Last updated: 4th June 2026
A successful NFP or charity website does three things well: it builds donor trust, it makes your services easy to find, and it turns visitors into supporters. This guide covers the practical steps to plan, build and launch a website that serves your mission, from setting clear objectives to testing before go-live.
Your website is often the first thing a donor, volunteer or client sees. Get it wrong and you lose them in seconds. Get it right and it becomes one of your most effective tools for raising funds, recruiting volunteers and communicating impact.
Australia's NFP sector includes over 59,000 registered charities, employing 1.42 million people and supported by 3.2 million volunteers, according to McCrindle's 2025 NFP Landscape Report. In a sector this crowded, a clear, well-structured website is what separates organisations that attract support from those that struggle to be found.
Three in four Australians (76%) give financially to a charity or not-for-profit, according to McCrindle's 2025 NFP Landscape Report. That's a large potential audience. Most of them will check your website before they give.
Whether you're building from scratch or redesigning an existing site, the tips below will help you manage the project well and deliver a site that works for years to come. For a broader view of how technology supports NFP operations, see our guide to building digital capabilities in your NFP.
Why does web design matter for NFPs?
Your website builds credibility, drives donations and connects communities. For NFPs with limited resources, a well-designed site is available 24/7, reaching audiences you couldn't otherwise afford to reach.
Donors, grant assessors and potential volunteers all judge your organisation by your website. A site that looks outdated or is hard to navigate signals poor governance. Even when your programs are doing excellent work. A professional site signals the opposite.
Beyond first impressions, your website enables action. It's where donations happen, where volunteers sign up, where clients find your services and where your story gets told. Each of those functions needs thoughtful design to work properly.
Credibility and trust
Grant assessors often check an organisation's website as part of due diligence. A site that clearly explains your programs, governance structure and impact gives assessors confidence. The same applies to major donors. They want to see that your organisation is serious and well-run before they commit funds.
Community engagement and storytelling
Your website is a storytelling platform. You likely have client stories, volunteer experiences and program outcomes that can inspire action. A well-designed site lets those stories breathe. Good images, video and readable layouts that hold attention and convert visitors into supporters.
Search visibility and discoverability
SEO is critical for NFP websites. People searching for services you provide need to find you, not a competitor. A site built around clear headings, relevant keywords and fast load times helps your cause reach the people who need it most. For more on this, the website redesign best practices guide covers the technical essentials.
How do you set clear objectives for your NFP website project?
Start with specific, measurable goals before any design work begins. Vague objectives like "improve our online presence" lead to vague outcomes. Know exactly what success looks like. Whether that's a 20% increase in online donations, a 30% reduction in inbound phone enquiries, or a faster path to your service finder.
Run a needs assessment with your team before briefing any design partner. Talk to board members, frontline staff, volunteers and clients. Each group uses your website differently and each will highlight problems you may not have noticed.
Once you've gathered that input, turn it into SMART objectives: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. "Grow monthly website visitors by 20% within six months of launch" is a goal you can design toward and measure after. "Increase awareness" is not.
How to set objectives that actually guide your project
- List the three biggest problems your current website creates for donors, clients or volunteers.
- Talk to at least five stakeholders across different roles: board, programs, frontline, admin.
- Turn each problem into a measurable goal with a timeline attached.
- Prioritise: pick the top three goals and let them drive every design decision.
- Document the goals and share them with your web design partner at the first briefing.
What should you look for in a web design partner?
Choose a partner with demonstrated NFP experience, not just general web design skills. They should understand grant reporting requirements, volunteer management, accessibility obligations and the realities of operating with lean internal resources.
Ask for case studies from comparable organisations. A partner who has built websites for community health services, disability organisations or social enterprises will understand the complexity of serving multiple audiences (donors, clients, volunteers, media) from a single site.
Assess their approach to accessibility early. Under Australia's Disability Discrimination Act 1992, NFPs have obligations around digital accessibility. A good partner will build to WCAG 2.1 AA standards from the start, not retrofit accessibility after the fact.
Communication style matters too. You want a partner who listens, documents decisions and keeps stakeholders informed throughout. Not someone who disappears after the brief and delivers a surprise. Ask how they handle scope changes, how often they check in and who your day-to-day contact will be.
For NFPs considering an enterprise CMS platform that their own team can manage post-launch, it's worth asking about the CMS your partner uses. A platform that's easy for non-technical staff to update reduces long-term reliance on external developers. That matters when resources are tight.
How do you create a user-friendly NFP website?
A user-friendly NFP website is one where donors, volunteers, clients and media can all find what they need in under three clicks. That requires a clear site architecture, logical navigation, mobile-responsive design and accessible content from the start.
