Checklist for Nonprofit Websites

By Steve Stockdale On January 16, 2012

If you answer Yes to at least 15 of these 20 checklist items, your organization’s website is probably in good shape and just needs some focused attention. If your Yes answers total less than 15, however, your website isn’t working for your organization as effectively as it can.

You can check out these other Ndividuate resources for more helpful information and recommendations:

Checklist for Nonprofit Websites

Are your name, mission, and logo/branding clearly presented on your home page?
Is it easy to find your “About” and “Contact” pages?
Is your copyright notice updated to the current year?
Is your site free of obviously outdated information?
Does your navigation scheme still make sense? Is it easy for your users to understand?
Are your text links easily distinguished from regular text?
Do you provide links and connections with other sites and resources that may be important to your constituents?
Do you alert readers to links that don’t go to regular web pages, such as to images, PDF or Word documents?
Do you provide a site search capability?
Is your “Donate” button or link prominent, but not dominant?
Does your site’s color scheme, font selections, and font sizes, purposefully relate to your organization’s mission?
Is your text easy to read on top of your background image or color? Has your background image been sized to minimize load time?
Have you consistently sized and placed your photos and images?
Do you have enough, but not too much, text on your home page?
Do you have a contact form or other means to control email spam?
Do you have links to your organization’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ pages?
Do your email addresses use your organization’s domain name (not Yahoo, Gmail, or personal addresses)?
Have you updated or added significant information within the last 30 days?
Do you provide a means for online interaction with your members, constituents, and supporters? (e.g., discussion forum, blog comments, article submittals)
Have you verified how your site looks in different browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari) with different operating systems (Windows and Mac)?