30 Best Nonprofit Websites (Examples for Design Inspiration)

Budget limitations are common for non-profit and charitable organizations. As a result, organizations often compromise on the need for an effective and attractive website due to a lack of resources. This is unfortunate because the website can be one of the most valuable assets for furthering the organization’s cause.

The nonprofit websites shown here represent some of the most well-designed websites of organizations and charities. These organizations prove that non-profits can have great websites, and we hope it serves as inspiration for your own work.

Those nonprofit organizations that put a priority on their website can see benefits like increased donations, better involvement from members and supporters, increased visibility and awareness for their cause, and improved promotion for the organization’s events. All of these things can make it worth the time, effort, and cost to create an effective and attractive website.

Related: The Best Church Websites

Creating Websites for Nonprofits

If you’re creating a website for your organization or for a client, we highly recommend using Squarespace. With their collection of beautiful templates, it’s easy for any business or organization to get a professional website on a tight budget. Start a free trial and build your site without commitment.

Best Nonprofit Websites to Get Inspired

Here are some of our favorite current websites of non-profit organizations, charities, and NGOs.

The Shine

Built with Squarespace

The Shine is an event-based non-profit organization. Volunteers lead inspirational variety shows in major cities once every few months. The aim is to create an alcohol-free social experience that leaves participants “feeling nourished and inspired to do more, give more, and be more.”

The site’s homepage uses a large photo and a memorable headline: “Do. Be. Give.” The pink color of the header bar is also used as the background color for the dropdown navigation menu.

The Italian Garden

Built with Squarespace

This non-profit organization manages and operates a historic garden. The website includes many beautiful photos showcasing the garden and encouraging in-person visitors. You can find information on upcoming events or book an overnight stay.

You’ll find plenty of well-organized information on this site. The dropdown navigation menu makes finding what you’re looking for easy. They offer the story and history of the garden and its creator, details on the architect, a list of things to see and do, and details about booking a stay at the garden house.

Safe & Sober 

Safe & Sober’s website is colorful and well-designed. The site provides information by way of video, as well as a collection of helpful articles. It’s also easy to find information about registering for the program or providing a financial donation.

The site uses its blog to showcase stories of those impacted by the organization.

HERoines

Built with Wix

HERoines is an organization that runs events and programs that help to empower women. The site features a colorful design, matched perfectly by the colors of the full-screen background photo on the homepage.

The site uses a “donate” link that floats to the right of every page. This is an effective way of keeping the option to donate in front of visitors without invading the design or layout.

Global Health Innovations

Built with Squarespace

Global Health Innovation works to improve the health of children and mothers through HIV and AIDS treatments. The homepage design features a full-screen background photo with a headline and a call to action (CTA).

One area for simple improvement in this website design would be to change the color of the CTA button. The black button blends in with the photo, but a green button would stand out and match the site’s color scheme.

Women’s Funding Network

The Women’s Funding Network uses large photos and big, bold text. Several pages on the site, including “who we are, “”what we do,” and “get involved,” include large photos at the top of the page. Other pages start with a large headline, but most include several photos throughout the page. This site is an excellent example of blending both visual and text-based content.

The site also has a helpful and well-designed footer with a navigation menu, mission statement, contact information, social media links, and a newsletter subscription form.

Colorado Village Collaborative

Built with Squarespace

Colorado Village Collaborative is an inspiring organization fighting homelessness by providing transformational housing communities. These communities of tiny homes offer affordable and sustainable housing.

The organization’s website showcases the houses and communities while communicating the mission and vision for the future. The layout is clean and relatively simple while providing all necessary information.

World Vision 

World Vision’s website features a video section on the homepage, which helps to grab attention and allows visitors to connect with the people the organization serves.

The Gift Catalog is an interesting concept you don’t see on many non-profit websites. Visitors can see the different programs and make gifts of any size, although specific amounts are recommended for each gift. This allows visitors to give specifically to programs or causes that are most important to them.

Save the Children

Save the Children is a large organization with a content-rich website. The dropdown menu provides links to pages about the organization’s services, ways to help, giving options, and plenty of details about the organization.

You’ll also find many photos featuring children needing or receiving help. Of course, a charity that assists children can help visitors feel a connection to those children through photos and videos.

CARE Climate Change

The website of CARE Climate Change is very photo-heavy, with lots of images showcasing the organization’s work. The navigation is unique, with a vertical menu on the left side of the screen. The “menu” link at the top opens a slide-in mega menu with links to all of the important content on the site.

If you scroll down the homepage, you’ll see an animated map showcasing the countries where the organization works.

International Energy Agency

The Internal Energy Agency (IEA) works with government agencies and industry to promote sustainable energy. This is a news-heavy site, with the homepage linking to many articles and reports. It’s similar to what you would see from a news or magazine site but focuses on energy and climate change topics.