Understand your audiences before designing
NFP websites typically serve multiple distinct audiences at once. Donors want to understand impact and give quickly. Clients want to find services relevant to their situation. Volunteers want to know how to get involved. Each journey needs a clear path. Mapping those journeys before you design anything prevents expensive structural changes later.
Build for mobile from day one
A growing proportion of donations, volunteer sign-ups and service queries happen on mobile devices. If your donation page is hard to use on a phone, you're leaving money on the table. Responsive design is a baseline requirement, not an optional extra.
Make the donation path frictionless
Every step you add to the donation process costs you donors. The best NFP donation forms are short, mobile-optimised, secure and accept multiple payment methods. Suggested giving amounts reduce decision fatigue. Clear trust signals (privacy policy, security badges, charity registration number) reduce hesitation.
Design for accessibility
Accessible design benefits everyone, not just people with disabilities. Alt text on images, keyboard-navigable menus, sufficient colour contrast and captions on videos all improve the experience for every user. WCAG 2.1 AA is the standard to target. An accessible site also performs better in search engines, which is a useful side effect.
Keep navigation simple
A cluttered menu is one of the most common problems on NFP websites. Aim for a top-level navigation of five to seven items, with clear labels that match what your audience would call those sections. Avoid internal jargon. If your site has grown organically over years, a full information architecture review before the redesign is worth the investment.
How do you manage an NFP web design project effectively?
Effective NFP web design project management means clear goals, a realistic timeline, a defined budget, regular stakeholder check-ins and a decision-making process that keeps the project moving without endless approval loops.
Start with a project plan that covers every phase: discovery, wireframing, design, content production, development, testing and launch. Assign owners to each phase and set milestone dates. Build in buffer time. Content production in particular almost always takes longer than expected in NFPs where subject matter experts are stretched thin.
Budget carefully. Include design, development, content creation, photography, accessibility testing and post-launch support. Unexpected costs most often appear in the content and testing phases. A 10–15% contingency is worth building in from the start.
Regular communication with stakeholders keeps the project on track. A fortnightly check-in is usually enough. But it needs to happen consistently. Document every decision. When someone revisits an approved design choice two months later, that documentation saves the project from scope creep.
The Benevolent Society worked with Elcom to redesign their website to serve clients, families, carers, volunteers, donors, media and jobseekers, all served from a single platform. The result included a custom Service Finder Tool that lets users filter services by client age, type and funding options, and a Service Location Checker that verifies service availability by postcode. The site was built to WCAG accessibility standards, giving The Benevolent Society confidence in its compliance obligations from launch day.
How do you test and launch your NFP website?
Test your website on multiple devices and browsers before launch, gather feedback from real users and fix issues before they go live. A rushed launch that skips testing damages trust and can cost more to fix than a slightly delayed launch done properly.
Test thoroughly before you go live
Test every page on desktop, tablet and mobile. Check all forms, donation pathways, links and interactive elements. Test load speeds. A page that takes more than three seconds to load loses a significant portion of visitors. Run an accessibility audit using a tool like WAVE or Axe, or engage an accessibility specialist for a manual review.
Gather feedback from real users
Get a small group of people who represent each of your key audiences to test the site before launch. Ask them to complete specific tasks: make a donation, find a service, sign up to volunteer. Watch where they hesitate or get confused. This kind of usability testing surfaces issues that internal teams miss because they know the site too well.
Plan your launch communications
A website launch is a marketing moment. Email your existing donor and supporter list. Post on social media. Brief your frontline staff so they can direct people to the new site confidently. If your organisation has media contacts, a press release announcing new features (especially a service finder or accessibility improvements) can generate coverage.
Monitor performance after launch
Set up Google Analytics or an equivalent before launch so you're capturing data from day one. Track traffic sources, page views, bounce rates and conversion rates on key pages like the donation form and volunteer sign-up. Review the data monthly in the first six months. Use it to make targeted improvements rather than waiting for the next full redesign cycle.
How does Elcom support NFP websites?
Elcom is an Australian-built Digital Experience Platform used by NFPs, charities and community organisations across Australia. It brings your website, intranet and portal into one platform. This reduces vendor contracts, training overhead and ongoing maintenance costs.
For NFPs managing multiple audience types from a single site, Elcom's CMS lets non-technical staff create, update and publish content without developer involvement. Role-based permissions mean each team only sees and edits what's relevant to them. The platform is hosted in Australia, meeting data sovereignty requirements under the Australian Privacy Act 1988.
Northcott, a large NSW disability services NFP operating across 160 locations, uses Elcom to help frontline staff find critical information fast. That need became more pressing as the organisation grew rapidly. For organisations considering a broader digital strategy, the guide to creating exceptional digital experiences for clients and supporters is a useful starting point.
Want to see how Elcom has helped other NFPs? Explore client stories from organisations like The Benevolent Society, Northcott and others across the sector.
Ready to talk about your website project? Book a free consultation with the Elcom team.