From inspiring contributions to recruiting volunteers, non-profit organizations share a common goal: to get more people to work for the greater good.
One sure-fire way is with a website that not only looks great but also perfectly encapsulates the organization and its noble cause.
After all, when it comes to non-profit website designs, a successful formula consists of easy navigation, sufficient calls-to-action, and just enough visually-appealing elements. Working with a skilled web design company can help non-profit organizations create websites that effectively communicate their mission, engage their target audience, and drive meaningful actions such as donations or volunteer sign-ups.
As long as you have the basics covered, you are bound to convince more patrons to join your mission. Hence, below are eleven of the best website designs for non-profit organizations proven to convert attention into action.
Table of Contents
- The Life You Can Save by Bilberrry
- Black Mountain Institute by CMYK
- The Yemen Tribute by Buried Signals
- Mosaic Trust by Lutalica
- Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation by Speak
- Bucks County SPCA by Media Proper
- The IMPAACT Network by Savas Labs
- Public Welfare Foundation by Social Driver
- CARE Climate Change and Resilience by Ruby Studio
- Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS by Elevation
- The Nijali Foundation by BraIT Consulting
1. The Life You Can Save by Bilberrry
Standout Features
- Balanced use of whitespace
- An “Impact calculator”
- Strategically distributed CTAs
Are you planning to build a directory of non-profit organizations? If so, you can take design notes from Bilberrry. The Life You Can Save is a website affiliated with dozens of charities, covering many different sectors. As such, it is prone to having a messy interface, but that’s not the case here.
The agency executed this design flawlessly by utilizing whitespace and making it work in their favor.
On the homepage, you will notice that there is just enough negative space between the blocks and headers. This helps shift the visitors’ focus into a specific section and not lose their way in the navigation.
Another impressive element in this non-profit website design is the use of an “impact calculator.” Donors can simply indicate the amount they can donate and their chosen charity. They will then see exactly what their donation can do and how much impact every single penny has.
Lastly, what better way to attract donors than highlighting the CTAs? Multiple Donate buttons are placed strategically on different sections of the page to make giving much easier.
2. Black Mountain Institute by CMYK
Standout Features
- LED-like accents
- Compact, sticky navigation menu
- Distinct neon color palette
Black Mountain Institute brings together literary visionaries for a meaningful cause – a mission that’s beautifully represented through their website designed by CMYK.
Upon entry, you will find compelling images of community fellowships, festivals and other key events. The agency used the colors black and white as background for inner pages, then placed neon-colored blocks against the backdrop to make every design element pop!
The UI is straightforward but not too bland. Instead of a drop-down menu, the designers laid out each button at the top. This makes it easier for visitors to navigate through different pages. And the best part? Each button lights up like an LED stick when you hover over it.
Along the navigation bar is a Support button that shows up on all pages. It will redirect you to a page where you can join the movement or donate to the organization. All in all, this design makes helping the cause so easy!
3. The Yemen Tribute by Buried Signals
Standout Features
- Rich imagery
- Storytelling
- Interactive map
The Yemen Tribute website, designed by Buried Signals, reveals the locations of coalition attacks on civilians on an interactive map while providing historical context on the current war in a rich visual essay.
With centuries-old history, Yemen, a county on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula with a population of 24 million has been designated the world’s worst humanitarian crisis by the UN.
The website offers not only meaningful data on the said crisis but the whole history of the region, giving a unique and informative perspective on the developing situation. Besides the expansive info, the agency infused the website with striking high-res imagery, streamlined navigation and an interactive map of Yemen to help visitors get a sense of the country's shifting socio-political circumstances.
4. Mosaic Trust by Lutalica
Standout Features
- Dynamic headers
- Sticky social media icons
- Colorful and vibrant layout
Lutalica stayed true to Mosaic Trust’s name by creating an artsy website design splashed with color. Site visitors are sure to be greeted by a multicolored homepage filled with fun sections.
The photo carousel above the fold easily grabs attention. With just three banners equipped with fun, organic photos and catchy copy, the audience can effortlessly learn about the organization’s undertakings.
Upon scrolling, various shapes sprawl all over the sections with bright-colored call-to-action buttons accentuating them. This play in colors perfectly represents the group’s constituents composed of LGBT+ youth.
Despite this huge mix of visuals, the interface still looks neat and cohesive. It also helps that the content blocks are not text-heavy.
In terms of navigation, the hamburger menu provides easy access to other pages. The sticky "Donate" button at the top right corner, along with some social media icons on the right side are all hard to miss. This move is an infallible way to remind visitors to click and visit these pages.
Overall, the site’s design team nailed the basic parameters of non-profit website designs – clarity, fluidity and functionality!
5. Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation by Speak
Standout Features
- Full-screen header videos
- Prominent use of red
- High-resolution images
If you want to build a website that brings philanthropy to life, you can take inspiration from this website design by Speak.
Site visitors don’t have to do much research to learn about the organization’s advocacy. The homepage is filled with videos showing the group’s charity work in high-definition. They fill up the screen so you get a compelling visual experience of the things they do – as if you’re immersed with them, too!
In addition, you get to see a bunch of images showing the volunteers in action. However, these are not your ordinary image displays. When you hover over them, text descriptions appear, turning them into content blocks.
Also, several animated icons add value to the website’s dynamic and interactive layout.
Jumping from one page to another is done via the sticky drop-down menus, keeping all inner pages organized per category. Beside them are a handful of social media icons and a singular red Connect button that allows visitors to easily reach out to the organization.
6. Bucks County SPCA by Media Proper
Standout Features
- Comprehensible iconography
- Embedded Instagram grid
- Organized navigation menu
Non-profit website designs should be easy on the eyes and Media Proper aced it with Bucks County SPCA’s website design.
