4 Nonprofit Website Issues And How to Prevent Them

You’ve done a lot of work to put your nonprofit’s website together, from using web design best practices to get the look and feel of your website just right to creating reliable informational resources and setting up an easy-to-use donation page.

But a website isn’t a tool that you can just “set and forget.” In order for your site to be a true asset for your cause, you need to make sure that it’s always working properly. Of course, problems will inevitably arise. But there’s a lot you can do to prevent some of the most common issues nonprofit websites face, and it all starts with practicing good website maintenance.

If you’re new to website maintenance, embrace a growth mindset. And don’t worry—we have you covered with this quick guide on the most common website issues and how to prevent them. Let’s begin.

1. Security Breaches

Keeping your site secure should be your number one priority when it comes to maintaining your nonprofit’s website. Without the right security measures in place, your organization may face the following problems:

Having your supporters’ sensitive information put at risk (personal information, financial information, etc.)
Losing time to solving security issues, affecting your ability to effectively communicate with your supporters, gather online donations, and more
Damaging your organization’s reputation as your supporters may see your nonprofit as untrustworthy
Getting entrenched in legal issues like lawsuits or regulatory fines as sensitive information is compromised

Clearly, website vulnerabilities can lead to big problems not just for your nonprofit, but for every person who supports your cause. This is why it’s critical that you prioritize website security above all else.

Preventing This Website Issue

Luckily, there is a lot you can do to protect your nonprofit website and prevent breaches. Here are a few steps you can take to ensure you have a safe site:

Use HTTPS in your URL. HTTPS is used to securely connect your site visitors’ browsers and your web server. To use it, you’ll need an SSL certificate, which your web host should offer for free. To enforce that certificate on a WordPress site, use the Really Simple SSL plugin.

Use a secure payment processor. Make sure that the tool you’re using to collect donations on your website is set up to keep your donors’ information safe by encrypting it when they enter it into your donation form.

Encourage employees and website users to practice good password hygiene. If your website offers a member, volunteer, or staff portal that is password protected, encourage individuals using that portal to use strong passwords, and remind them to change those passwords on a regular basis. Take your security measure to the next level by setting up two-factor authentication (2FA).

Additionally, train your employees in security best practices and policies. For example, make sure employees know to avoid sharing sensitive website information like passwords via email.

2. Website Downtime

Have you ever tried to visit a website to read an article or shop for an item only to see a message like “This site can’t be reached” or “Page not found”?

This means a website is experiencing downtime, which happens for a myriad of reasons, from broken code to update issues or even a big spike in site traffic.

Preventing This Website Issue

While downtime isn’t something that you can necessarily prevent, the important thing is to have a plan in place for when (not if) your website goes down. After all, the sooner you get it up and running, the sooner it can be a usable tool again, indicating to the world (and to search engines!) that your nonprofit is still active and working toward accomplishing its mission.

Here are some steps to include in your website downtime plan in order to quickly get the website up and performing again:

Describe what you’re seeing. Check your website using different devices and networks to see if it’s down across the board (you can even use the tool Down For Everyone or Just Me). Then, even if you don’t know what the problem is, identify what the screen looks like when you try to access your site—it might be displaying an error message, or it may just be blank.

Ask for help. In some cases, you may be able to solve the problem on your own. For example, maybe you can easily restore a line of broken code on the backend of your site and voilà, problem solved. If the problem seems like it’s outside of your wheelhouse, be sure to promptly reach out to your tech support team or your web host.

Explain how urgent the instance of downtime is. Tech support experts see website issues all the time, but only you know how urgent your problem is. If your site problem needs to be top-priority (for example, if you’re running an online fundraiser and having your site down will significantly affect your progress toward your goal), be sure to calmly and politely explain this to your tech support contact. This can sometimes help your report get moved to the top of the to-do list.

