How to Optimize a Nonprofit Website for Donors

Somewhere, a potential donor is on a nonprofit website, scrolling for a few quick seconds and leaving. There’s no donation, action, or sign-up, but here’s the thing: it’s not because they don’t care about the mission. It’s because the site doesn’t give them a reason to stay. The best nonprofit websites know that the site isn’t a brochure, but a high-performing fundraising platform, and it needs to be built to convert. That’s why our teammate, Kristy, did a webinar for how to optimize a nonprofit website.

In our webinar, Kristy shared the following intel:

• 1 to 1.6% of website visitors donate to a nonprofit.
• About 90% leave without taking any action.
• The most common reason for this lack of action is too much friction to give and a lack of clarity and trust.

Nonprofit Website Best Practices & What the Best Have in Common

Funds2Orgs has partnered with nonprofit organizations for many years on shoe drive fundraisers (a bit more on that later). Our marketing team has chatted with many organizations, and we know that the best nonprofit websites do five things really well.

1. The Websites Answer the Right Questions in the First 30 Seconds

When a potential nonprofit supporter lands on your website, there’s one idea in their mind. They’re wondering why they should support your cause. You have seconds to catch someone’s attention and emotions, so your site must answer the following immediately:

• What the organization does
• Who the nonprofit helps
• Why it matters
• What should the visitor do next

Many nonprofit websites fail this test. For instance, one study reported that only 43% or organizations stated their mission on the home page, and only 4% explained how the funds donated were spent. Keep your homepage simple, non-academic, and simple to understand.

2. They Site Builds Nonprofit Trust Before They Ask for Money

There’s a donor trust deficit, so they have to believe you’re legitimate before they’ll support you. In other words, being vague on what you do or how you spend the money is a big turn-off. Potential donors will trust organizations that accomplish these three things:

• Real photos and images of real people.
• Specific nonprofit impact data
• Donor testimonials

Third-party social validation by seeing other nonprofit donors is so important. When sharing stories, pick one person, a story, and a clear outcome. For example, you can speak about serving James, one of 1,237 people in Orange County, to ensure he has two meals a day.

3. They Make Giving Embarrassingly Easy

When potential donors visit a nonprofit website, it’s essential to make giving super easy. The best nonprofit websites avoid adding friction to the giving process. There are several reasons why donors may abandon a gift, which include:

• The nonprofit giving form is too long
• Mandatory creation of an account to make a donation
• Poor mobile optimization

When you consider how to optimize a nonprofit website, consider what the best nonprofit websites do. They ensure their donation pages are very clear and include only a few essential elements. 1) There’s a clear outcome statement (e.g., feed a family for a week). 2) Suggested giving amounts. 3) The fewest possible form fields for a donor to complete.

4. The Sites Are Built to Be Found and Not Just Visited

As marketers know, website traffic without visibility is worthless. In other words, the best nonprofit websites are created with search in mind, including search engine optimization (SEO), generative engine optimization (GEO), and answer engine optimization (AEO).

• All pages need meta titles, meta descriptions, and properly structured headings
• Images need alt text
• URLs have to be short

To improve your nonprofit website’s performance, add an FAQ section on the major pages. Another important thing you can do to optimize performance on ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s AI Overview is to develop LLM FAQs properly.

5. They Guide Every Visitor Through a Funnel

Unfortunately, many nonprofit websites read more like brochures rather than compelling, action-oriented sites. Meaning, all pages have equal importance and compete for attention, with no clear path for donors to see why it truly matters. The best sites are built for funnel conversion.

• Awareness
• Interest
• Trust
• Action
• Retention

So, what does this mean? The best nonprofit websites guide a potential donor from the home page and the organization’s mission to the program page and how they address the challenge, and invite them to join the email list or make an impactful donation.