The site’s design is clean and minimal, which helps with navigation and usability. A mega menu is used to help visitors quickly find the information they need.

Spark

Spark is an NGO, based in Amsterdam, that works to create better jobs for young people in places like the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

Like some others covered here, Spark’s website includes many pages and high content volume. The layout is pretty clean, and the design extensively uses color (especially blue) and photos.

OVO Foundation

This British NGO uses a full-screen background video on the homepages, with lots of bright colors and images throughout the site. None of the pages are extremely text-heavy. Even the articles and blog content include a large photo at the top, above the fold.

Sean Casey Animal Rescue

Built with Squarespace

The homepage of Sean Casey Animal Rescue features a full-screen photo of a dog. The organization’s mission is shown on top of the photo, along with two call-to-action buttons linking to information on adopting and donating.

Overall, this well-designed site uses an excellent combination of photos and text. However, increasing the font size could improve the main navigation menu.

Designed by Women

This organization uses a creative website design. The animated homepage background shows off a selection of products that women have designed. The long homepage includes other scrolling animation effects as you move down the page.

Clicking on the hamburger icon in the top right corner opens a full-screen navigation menu.

The Story of Women in Design page includes a detailed history of ways that women have influenced the world through design while including many historical photos.

Working Assumptions

Built with Squarespace

The Working Assumptions homepage uses a full-screen background photo. Refresh the page a few times and you’ll see different photos shown randomly. The homepage includes relatively little text. As you scroll down, you’ll find links to the other pages on the site.

If you click the Events link, you’ll see a list of past events in blog format. There’s a write-up for each event, along with photos and videos.

Templeton Prize

Templeton Prize uses a large background photo on the homepage. As you scroll, many visually appealing thumbnail images lead to other pages on the site.

The web design uses a nice combination of typography, images, and subtle animation effects as you scroll. This is a very large website with a lot of content and educational resources, but plenty of attention was given to the design of each page.

Block by Block

Built with Squarespace

Block by Block’s homepage includes a slider with several photos and a different headline to accompany each photo.

This organization takes an innovative approach by using the video game Minecraft for public space planning. The people in the community get involved, and Minecraft makes it easy to visualize and share ideas quickly.

Keepers of the River

Keepers of the River uses a background video that shows the Colorado River from above. This beautiful aerial footage over the Grand Canyon sets the tone for the site.

The vertical navigation menu to the right is unique, as it resembles a map of the river. The graphic design also includes some tribal elements, like the pattern at the top of the page.

Dzanga-Sangha

The website of this UNESCO World Heritage site features large photos of nature and wildlife. The unique navigation menu opens on the left side of the screen when the icon is clicked.

There’s a lot of content on the site in the form of news and stories. Even these text-heavy pages rely on large photos to create strong visual appeal.

The Beauty Foundation

Built with Squarespace

The design and layout of The Beauty Foundation’s website is relatively simple but effective. You’ll find several photos on the homepage and a clear description of what the organization does and who it serves.

The colorful “donate” buttons stand out from the rest of the design and capture visitors’ attention.

One of the standout sections of the site is the “Families We’ve Helped” page. This page is linked in the primary navigation menu, and it shares the details of several families and how the organization has impacted them.

Harbor Path 

The Harbor Path website features some nice illustrations and splashes of color. There are also some subtle animation effects as you scroll down the page (on the homepage and secondary pages).

The About page includes an animated map showing the currently served states.

Compared to most other non-profit organization websites, Harbor Path stands out. Most organizations use photos rather than illustrations. However, most of those organizations depend on financial donations, and the photos help the organization’s work to feel more personal. The website of Harbor Path primarily serves people looking for assistance, so it has a different purpose.

Second Look Texas

Built with Squarespace

This non-profit organization uses a simple design and layout, but it works well. One detail that could be improved is the lack of contrast between the text and background colors of the body text on a blue background.

The site’s header includes easy access to all important pages and social media icons. The site’s footer also provides navigation options.

Whitehead Institute

The Whitehead Institute’s website uses a bold blue background above the fold. As you scroll down, the background is white (secondary pages also have white backgrounds). The design also emphasizes colorful photos, and beautiful typography can be found throughout the site.

Dressember Foundation

Built with Squarespace

Dressember uses fashion and creativity to fight against human trafficking. The organization enables anyone to raise money by wearing a dress or tie every day in December, and creating a fundraising page to accept donations.

The site’s homepage includes an impactful photo. If you scroll down, you’ll find more details about the organization and its efforts.

You’ll find three call-to-action buttons related to donations and fundraising in the site’s header.

Second Sight

Second Sight is a film by See International, and the film has its own website. Naturally, there’s a fullscreen video playing on the homepage.

