelters funded, acres restored—whatever matches your mission. Add one short story or quote from a beneficiary or volunteer, plus a date, so it feels current.
If you have longer documentation, pull 2–3 highlights onto the site and link to the full report (e.g., /reports/2024-annual-report).
Use plain language like: “$50 provides X” and “Most donations support Y.” Include a short note on overhead that focuses on why it matters (staff, compliance, safety), rather than apologizing for it.
Place contact details near donation CTAs: an email, phone number, and a named point of contact (e.g., “Questions about giving? Contact Maya, Donor Support”). A human name and response promise (“We reply in 1–2 business days”) reduces hesitation right at the moment of giving.
A volunteer page should answer one question immediately: “Is this for me?” If visitors have to hunt for basics—time commitment, location, and what they’ll actually do—you’ll lose motivated people who simply need clarity.
Start with a short, specific promise that sets expectations. Include:
A single paragraph plus a simple “Next orientation date” line can remove most uncertainty.
Instead of one generic “Volunteer” button, create role cards that make choosing easy. Each card should include: role name, time commitment, location, requirements (e.g., lifting, driver’s license, training), and a “Good for…” line (students, families, corporate groups).
Keep the benefit real and practical: “Meet others in your neighborhood,” “Earn service hours,” or “Training provided.” Avoid vague feel-good copy.
Your initial signup form should feel light—people are still deciding. Ask only what you need to make the next step happen:
Collect everything else (emergency contact, t-shirt size, references) after they’ve raised their hand—via a follow-up link or a volunteer portal. If you have multiple programs, offer a single “I’m not sure—help me choose” option.
After submission, don’t leave people guessing. Show a confirmation page and send an automatic email that includes what happens next, your timeline (“We reply within 2 business days”), and how to prepare (what to bring, parking, dress code, required documents). Link to /volunteer/faq for common questions and reduce back-and-forth.
A nonprofit website should work for everyone who needs it—donors making a quick gift on their phone, volunteers signing up between shifts, and community members using assistive technology. When your site is easier to use, more people finish what they started.
Most visitors will meet your nonprofit on a small screen. Make the experience feel effortless:
A practical rule: if someone can’t complete your main action with one hand, on a slow connection, you’re likely losing conversions.
Accessibility isn’t just compliance—it’s good UX.
Start with fundamentals that improve usability for everyone:
These changes also reduce friction for older supporters, people using cracked screens, or anyone in poor lighting.
Donation and volunteer forms are where good intentions can fail.
If you need consent or preferences, keep them readable and optional where possible—don’t bury important choices in cramped UI.
If you serve multilingual communities, adding language options can be one of the highest-impact improvements you make. Even a small start—translating core paths like Donate, Volunteer, Get Help, and Contact—can increase completions and reduce support requests.
Also consider inclusive content basics: use plain language, explain acronyms, and write button text that matches the outcome (for example, “Donate $25 monthly” instead of “Submit”).
SEO for a nonprofit isn’t about gaming search engines—it’s about making it easy for the right people to discover your programs and take action. Start by optimizing the core pages that most visitors (and searchers) look for: About, Programs, Donate, Volunteer, and Contact. Each should answer “what you do, who you serve, where you work, and how to help” in plain language.
Write descriptive page titles and headings based on real questions. For example:
Match each page to one main topic, and use headings to break up the page so readers (and search engines) understand it quickly.
If you serve specific areas, say so consistently across the site. Mention your service areas, neighborhoods, and cities on your Programs and Volunteer pages, and include details about local partners and events. This helps you show up when someone searches “volunteer near me” or “donate to [cause] in [city].”
An FAQ section can do double duty: it ranks for common searches and prevents repetitive questions. Place a short FAQ on your Donate and Volunteer pages covering topics like donation receipts, recurring donations, time commitments, age requirements, background checks, and what happens after someone submits a form.
If you’re updating content regularly, publish simple stories tied to specific programs (not vague announcements) and link them back to /donate or /volunteer with a clear nonprofit call to action.
A nonprofit website can “feel” busy and still underperform. Analytics helps you see where people get stuck, what content builds confidence, and which updates actually increase donations and volunteer signups.
Start by mapping a simple path and checking drop-offs at each step:
If many visitors reach the donation page but few start the form, your call to action may be unclear or the page may raise questions. If many start but don’t finish, the form is likely too long, confusing, or distracting.