Keep communication flowing. Alert your team when your website is down, and have a process in place for alerting your community of supporters if your site is down for longer than expected. Make sure to provide an estimated timeline for when your site will be back up and to provide updates. Also keep checking in with your tech support contact, and don’t be afraid to reach out to other tech support contacts, too.

Being prepared will make instances of website downtime much less anxiety-inducing. Write out the process you’ll follow when your site goes down into a digestible document so that you have a resource to turn to when you need it. This will help you stay calm and get the problem resolved quickly.

3. Broken Site Elements

Sometimes it won’t be your entire site that stops working but rather one or two elements within your site. After all, development additions, plugin changes, or platform updates can all affect key tools on your website, such as your:

Site menus
Donation page
Event or volunteer registration forms
Links
Videos
Images
Brand elements
Special features, such as location tools or resource libraries

For example, say that you recently started using charity eCards so that your donors can make a donation in honor of someone and send a card to let them know. If your eCard provider updates their tool, the old version on your site could break and stop working for your donors. To prevent problems like these, you have to keep an eye on important tools and make sure that they’re properly updated and working as expected.

Preventing This Website Issue

One of the simplest (albeit time consuming) ways to ensure everything continues to work on your website is to visually review and test your website on a regular basis. For example, test out your donation form, check that your videos play correctly, and click on links to make sure they take you to the right places.

If you’re looking to be a little more efficient with testing out your site elements, you also have options. According to Cornershop Creative’s guide to nonprofit website maintenance, you can leverage platforms like Ghost Inspector to create automatic tests for your website to ensure everything is working. There are other resources available, too, like Broken Link Checker for identifying links on your website that don’t work.

4. Outdated Information

You want your website to be a trustworthy source of information for both current supporters and website visitors who look up your cause or stumble upon your organization through sheer luck. After all, your website is your internet outpost, and it should be an educational resource for learning about your cause on top of serving as a marketing and fundraising tool.

While it’s ideal to ensure all of the information on your website is correct, you should pay special attention to these key pieces of information:

Your mission and vision: If your mission has changed slightly over time, make sure to update your mission and vision language on your website. You want to ensure that these foundational statements are aligned with the programming and services represented on other parts of your website.

Your annual report and financial information: Stay accountable to your community of supporters by offering the most recent information about your impact and your financial situation. Keep the most recent version of your annual report on your website, along with your most recent File 990 form.

Any time-sensitive announcements: In the year 2023, it won’t do your website visitors much good if you’re still advertising the virtual version of your annual gala from 2020. Make sure any event information or announcement that contains a date is correct and relevant for your current audience.

Your contact information: Your website visitors should always be able to get a hold of your team if they have questions about your cause, campaigns, or volunteering opportunities. Keep your contact information up-to-date (and make sure to respond to messages or calls in a timely manner).

Keeping this information up-to-date can help your nonprofit maintain its public image as a reliable, trustworthy, and active organization that is invested in getting people to join in on making its vision for a better future a reality.

Preventing This Website Issue

There are a few ways that you can be proactive in keeping the information on your website up-to-date. These include:

Developing a content management plan to regularly review and update your website content
Paying attention to pages that change the most (like your “Events” page or “Volunteering Opportunities” page)
Listening and acting when someone brings outdated information to your attention

Additionally, it can help to regularly post new content. Set up a blog and a consistent writing and publishing schedule so that your website visitors can count on you for fresh content on a regular basis.

Your nonprofit website is a key part of your organization’s larger digital strategy, and it deserves your attention. You need to diligently work to prevent common website issues so that it can continue to be a great resource for your community. Use this guide to start preventing common website issues on your own site. You’ve got this!

Ira Horowitz, Cornershop Creative

With 15 years’ experience, Ira is an expert in nonprofit online communications and online fundraising. His work has resulted in increased funds and resounding supporter engagement for hundreds of organizations.

Ira oversees our project management team and works with clients to provide our clients with the best possible final product. He also manages all of our strategic engagements and helps guide nonprofits to determine their long-term strategy goals for online communications.