WordPress for Nonprofits: A Complete Guide

Intro

WordPress has become an essential tool for nonprofits to build an effective online presence. With its ease of use, customization options, and range of free and low-cost plugins.  WordPress empowers nonprofits to create professional websites, accept donations, manage members and volunteers, and spread their mission.

This complete guide will walk nonprofits org through the main reasons for using WordPress, the basics of setting up a WordPress site, must-have plugins for nonprofit sites, and some smart ways to use WordPress to support your organization’s goals.

Why Nonprofits Should Use WordPress

WordPress is open-source software that was originally created for blogging but has evolved into a powerful content management system (CMS) used by over 37% of websites on the internet There are several key reasons why WordPress is the best content management system (CMS) for organizations in the nonprofit sector:

1) It’s free and open source:

The WordPress software is free to download and use. This allows nonprofits to create sites even on very tight budgets.

2) Easy to use and update:

WordPress has an intuitive dashboard that allows you to create pages and blog posts easily. Updates are also one-click. This makes it accessible even for those with little technical expertise.

3) Customizable design:

WordPress offers lots of off-the-shelf themes that you can customize to match your branding. Or you can design a theme from scratch. This flexibility lets you reinforce your visual identity.

4) SEO-friendly:

WordPress makes it easy to optimize sites for search engines, meaning people can find your site through Google searches. This organic traffic is invaluable for promoting your cause.

5) Scalability from small to enterprise level:

WordPress can work for tiny local charities up to huge global nonprofits. You won’t outgrow its capabilities.

6) Large support community:

As the world’s most popular CMS, WordPress has a wealth of free advice and support available should you need help.

Setting Up a WordPress Site

If you’ve decided WordPress meets your nonprofit’s needs, here is an overview of how to set up your site either by yourself or by hiring an expert:

• Purchase Web Hosting: Sites need hosting – You’ll need to purchase web hosting that supports WordPress, including providers like Bluehost or WP Engine focused on WordPress sites. 
• Register a domain: Your domain name is your web address, e.g. charityname.org. Choose something memorable that matches your brand. 
• Install WordPress: Depending on your web host, most hosts offer simple one-click WordPress installs making setup very quick or WordPress will guide you through the process.
• Select a theme. The theme controls the appearance and functionality of your site. The right WordPress theme establishes visual design and site structure.
• Set up pages and blog. WordPress separates page content (e.g. About Us) from blog posts, adding new pages to share your mission with site visitors.
• Add plugins. Plugins provide extra features from forms to fundraising tools. They make it easy to extend WordPress (see next section).
• Review Settings – Configure your permalink structure, enable user roles and permissions as needed, activate security protections, and optimize media performance.  
• Promote Your Site: Employ organic search engine optimization (SEO) techniques and leverage social media to increase awareness of your new WordPress site among donors, volunteers, and nonprofit program participants, measure performance with analytics.

Must-Have Plugins for Nonprofit Sites

Plugins enable you to add all kinds of extra functions to your WordPress site without needing design or technical skills. They are easy to install and configure. Here are some of the best plugins specifically useful for nonprofits:

1) GiveWP

The leading WordPress donations plugin. Adds customizable donation forms and back-end processing, donor management, and reporting tools.

2) Formidable Forms

Create customized WordPress forms for surveys, newsletter sign-ups, volunteer registrations, etc. Works better with add-ons for payments, email marketing, and more.

3) WP All Import

Imports contacts and donations from CSV and other databases into WordPress, saving tedious manual inputting.

4) Google Analytics

Connects the popular Google Analytics service to your site for in-depth tracking of traffic and engagement.

5) Yoast SEO

Handles all the technical search engine optimization (SEO) work like Meta tags and XML sitemaps to improve Google rankings.

Smart Ways for Nonprofits to Use WordPress

With the basics set up and your must-have plugins installed, what next? Here are some smart ideas to leverage WordPress to achieve your nonprofit’s goals:

• Share your mission through blogging – Regular high-quality blog content shows people your expertise and passion for your cause. Useful for attracting volunteers and influencer support.
• Profile employees, volunteers, and beneficiaries -Humanize your work by creating single-page profiles for the people who enable your programs featuring images, bios, and interview snippets.
• Utilize visual storytelling – As well as text content, use images, infographics, and video clips to vividly communicate what your organization does.
• Promote events – Use WordPress posts to list key details about upcoming fundraising events, drives or campaign initiatives then embed an event registration form to encourage sign-ups.
• Newsletters and email marketing – Plugins enable professional email newsletters integrated with your website subscriber lists and contact database. Nurture support through regular updates.

Conclusion

We’ve only scratched the surface of WordPress’ potential here. Taken together, all these features make it an unbeatable platform for nonprofits. What’s more, it can scale along with your ambitions. An established site provides the foundation for accepting large donations, applying for grants, supporting chapters nationwide, and expanding programs to deliver more impact.

There has never been a better way for charities, advocacy groups, foundations, and membership organizations to build their presence online with WordPress. Done right, it will become the digital heart powering all your efforts.

If you found this guide useful, please check out WPDpend’s other WordPress resources for nonprofit web builders and decision-makers. As long as you have reliable WordPress web hosting in place and put in the effort to create content, your nonprofit site is good to go.