A giant collage of adorable pets overlaid with the organization’s tricolor branding entices the visitors from the get-go, making it hard to ignore their cause of adopting rescued animals.
When scrolling to the bottom of the page, more snapshots of animals waiting for adoption are embedded from their Instagram account. These images redirect visitors to the specific posts on the organization’s IG feed.
From the colorful and recognizable iconography, snappy copy and images, the overall design remains cohesive — even in the middle where the designers thought of adding a “Thank You” banner. It displays the number of animals successfully adopted and a CTA button that leads to the organization’s numbers.
The interface doesn’t contain much clutter as well. Its navigation menu is filled with drop-down options for browsing through the site’s pages. On top of it are extra buttons for quick access to certain emergency actions.
7. The IMPAACT Network by Savas Labs
Standout Features
- Bookmarked logo on the page headers
- Cool-toned palette
- Creative map layout
The IMPAACT Network website design by Savas Labs is packed with information yet clean and organized.
Its navigation bar holds all drop-down menus in place no matter which page you are in. Besides that, the logo appears consistently on all pages in a bookmark-style design. Although a quirky way to present the brand, it remains effective in enhancing brand recognition among new site visitors and donors.
The use of cool-toned colors gives the site a refreshing and calming aura. This fits the kind of community service the non-profit organization is involved in. An extra pop of color from the deep purple also brings enough warmth and contrast.
This palette is functional, too. Each one is used to illustrate the organization’s global reach by continent, country and site.
On top of that, the news and information section on the homepage instantly adds credibility to the site. There’s even a dedicated section for published research and related findings – all accessible with a single button click.
8. Public Welfare Foundation by Social Driver
Standout Features
- A content slideshow above the fold
- Creative presentation of the brand tagline
- Embedded tweets
The Public Welfare Foundation is involved in upholding criminal justice. For a non-profit website like this, the designs are usually too plain and straightforward. However, the design agency for this site, Social Driver, managed to get the sweet spot.
The homepage features a full-screen slideshow that walks you through the group’s advocacy. Each slide contains an image and a short description of what they’re passionate about, particularly restorative justice.
As you scroll down, the content panels allow you to learn more about their social work in an organized fashion.
Meanwhile, the navigation bar sits at the top of the page containing drop-down menus. While a sticky option is a usual setup, this site is good without it. You can easily jump to other pages through the buttons and blocks on the homepage.
A distinctive feature of this website design is its tagline art. The text, “Advancing Justice, Opportunities & Equality” is displayed in a badge-like style on different areas of the site. Its light red font and circling animation definitely snatch attention.
And if you scroll further down, you will find the “Latest” section containing tweets from the organization’s official Twitter account — another good way to reach more audiences and connect with potential patrons outside the website.
9. CARE Climate Change and Resilience by Ruby Studio
Standout Features
- Unique vertical menu
- Sticky “Donate” CTA
- A mix of curated and casual photos
CARE Climate Change and Resilience website design by Ruby Studio captures the essence of calamity resilience very well. The choice of earthy colors, particularly shades of orange and yellow, instantly gives the audience an idea of what the organization focuses on. This is further complemented by high-resolution images showing people coming out stronger from environmental disasters.
With this type of layout, it makes total sense that the navigation menu is placed on the sidebar. Its vertical look allows visitors to draw more of their attention to the photos and the stories told. Other image blocks contain text and icon overlays, which is quite a departure from the usual non-profit website designs.
Parallel to the sidebar menu is a sticky Donate button. Unlike most websites, it doesn’t redirect you to a separate page for sending a contribution. Instead, it opens up a panel that resembles a payment channel. Hence, users can make donations while scrolling through the website.
10. Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS by Elevation
Standout Features
- Varied font styles
- News preview section
- Straightforward and clean design
Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) is a non-profit organization that wows in its industrial and sophisticated look courtesy of Elevation agency. All the visual elements revolve around just three colors – red, white and black. Aside from its visually-appealing pop, the color red also universally signifies AIDS awareness. So, not only is it a great design choice — it easily identifies with the cause they’re passionate about, too.
The simple color palette justifies the use of dynamic fonts. Normally, non-profit website designs do away with using various fonts to avoid getting mistaken for an eCommerce website. Elevation dared to be the exception and it works for them because of their chosen layout and the plenty of whitespaces that balance everything out.
In terms of navigation, the agency opted for drop-down menus. On the same bar are two CTA buttons painted red – very easy to spot! One is for donations and the other one is for newsletter subscriptions.
Scrolling down, visitors are also greeted with a content slider that previews the organization’s recent projects and announcements. Additionally, the homepage shows a calendar-style widget, which is a great way to inform site visitors about upcoming events.
11. The Nijali Foundation by BraIT Consulting
Standout Features
- Impactful images
- Live chat option
- Blog feature section
This website design by BraIT Consulting has a huge potential to mobilize people into supporting The Nijali Foundation’s cause.
Upon visiting the site, audiences are welcomed by a high-definition, full-screen image slider that sends a powerful message about mental health and suicide prevention.
Most images feature a single subject in a pitch-black background. This dark space provides enough room for overlay descriptions, buttons and icons. They come in bright colors, too, which increases visibility and readability even for smaller figures.
Meanwhile, at the bottom right is a sticky Live Chat icon — a great way for visitors to interact with a representative in real-time.
Unlike other designs mentioned in this list, the agency made use of the organization’s blog content and images. There’s a dedicated space on the latter part of the homepage that displays some posts and updates in a grid complete with the title and featured image.
