Is Your Nonprofit Website Creating Clarity or Confusion?
When was the last time you looked at your nonprofit's website through the eyes of someone who had never heard of your organization before?
Most nonprofit leaders never do. They're so familiar with their mission, programs, and impact that it's easy to forget what it's like to be a first-time visitor.
Many organizations unintentionally treat their website as an information “storage bank” instead of a communication tool. Over time it becomes the place where every program, every announcement, every resource, and every photo gets added, creating a website that tries to do everything but ends up communicating very little.
Recently, I reviewed a nonprofit website as part of my Nonprofit Website Clarity Review service that I offer. The organization does great work, but as I walked through their site as a first time visitor, I kept running into the same problem: I couldn’t definitively figure out who their target web visitor was, what the nonprofit actually did, or what they wanted me to do next.
Your website has one primary job:
Help a first-time visitor understand your mission, why it matters, and what to do next.
Think about when you drive past a billboard at 60 mph. You can’t stop to study it - rather, you give it a less than 1 second glance. The message has to be just a few words in order to land.
People are browsing your website the same way. Skimming. Scrolling. Glancing. Within just a few seconds, they're deciding whether your organization is credible, whether they understand what you do, and whether it's worth investing any more of their attention.
Here are four common clarity problems I see on nonprofit websites, including the one I recently reviewed.
Decide who you’re talking to. Your homepage can’t speak equally to donors, volunteers, beneficiaries, churches, and community partners. If you are trying to speak to everyone at once, the message isn’t getting to anyone.
Ask yourself: Who is the primary audience for this page, what do I want them to do next?
Make your mission obvious above the fold. ("Above the fold" refers to the portion of your website visitors can see without having to scroll.) In the website I reviewed, there were 41 words above the fold before I ever knew what the organization did. Your visitor shouldn’t have to scroll to understand your mission.
Think billboards. The fewer the words, the better.
Don’t hide the next step. If someone decides they’d like to support your work, don’t make them hunt for the donate button. Whether the next step is donating, volunteering, or requesting information, it should be visible and obvious from the moment they land on your site.
Make sure your main call to action button (typically the DONATE button) is either center of the homepage, or upper right corner.
Clarity always beats cleverness. In my review, the organization’s mission statement didn’t appear until near the bottom of the homepage, and even then it was full of language that sounded inspirational but didn’t actually explain what the nonprofit did.
Plain language always outperforms clever language.
Would you like to know what your website looks like through the eyes of a first-time donor?
That's exactly what the Nonprofit Website Clarity Review is designed to uncover. I'll walk through your website as if I've never heard of your organization before, identifying the moments that create clarity or confusion, build trust or create friction, and make it easier or harder for a visitor to take the next step. I'll also walk through your online giving process, evaluating every step of the donor journey, from clicking the Donate button to the confirmation page and any follow-up email a new donor receives.
You'll receive a personalized video walkthrough, a written action summary, and practical recommendations you can begin implementing immediately to improve your messaging, donor experience, and overall website effectiveness.
To request a review, simply click the button below, and send an email with your website URL, or email me directly at matt@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. I'll send you the details and current availability. It’s $109 well spent!
Matt Stockman is a nonprofit growth coach who helps startup, small, and growing nonprofits build stronger fundraising, marketing, leadership, operations, programs, and financial systems. He has coached hundreds of nonprofit and ministry leaders throughout North America, and around the world.