Pageviews alone won’t tell you what’s working. Set up event tracking for key actions, such as:
Also add basic context to events when possible (device type, campaign source, suggested amount clicked). That makes your reports more useful than a single overall conversion rate.
Create a small dashboard your whole team can understand: donations completed, volunteer signups, conversion rates, and top sources (email, organic search, social). Review it monthly in a 30-minute meeting and pick one improvement to ship before the next review.
Instead of major redesigns, test one change at a time:
Keep a note of what you changed and the date, so you can connect results to actions.
People hesitate to donate (or sign up) if something feels off—even if your cause is compelling. Good security and privacy practices don’t just reduce risk; they quietly increase confidence and completions.
Donation and volunteer forms are magnets for bots. Use lightweight protections that don’t punish real supporters:
The goal is to stop abuse while keeping the form fast and calm.
Many nonprofit sites run on WordPress or similar platforms—great for flexibility, but only if maintained.
A compromised site can damage trust quickly, even if no donor data is stolen.
Create a clear /privacy page and link it near forms. Spell out:
Avoid legal jargon where possible; clarity feels respectful.
Always serve your site over HTTPS. For payments, use reputable processors (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, Donorbox) so you’re not storing card details yourself.
On /donate, show subtle trust cues: secure checkout messaging, processor logos, and a brief note about how payments are handled. Keep it factual—security is most convincing when it’s simple and specific.
A nonprofit website shouldn’t just look good—it should reduce the behind-the-scenes busywork that slows down fundraising and volunteer coordination. The best time-savers are often simple: connect the tools you already use, then standardize how content and campaigns get published.
Start with the systems that touch donors and volunteers most often:
When these tools are connected, your website becomes more than a brochure—it becomes a reliable intake system.
If you’re building or modernizing that intake system with limited developer time, a platform like Koder.ai can help you prototype and ship donor and volunteer flows faster via a chat-based build process—then export the source code and keep full control of hosting, custom domains, and future iterations.
Automate the “every time someone…” tasks:
These workflows reduce errors, speed up response times, and improve conversion without adding more staff.
Decide who owns ongoing updates before launch:
Create lightweight page templates for campaigns—Giving Tuesday, disaster response, seasonal drives—so staff can swap copy, imagery, and a nonprofit call to action in minutes rather than rebuilding pages from scratch.
A nonprofit website isn’t “done” when it goes live. Launch is the moment you start learning what supporters need—and keeping the site fast, accurate, and trustworthy.
Before launch, confirm your top navigation and homepage point people to the few actions that matter most.
Your top nav should link directly to key pages (no hunting): Donate, Volunteer, About, and Contact. If you have program pages, keep them grouped and scannable.
On the homepage, add clear, repeated paths to the same priorities—especially the donation flow and volunteer signup form.
Create a one-page site map you can share internally (and use for QA). Example:
Then run a content checklist:
Do a five-minute test on desktop and mobile:
Set a simple schedule so the site stays secure and believable:
If staff time is limited, put these dates on a shared calendar and assign an owner. Consistency beats perfection—and it protects donations, volunteer signups, and trust.
Start by choosing one primary goal (your “north star”) and one secondary goal.
Design every key page so the primary action is the easiest, most obvious next step, and push other actions to quieter placements (mid-page or footer).
Use a simple “who is this for?” map and write content that answers their first questions.
Then mirror those needs in navigation labels and page intros.
Pick 1–2 CTAs and repeat them consistently so visitors don’t have to re-learn your site.
Good patterns:
Consistency reduces decision fatigue and improves conversions.
Above the fold, answer three questions fast: who you are, what you do, what to do next.
Include:
/donate)Avoid offering five competing options before people understand your work.
Use predictable, intent-based labels and keep the list short.
A common structure:
If visitors must scan or guess where information lives, they leave—especially on mobile.
Use a simple arc and keep it skimmable:
If the “how to help” is only at the end, add a small mid-story callout that links to or .
Aim for a straight path: amount → details → payment → confirmation.
To increase completions:
If you must split steps, add a progress indicator so donors know how close they are to finishing.
Make monthly giving easy, optional, and low-risk.
If you offer self-service, link it on the confirmation page (e.g., /donate/manage).
Add quick, skimmable proof and transparency near the donation flow and in the footer.
Include:
A dedicated page like helps supporters verify credibility fast.
Remove uncertainty quickly and keep the initial step lightweight.
Best practices:
Link common answers on a dedicated page like to reduce back-and-forth.
/donate/volunteer/about/financials/volunteer/faq