Being a nonprofit means you have to be smart about everything you do. All your activities must be effective while also being economical.
This doesn't just apply to raising funds and awareness of your organization but also to how you go about engaging with your target audience.
One of the key components to being a successful nonprofit is having a website that manages to achieve all of these things and more, but doesn't cost the earth.
In this article, we’ll be taking a look at some of the best nonprofit website builders, including the new AI-powered Pineapple Builder, so you can find exactly what you need.
What is a Nonprofit Website Builder?
To be clear, there is no such thing as a website builder that works specifically for creating websites for nonprofits.
What we mean by “nonprofit website builder” is a website builder that best meets the needs of typical nonprofits.
There are three main criteria that [most] nonprofits require when they are looking for website-building software, which are:
Cheap (or free)
Easy to use
Effective
The majority of nonprofits don’t have funding to spend a bundle of cash on building a website or getting professional staff to manage it and provide support for it, let alone get it optimized and marketed so people actually see it.
A good nonprofit website builder must do all of these things.
Why Nonprofit Website Builders Are Important
Control
Nonprofit website builders are important because they provide nonprofits with everything they need to run the public-facing side of their organization. And they are in complete control of it.
It’s great to have a Twitter account, a Facebook page, a YouTube channel, and an Insta… but what if your latest awareness-raising video gets taken down by YouTube, or Twitter decides to suspend or shadow-ban your account?
By having your own website you are assuring your own online presence and that people will always have a way to find you.
Professional Results without the Cost
With a good website builder, a nonprofit can create a high-quality website that not only appeals to users visually but provides an enjoyable user experience with intuitive, fast navigation.
Reaching a Wider Audience
The top website-building tools will also come with in-built marketing, SEO, reporting, and analytics capabilities. Non-technical users can make their site rank higher in search engine results without having to know a thing about SEO or marketing to begin with.
Make sure to link your website to all your non-profit social accounts, so that you can reach the maximum number of users.
Criteria to Consider When Choosing a Nonprofit Website Builder
Novice User Friendly
As we touched upon earlier, the ideal website builder for a nonprofit must be a tool that can be used effectively by someone with no prior experience of building a website.
It has to be simple and intuitive, with easy-to-follow instructions and educational materials/resources and a good standard of support. For instance, Pineapple Builder is a no-code website builder that comes with an in-built AI assistant, and drag-and-drop functions. This makes it a great platform for beginners and non-technical users. This is somewhat similar to BoxMode, as they also have a very user-friendly drag-and-drop function.
Integration Capabilities
It’s important to bear in mind all the other online platforms and services that your nonprofit uses. This could be for anything from fundraising to donor management or email marketing.
Make sure that any software you consider to build your site will allow you to integrate all of your existing online tools and services.
Optimized for Mobile
It might seem like a redundant point to make in 2023, but it is vital that whatever website builder you choose makes websites that are optimized for mobile.
As of Q2 2022, 58.99% of all web traffic came through mobile phones, and 61% of users will never return to a site that isn’t properly optimized for mobile visits.
Best Nonprofit Website Builder
Key takeaways
Pineapple Builder - Best website builder for new and upcoming nonprofits
Wired Impact - Most intuitive nonprofit website builder
Boxmode - Cheapest paid versions for nonprofit website builders
Firespring - Best CMS and Support
1 Pineapple Builder
Pineapple Builder is a website builder powered by the latest AI technology.
It allows complete novices to build professional sites in almost no time at all. Its AI also helps you generate unique content and power your SEO all with a few simple clicks.
Pineapple Builder Key Features
Pineapple AI Assistant
Pineapple Builder uses the latest AI tech to assist you in numerous tasks, from your design and layout to your marketing communications and content creation. It even helps you get the best SEO.
Nonprofits benefit from improved doner and contributor management and smarter outreach for new fundraising.
Pineapple Analytics
Pineapple Analytics lets you see your top sources and create simple links with UTM parameters to track your link engagement.
You can also set goals, and come with a range of reports and detailed information on fundraising or awareness raising campaigns.
Pineapple Membership
Pineapple Membership lets you run contests, create newsletters and blog posts, and share ebooks. Everything you need to build a loyal customer community.
You can capture leads you’d never have seen before, all managed in a single, easy-to-use dashboard, and what’s more, Pineapple lets you have an unlimited amount of members!
Pretty handy for a nonprofit, wouldn't you say?
Pricing
STARTER (Free) - 3x live pages | Pineapple subdomain | Free SSL and CDN | 24/7 support | AI Copywriter (GPT-3.5).
