How to Choose a CMS for Your Nonprofit

It’s nearly impossible to run a successful nonprofit without building and maintaining a strong online presence.One of the important tools for doing this is Well-designed, easy-to-navigate website keep supporters Engage your website. So they can understand your mission and take action.

But for most nonprofit professionals, building or revamping their organization’s website is challenging. After all, you may not be a coding expert or a seasoned webmaster.as you browse the list great nonprofit websiteyou might be wondering how to create a standard one.

Fortunately, even if you’ve never dabbled in web design before, a beautifully designed and functional nonprofit website isn’t out of reach. You need the right tools to get started, the most important of which is a content management system (CMS).

However, choosing a CMS often presents challenges for nonprofits. There are several familiar options available, such as WordPress or Squarespace, but there are also nonprofit-specific CMS platforms to choose from.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about choosing (and using) a CMS to build your nonprofit website:

• Overview of Nonprofit CMS vs Universal CMS
• Making the Best CMS Choices for Your Nonprofit
• Start designing your website with your CMS

Choosing a CMS is the first step in creating a functional and beautiful website, so it needs to be taken seriously. Let’s first determine what a CMS is.

Typically, a CMS provides website themes and templates that you can customize with your organization’s branding to help you during the design process.

There are two types of CMS: hosted and SaaS.

A hosted CMS is installed on a server that you control. A hosted CMS is more flexible but requires more technical skills to install and maintain. You can launch on WordPress CMS, for example, as a hosted solution or a SaaS solution.

Third parties maintain SaaS (“Software as a Service”) CMS. Squarespace and Wix are examples of SaaS CMS. These systems simplify the startup and management of nonprofit websites and typically require a monthly or annual subscription.

Choosing a CMS comes down to deciding between a general-purpose CMS and a non-profit CMS. Let’s take a look at each one so you know your options.

The benefits of using a generic CMS

There are several common CMS platforms, including WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix. Here are three benefits of using a generic CMS, such as one of them:

• These platforms have many users who can act as resources. according to cyber court, WordPress alone will power 39.6% of websites by 2021, which means millions of people know how to use the platform. These people can be your resource when you build your nonprofit’s website.

• Platforms like this are great for those with more technical experience. If you’re more technically savvy, a generic CMS can serve as a base from which you can add code, customize your site with tons of widgets, and more, opening up possibilities for ad-hoc sites that go beyond templates and build-in themes.

• There are options. From WordPress to Blogger and GoDaddy to Drupal, there are many common CMS platforms to choose from, which means you can easily find one that offers the tools and features you want to use to build a specific website.

However, using a generic CMS to create your nonprofit website has some disadvantages. For example, some CMS platforms like Weebly don’t offer a convenient built-in donation form. Typically, a general-purpose CMS platform will cater to individuals and small businesses and has a steeper learning curve than a CMS built for nonprofits.

The Benefits of Using a Nonprofit CMS

A sort of CMS for Nonprofits is a platform created for nonprofit professionals, which means this type of platform is ideal for those who have little web design experience and want specific resources for nonprofits. Here are three benefits of using a nonprofit CMS:

• The non-profit CMS is great for non-technical users. With a non-profit CMS, you can more easily bring your website vision to life. Instead of working on the back end of your website, you can use drag and drop to add and edit content on the front end of your website to see how your website visitors will look as you browse.Plus, you can more easily Optimize your website for search engines And add accessibility features so every website visitor can get the most out of your content.

• You’ll be able to quickly deliver nonprofit-specific functionality. Need an easy-to-use donation form to help improve your operations Convenient Fundraising Automation? Or maybe you want to create a volunteer-only portal to showcase upcoming opportunities and your volunteer schedule. A nonprofit CMS has your nonprofit needs built in, allowing you to use tools designed specifically for you and your mission.

• With a CMS built for nonprofits, you get software and support. The best non-profit CMS providers don’t just give you the tools to let you know if you have any questions. Instead, they give you the training and support you need to make your website the way you want it to be. You don’t have to worry about googling the answer to your question or digging through the forums – you’ll have a team of experts to turn to!

