How to Choose a Nonprofit Website Design Partner: A 10-Question Checklist
Choosing a website design partner is one of the more consequential decisions a nonprofit will make this year. The right one strengthens your donor pipeline, sharpens your story, and takes work off your team. The wrong one drains your budget and leaves you with a site nobody can update. Use these ten questions to tell them apart — before you sign anything.
The best design partnerships don't start with a proposal — they start with the right questions. Below are the ten we'd want any nonprofit to ask us before hiring anyone, ourselves included.
01.Do they actually work with nonprofits — or just take nonprofit clients?
There's a difference between an agency that occasionally lands a nonprofit client and one whose whole practice is built around cause-driven organizations. The first will treat your site like a startup landing page. The second understands boards, donor cycles, program pages, and the reality of small teams.
- Ask what percentage of their work is for nonprofits.
- Ask for three case studies from missions similar to yours.
- Ask whether they've worked with your donation and email tools before.
02.Do they start with strategy — or straight into design?
A partner who quotes a fixed price without a discovery conversation is guessing. Nonprofit websites carry too many audiences (donors, volunteers, participants, funders, board members) to design in the dark. The strategy phase should produce an audience map, a page priority list, and a defined primary conversion for each page.
03.Will they help with copy, or leave writing to your team?
Most nonprofits don't have a dedicated writer. If the partner doesn't offer content help, the redesign will stall in your executive director's inbox for six months. Ask specifically who drafts homepage copy, program pages, and the donation flow.
04.Is accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA) baked in — or an upsell?
Accessibility isn't a plugin you install at the end. A good partner designs for keyboard navigation, color contrast, semantic HTML, and screen readers from the first wireframe. If accessibility only shows up as a line item, it's likely being treated as optional.
05.What's their migration plan for your existing content and SEO?
A redesign that drops your organic traffic is a redesign that costs you donors. Any credible partner should offer a URL map, 301 redirects, metadata preservation, sitemap resubmission, and a plan for keeping high-performing pages intact.
- Ask to see a sample URL migration document from a past project.
- Ask what happens to your existing blog posts and program pages.
06.What CMS will your team actually be able to use?
The best design doesn't matter if your program coordinator can't add a new event. Webflow, WordPress, and Framer are all reasonable choices — but the partner should choose based on who's maintaining the site, not on what they prefer to build in.
07.Do they integrate with the fundraising tools you already pay for?
You shouldn't have to replace Givebutter, DonorBox, Bloomerang, Planning Center, Mailchimp, or Eventbrite because the designer doesn't know how they work. Ask which platforms they've integrated before, and how those integrations are handed off to your team.
08.Is training and documentation included in the price?
Every project should ship with a private training video, a written style guide, and a live handoff session. If the partner charges extra for training, you're going to end up paying them every time your team wants to add a page.
09.What happens 30, 60, and 90 days after launch?
Websites need care. Ask about post-launch support windows, ongoing maintenance packages, and how quickly they respond to bug reports. A partner who disappears at launch is a partner who's really a vendor.
10.Is the proposal itself clear, fixed-scope, and honest?
Read the proposal like a donor would read your annual report. Is the scope specific? Is the price fixed? Are the deliverables concrete? Are the timelines realistic? A confusing proposal usually produces a confusing project.
Before you sign: a 60-second gut check
If you can't answer these three questions after your final call, keep looking.
- Can I clearly describe what this project will produce?
- Do I trust the person who will actually do the work?
- Will my team be more effective — or more dependent — after launch?
Talk through your project with someone who works only with nonprofits.
Tell us a little about your organization and what you're hoping to build. We'll review it and email you back within one business day — no sales pitch, no commitment.
Common questions from nonprofit leaders
What should a nonprofit budget for a website design partner?
Most nonprofit website projects fall between $6,000 and $25,000 depending on page count, content work, and integrations. Anything under $3,000 usually means a template and a freelancer; over $50,000 usually means enterprise agencies. Match the budget to the scope, not the other way around.
How long should a nonprofit website project take?
A typical redesign runs 6–12 weeks. Faster than that usually means skipping strategy or content work; longer usually means unclear scope. Ask any partner for a week-by-week timeline before you sign.
Should we hire a freelancer, an agency, or a specialist studio?
Freelancers are great for small updates and single-role work. Agencies fit large orgs with dedicated marketing teams. Specialist studios that focus on nonprofits usually offer the best fit for cause-driven organizations that want strategy, design, and CMS training in one engagement.
What red flags should we watch for when picking a design partner?
No written scope, no accessibility mention, no migration plan, no training included, no post-launch support, or a rushed proposal that skipped discovery. Any one of these is a warning; two or more is a pass.
Where to go next
If you're still shaping the project, our nonprofit website design and nonprofit website redesign pages walk through how we scope engagements. Or read our full design guide for the principles behind the recommendations above.
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