Most small nonprofit websites have too many pages and are missing the two that matter. There is a news page last updated in 2023, an events page listing a gala that already happened, and no page saying where the money went last year.
This is the list. How to make a nonprofit website covers building it and the arc the home page should follow; this post is about which pages exist and why.
Eight pages
- Home. One sentence about who you help and how, one number that proves it, one donate button, one volunteer link.
- About, or Mission. Why you exist, when you started, who runs it. Donors give to people, so the director's name and face go here.
- Programs. One section per program, each with what it does, who it is for and how someone gets help. For a church this is the ministries page; for a food pantry it is hours and eligibility.
- Impact. Numbers from last year, dated and plain: meals served, students tutored, nights of shelter. A small organization's honest numbers beat a large one's vague ones.
- Board and staff. Names, roles, one line each. A visible board is the cheapest trust signal a nonprofit has.
- Financials. See below. This is the page most small nonprofits do not have.
- Donate. One page, one form, every button points at it. The donate page post covers what goes on it.
- Volunteer, and Contact. A form on each, going to a real inbox. Volunteer and event sign-ups covers what to ask and what to do with the answers.
The financials page, and why the IRS already expects it
A 501(c)(3) is required to make its paperwork available. The IRS's public disclosure rules say an exempt organization "must make available for public inspection its exemption application" and "its annual return", with returns "available for a three-year period beginning with the due date of the return". When someone asks for copies, the IRS says that an in-person request "must generally be honored on the day of the request" and a written one gives you "30 days to respond".
There is an easier way to meet it. An organization "does not have to comply with individual requests for copies if it makes the documents widely available", per the IRS's widely available exception, and posting them on a website counts when the posted file exactly reproduces the original and visitors can view and download it without paying. A PDF of your Form 990 on a page called Financials does that.
So the page is: the last three years of Form 990 as PDFs, your determination letter, your EIN, and one paragraph in plain English about where last year's money went. If you file the Form 990-N e-Postcard, which the IRS allows when "annual gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less", there is no detailed return to post; put a simple income-and-spending summary there instead, because a donor checking you out will look for one.
What to leave out
- A news page you will not update. A stale news page says the organization has stopped. If you have one post a quarter in you, write a blog; if not, put updates in email and skip the page.
- An events page, unless someone owns it. An event that already happened at the top of the page is worse than no page. One upcoming event on the home page, removed the day after, is the realistic version.
- A partners or sponsors logo wall. Thank sponsors in the annual report.
Keeping it current without a webmaster
Impact and Financials change once a year after the 990 is filed, Board when someone joins or leaves, Programs when hours change. Everything else is static, which is deliberate: a small nonprofit site should be something a treasurer can update in an evening twice a year.
The nonprofit templates in Webkio start with this page set, including a donate page with the giving form on it, so the work is filling in your numbers rather than deciding the structure. The accessibility checker is worth running on the finished site; many of the people you serve rely on it.
Questions
What pages should a small nonprofit website have?
Home, About, Programs, Impact, Board, Financials, Donate, Volunteer and Contact. Eight or nine pages. Most small organizations need no more.
Does a nonprofit have to publish its Form 990 on its website?
Not required, but the IRS lets you skip answering individual copy requests if the documents are posted online as exact, free-to-download reproductions. Posting the PDFs is the easiest way to meet the disclosure rules.
Should a small nonprofit have a blog?
Only if someone will write it. One post a quarter about what a program did is worth having; a blog with two posts from 2022 is not.