The Features Your Charity Website Needs to Have and Why

06 Jun 2017 0 Comments
  • Development

If you run a modern charity then you need to have an online presence, it’s as simple as that. You have a message to get across, and need to enthuse and encourage donors and volunteers in order to achieve the aims you set for yourself. Doing this without a website which can reach anyone, at any time, via any device is no longer an option. There are finite amounts of goodwill and money available, and you can take it for granted that every other charity is working online to tap into those reserves. These are just a few of the features your charity website design will have to include if it’s going to push your charity to the next level:

1
A Clear Mission

Every charity has a mission. It could be raising a specific amount of money, it could be helping a particular group of people or alleviating a pressing social problem. Whatever the aim of your charity, it needs to be expressed in a manner which is clear, concise and hard hitting. As soon as they land on your site, visitors need to know who you are, what you want to do and how far along that road you’ve been able to travel. Whether you display this in terms of a graphic, or via a hard hitting slogan or mission statement, your site needs to sell the change that every single visitor can help to achieve.

2
A Rallying Point

An effective charity website is one which encourages every visitor to get involved. This means developing clear branding, making the site easy to find and navigate and opening up a multitude of options via which people can play their part. Whether that means giving money, volunteering time or donating items, your site should feature clear, accessible call to action prompts which encourage involvement, and make it practically simple.

3
Tell the Story

If you want people to get involved with your charity then you have to do two things. You have to make it practically simple to do so, but you also have to explain exactly what impact the effort they make is capable of achieving. Spell out the change which a specific donation could achieve, tell the story of what happens when people donate goods and give existing volunteers a chance to set out what they’ve been able to achieve on your behalf.

4
Paint the Picture

A large part of the appeal of any charity lies in making an emotional connection with the public. When it comes to selling emotions, words are undoubtedly powerful but images come out on top every time. The images you use on your site should be chosen in order to encourage sympathy and involvement. To that end you’ll need a mix of images – some of them demonstrating the problems or issues you wish to help with, and others showing the positive impacts you’ve been able to have.

5
Make it Easy to Give

By definition, no charity can survive without the generous donations of the public. That’s why the ‘DONATE’ button on your website has to pack a powerful impact. It has to be easy to see and designed in a manner which encourages visitors to use it. This will be achieved through the clever use of shape and colour and by creating a ‘destination’ for the visitor after they’ve experienced the content throughout the site. For ease of use, it’s best to include options such as specific amounts – £5,£10,£20 etc., as well as the chance for the visitor to select their own amount, and to set up regular donations using tools such as direct debits.

6
Maintain Contact

Once you’ve established contact with a visitor to your site, it’s vital that you maintain the lines of communication. Clever use of social media is one means of doing so, using platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to let people know what your charity has been achieving and how near to your various funding targets you are. A regular blog, written by a volunteer, perhaps, or a recipient, would be another excellent vehicle via which to maintain this sense of involvement.

If this sounds like the kind of website your charity needs then you’ve come to exactly the right place. Take a look through our portfolio and enjoy some of the charity web development we’ve done for non-profit organisations hoping to make the move to a higher level. When you’ve had a look get in touch, and we’ll start planning to do the same for you.

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