Navigating the site is simple, with an orange button to watch the film and a link to the trailer right below it. It’s not a massive website in terms of content volume, but the pages are well-designed with heavy use of photos.

Open House Worldwide

Built with Squarespace

This vibrant site uses different colors for the backgrounds of various sections. Scroll down the homepage and you’ll see the showcase of color.

The website of this global organization includes a page that lists the cities where it has a presence. You can also visit the Calendar page to see when an event is happening in your city.

Strathmore

The Strathmore website uses lots of photos and big, bold headlines. The site is well-designed with plenty of color, without going extremely bright or vibrant.

It’s a large site with many pages, and the dropdown navigation menu makes it easy for visitors to find what they’re after.

Women’s & Girls’ Emergency Center

This Australian charity uses a colorful design that includes some illustrations. The header navigation menu opens a dropdown when you hover over some links.

The site also includes a shop where visitors can purchase different products to support the organization. This is a nice option to offer in addition to standard donations.

American Documentary

American Documentary uses a beautiful design and a clean layout. The design consists mostly of images, typography, and whitespace.

Navigating the site is easy, thanks to the basic but effective header menu.

Best Practices for Nonprofit Websites

Now that we’ve looked at many excellent nonprofit website design examples, let’s look at what makes an organization’s online presence effective. Before pouring significant resources into the development of a site, it’s critical to know what needs to be accomplished.

1. Clear Description of the Organization’s Purpose

Each non-profit organization exists for a particular purpose. Website visitors unfamiliar with the organization should be able to quickly get an idea of the purpose when visiting the site for the first time. Ideally, the homepage alone will give visitors a basic idea of what the organization does, and then maybe a more detailed description of the purpose is provided on a separate page.

2. Details of Those Who the Organization Serves

To add a personal touch to the website, information should be shared about the people benefitting from the services provided by the charity. In some cases, the flow of content may include specific people named or shown, and their stories are shared with the website visitors through text or an engaging video.

In other cases, it may be more general information about the audience served, sometimes using numbers and statistics to show the organization’s impact. The personal success story approach is popular and effective because it connects the viewer and those being served.

Photos can also be very powerful and moving, and help show the organization’s impact. Many effective nonprofit websites include photos of the people being helped by the organization. This adds a personal touch and makes it easier for site visitors to feel a connection and an impact.

3. Information About How to Get Involved

Almost every non-profit organization is highly dependent on the involvement of people and groups. This primarily includes volunteer work and financial donations. Volunteer opportunities should be clearly listed so anyone interested can take action and get involved.

For others, getting involved may mean receiving the benefits of the organization’s services. Details should be provided to explain who the organization helps, and if appropriate, contact information should be listed so people can apply for assistance.

4. History of the Organization

The organization’s story will also be important to some website visitors and potential donors. Most effective non-profit websites will include a bio or history of how the organization came about and any relevant accomplishments or growth stories.

5. Details on Upcoming Events

Most organizations use events for fundraising, awareness, encouraging involvement, and service. The organization’s website should list relevant details about upcoming events so people can get involved in events that interest them. The online events calendar is one of the most effective tools for getting people involved.

6. Quality Design and Consistent Branding

Of course, the best websites are also well-designed and feature cohesive branding. Having a quality visual design includes the overall appeal and the user experience. Regardless of the industry, quality design is essential to maximize the website’s impact.

Many of these websites contain slideshows of high-quality images, and the homepage contains engaging content that motivates the visitor to navigate deeper into the site. All the content on the site should be linked to each other, and there should be a good amount of valid information available to support all the facts and stances. Good designs come in a wide variety of forms, and in the showcase above, you’ve seen plenty of examples.

7. Online Donations

Regarding financial involvement, most organizations now allow visitors to donate online. Information should also be provided to inform potential donors how their financial gifts will be used.

Some organizations provide details of different projects and allow donors to choose how they get involved (an example would be the many organizations that allow you to sponsor a specific child through that you select through their website).

Today, most charities accept online donations by credit card or PayPal. You want to make it as easy as possible for donors, and adding donation buttons in prominent site locations is a significant first step. You can host a donation form directly on the website that processes a credit card transaction or link to a third-party service, like PayPal, to process the transaction.

Regular contributors and prospective donors should be able to quickly find the giving options and complete the transaction in just a few minutes or less. Donation should be as simple as possible to encourage more online giving.

Final Thoughts on the Top Nonprofit Websites

Since the website is a critical part of any charity or advocacy organization, nonprofit web design should be given plenty of attention. Not only is the design aesthetic important, but the content, stories, and ways the site connects with visitors will be crucial.

If your organization is working with a limited budget, hiring a design agency may not be viable. We highly recommend using Squarespace to build the best websites for nonprofits. You can get a site that meets all your needs on a very limited budget.