WordPress for nonprofits
A nonprofit website has to do a lot with a little. Donation flows, member portals, advocacy hubs, accessible publications, bilingual sites. All of it run by a small staff with a grant cycle on the calendar. We build WordPress sites that hold up under that reality. We stay close after launch so the work doesn't grow brittle. We're a Certified B Corp, and most of our nonprofit partnerships run three years or more.
Four principles for nonprofit WordPress
A nonprofit's WordPress site is mission infrastructure. Not a marketing experiment. Four constraints shape every engagement.
Accessibility first
Every page meets WCAG 2.1 AA. Members with disabilities are part of the audience the work serves. Not an after-the-fact accommodation.
Low staffing burden
Nonprofits run lean. Editorial workflows have to work for a part-time comms manager. Not a full-stack engineer. We ship editor-friendly block patterns and keep ongoing operational cost low.
Security and privacy by default
Donor and constituent data is treated as the asset it is. Managed hosting (Pantheon, WP Engine), 2FA across the editorial team, audit logging, and quarterly patching cycles are baseline. Not premium.
Cost discipline and grant alignment
Phased scopes match capital and program budgets. Documented architecture supports grant reporting. Multi-year engagements outlast staff transitions and survive funder requirements.
What nonprofit WordPress sites have to do
Marketing site, donor system, member portal, advocacy hub. Most nonprofits need their website to do five or six jobs at once. These are the patterns we build for.
Donation flows and recurring giving
Embedded or integrated giving forms (Classy, Givebutter, Stripe, Donorbox, EveryAction). Recurring-gift management. Conversion-tested landing pages tied to campaigns.
Member and constituent portals
Single sign-on into association management (YourMembership, MemberClicks, iMIS) or CRM (Salesforce, EveryAction). Gated content. Renewal flows.
Advocacy and petitions
Action alerts, letter-to-rep tools, petition flows, event registration for rallies and town halls. Tight integration with advocacy platforms (Phone2Action, EveryAction, Action Network).
Multilingual and accessible publishing
Bilingual sites (WPML, Polylang) for orgs serving diverse communities. WCAG 2.1 AA-compliant publications with plain-language summaries and translated alt text.
Program directories and impact storytelling
Filterable program and resource catalogs. Searchable impact reports. Case study libraries that double as grant evidence.
Events and program registration
Recurring conference workflows, paid and free event ticketing, calendar feeds, integration with Eventbrite, Cvent, or native registration with Stripe.
How a nonprofit WordPress engagement works
A five-step path from "our site is holding us back" to a platform staff and members trust.
- Discovery Session. Four hours mapping mission, audiences, programs, integrations, and constraints (grant cycles, board reporting, staff capacity).
- Define Phase. Two to four weeks producing IA, content model, technical architecture, accessibility plan, and a fixed-price build budget you can take to your board.
- Phased build. Block-first WordPress build, accessibility audit at each milestone, integration with CRM and AMS, content migration with your editorial team.
- Launch and staff enablement. Editor training, documentation, runbook for ongoing patches and accessibility checks. Site goes live with editorial confidence, not just engineering signoff.
- Ongoing partnership. Monthly retainer for security, accessibility, and feature additions tied to campaigns and grants. Engagements typically run three to seven years.
Common questions
Do you offer nonprofit pricing?
Yes. We work with smaller nonprofits at phased scopes that fit grant cycles, and we publish transparent baseline pricing on our Plans & Pricing page. As a B Corp, we price for the relationship rather than the margin, and we'll recommend a phased approach when a single all-at-once budget isn't realistic.
How do you handle accessibility?
WCAG 2.1 AA is our default standard. We audit at every milestone (semantic HTML, keyboard navigation, screen reader testing, contrast, focus management) and we document the result. Compliance is a feature of the build, not a separate engagement.
Will the site integrate with our CRM, AMS, or donor system?
Yes. Salesforce NPSP, EveryAction, Blackbaud, NeonCRM, iMIS, MemberClicks, YourMembership, Classy, Donorbox, Givebutter, Action Network, Phone2Action. We've integrated with most of them. If you use something we haven't, we'll scope the integration in Define before quoting the build.
Can our team edit the site without breaking it?
Yes. That's a design goal, not an afterthought. We ship block patterns that match the design system so a comms manager can build new pages without engineering help. Editorial training and documentation are part of launch.
Do you migrate from Drupal, SquareSpace, or hand-coded sites?
Regularly. Drupal-to-WordPress is our most common migration path. We've also moved orgs off SquareSpace, Wix, hand-coded sites, and aging proprietary CMS platforms. Migration scope is part of Define, so the content model, URL strategy, and editorial workflow are all considered before content moves.
Keep reading
- Case studies. Examples of nonprofit WordPress engagements, including Cowlitz Indian Tribe (Drupal to WordPress) and atDove (LMS for veterinarians).
- Fractional CTO. Monthly retainer for nonprofits without a full-time tech leader.
- AI for mission-driven teams. Our companion pillar on calm, useful AI for nonprofits.
- How a Discovery Session works. The entry point to most engagements.
- What does B Corp certification mean for a software agency?
- What is a mission-driven technology partner?
- What is Pantheon hosting?. Our default managed-WordPress platform for nonprofit work.
A WordPress partner that gets nonprofit work
Book a free discovery call. We'll talk through where your site is now, what your mission needs from it next, and whether we're the right fit to build it with you.