BASIC - Includes everything in STARTER + additional tools and widgets | $15/mo ($12/mo with an annual subscription).
GROW - Includes everything in BASIC + AI Copywriter (Blog), Membership, and additional tools and pages | $29/mo ($24/mo with an annual subscription).
2 Wired Impact
Wired Impact is built for nonprofits that need more than a DIY website builder (think Squarespace or Wix) but without complex needs requiring a custom site built from scratch.
It comes with a wide range of popular nonprofit tool integrations, including MailChimp, PayPal, and Salesforce.
Relevant Features
Online Donation System
Wired Impact’s Online Donation System is a customizable and secure tool that allows you to accept one-off or recurring online donations easily and carry out follow-up actions and communications with your donors.
Volunteer System
Recruiting volunteers is a major element for any non-profit and with Wired Impact, you get access to their volunteer system as well as a flexible form builder to enable you to create bespoke sign-up and RSVP forms.
Event System
Wired Impact’s Event System is a versatile tool that allows for both event registration and payment on your site.
Each event that’s added to the system gets a dedicated page to help promote it and offer important details.
Pricing
Wired Impact has no Free Version. It comes with three different pricing options.
CORE | All standard website features | $69/mo
GROW | Everything in CORE + more features, integrations, and functionality | $179/mo
AMPLIFY | Everything in GROW + Premium CMS + enhanced support & customer care | $329/mo
3 Boxmode
Boxmode is a free website builder for businesses, creatives, and web developers.
Using a drag-and-drop functionality, Boxmode is a website builder that can be used across a variety of niches that comes with a good range of templates and widgets for the less well-versed in web development.
Relevant Features
Customizable Widgets
Boxmode’s customizable widgets allow anyone to create entire websites from scratch by simply adding various boxes to their website “canvas.”
You can add all different headers and footers, maps, videos, contact forms, menus, and much more.
Marketing & Analytic Tools
Boxmode comes with a good variety of marketing and analytical tools, including Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, Hotjar, and Facebook Pixel.
SEO Tools
You can really get into the weeds of perfecting your site’s SEO with Boxmode. You have Meta tags editing to create keyword-rich meta titles and descriptions, Automated XML Sitemap & Robots.txt, Canonical links, and Noopener, noreferrer, and nofollow outgoing links.
Pricing
Free| Free domain, templates, email support + 500MB storage | $0/mo
Lite| Everything in Free + no ads, chat support + domain mapping | $6/mo
Growth| Everything in Lite + advanced SEO, marketing, and analytics + 5GB storage | $10/mo
4 Firespring
Firespring is a company that operates across a range of business services from printing to marketing and web development that also provides services to nonprofits including building websites.
They refer to their website builder as a nonprofit mission management system, because it has been created specifically to work as an all-in-one solution for nonprofit organizations to do everything they need, with the added benefit of live support from people who care about your nonprofit’s cause.
Relevant Features
Nonprofit Website Builder
Firespring has a complete nonprofit website-building tool built on its internal content management system (CMS).
It’s easy to use, comes with a good range of SEO and social sharing options, and a reasonable amount of customization options.
Mission Management Dashboard
The mission management dashboard lets you keep track of all your campaigns, communications, analytics, donations & subscriptions all in one place. It’s easy to navigate and very intuitive.
Secure Built-in Payment Processing
Firespring’s integrated payment gateway, Nelnet Payment Services, means you don’t have to worry about failed transactions, insecure data or PCI compliance issues. You can accept payments from all major payment platforms with no transaction fees.
Pricing
No Free Version
Cultivate | Everything your website needs including Firespring CMS, Fundraising tools + much more | $2699 set up fee then $95/mo
Engage | Everything in Cultivate + Event registration tools, Email marketing automation, Integrated ecommerce + more | $3199 set up fee then $165/mo
Conclusion
There are a good number of options available for nonprofit website builders in 2023.
Each tool we included can help nonprofits build fully optimized websites, for a fraction of the cost and time it would take an actual designer. Granted, some tools will suit your business requirements better than others, so it’s a good idea to weigh each option effectively.
And if you’re looking for a non-profit website builder that can take care of all your needs, we believe there is no better choice than Pineapple builder.
Whether you’re looking for a great no-code platform, or you’d like the assistance of AI to help you create blog pages or copy to bring in donations, we’ve got you covered.
And the best thing? You’ll have access to those features at a fraction of the cost you might pay for an alternative!
Check out our prices today to find a plan that works for your non-profit.