There are several disadvantages to using a nonprofit CMS, just as there are disadvantages to using a general-purpose CMS. With a non-profit CMS, you will be responsible for purchasing your domain name, and if you decide to change your website theme, you will need to contact your support team.

Choosing the Best CMS for Your Nonprofit

Now that you know the pros and cons of general-purpose CMS vs. nonprofit CMS, you can choose the best CMS for your nonprofit. Here are some considerations to help you decide between these two options:

• Consider your level of web design experience. If you’re new to web design and don’t have the time or means to become a coding expert, a user-friendly, non-profit CMS with drag-and-drop functionality might be the way to go. However, if someone on your nonprofit team has more experience, you can open doors to limitless design possibilities with a universal CMS. Ask yourself how much time you want to invest in the development and design of your website, and whether it’s worth using a more technical or simpler platform.

• Consider what you want your website to do. A nonprofit CMS is ideal for organizations looking to leverage nonprofit-specific resources, such as donation pages or event management tools. You can do this with a generic CMS, but adding widgets or unique features to your website’s backend may cost more. Work with your team to determine what your website needs to serve and the easiest and most affordable way to ensure that the website you create will serve that purpose.

• Consider your budget. according to GettingAttention’s Nonprofit Budgeting Guide, without a solid plan to use your nonprofit’s money, you’ll soon have more money going out than coming in. This is especially true for designing your website and investing in a CMS. As with any operational initiative of your nonprofit, you need to stop and consider the cost of investing in the CMS you are interested in. Is the CMS easy to learn how to use, or will it take hours of team member time to master? Will the investment pay off with nonprofit-specific features, or will you leave holes in your website resources that will cost more money to fill?

For most nonprofits, a nonprofit-specific CMS would make the most sense.

With a CMS built for nonprofits in mind, you’ll get all the tools you need to develop a website that’s meaningful to your supporter audience for very little of the time and money you need to buy and learn how to use a generic one. Website Builder.

Again, every nonprofit has different website design experience and funding needs and levels. Work as a team, determine how you want your site to look, and consider different CMS platforms that can help you achieve your goals. A generic CMS might make more sense for your specific organization.

Start designing your website with your CMS

Once you’ve chosen a CMS to use to build your website, it can be difficult to know where to start your web design journey. Should you start by creating content? Optimize the look of your homepage?Design strategies to Grow your audience for your new blog? It can be stressful to have so many things to think about in the first place. We recommend that you start with these three steps:

1. Consider your audience and the resources you want to offer them on your website. Different groups of voters and supporters have different needs. For example, you may need to provide a form on your website for voters in need to fill out to receive holiday meal groceries. Or maybe you know your donors will respond well to online donation forms.In this case, look at donation form design Guide inspiration, refine your form questions, make your form mobile responsive, or create the many ways your donors can deliver. Before you start designing your website, make a list of all such resources that you want to include so that you understand all the problems you need to address.
2. Build a professional and beautiful look with themes and templates. Once you know all the resources you want to add to your website, you should start creating a great visual look for your website.Start with themes and templates provided by your CMS and focus on functionality and Choose which style best communicates your organization’s goals and helps your supporters take action to help advance your mission. But keep in mind that generic themes and templates will make your nonprofit look like many others, so if your budget allows, always consider a custom website design.
3. Brand your website to focus on your mission. Your nonprofit’s brand is everything that makes your organization stand out, including your logo, taglines, color schemes, images, and even seemingly small things like the font you use.Once you’ve selected the right theme and template to work with, customize your website to represent your organization by integrating these brand elements. A little bit of branding will go a long way in helping your organization look more professional and consistent between its offline and online operations.

When you start your website design process with these three steps, you have a solid foundation for adding and maintaining your website for years to come. Think of your initial design work as just getting started. By adding blog posts, optimizing donation forms, and offering event pages on your website, you’ll continue to attract new and existing supporters to your online presence.

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A CMS is the backbone of your nonprofit website design efforts, so choosing between a general-purpose CMS and a nonprofit-specific CMS will be an essential first step in your design journey.

While generic CMS platforms are popular, most nonprofits will benefit from user-friendly tools and support from nonprofit-specific platforms. Once you choose your CMS, you can provide your constituents and supporters with an invaluable online resource.

Good luck!