WordPress for Nonprofit Websites: Is Your Organization Ready?
You may be familiar with some of the benefits of using WordPress for nonprofit websites: It’s relatively inexpensive, easy to update, and offers a great deal of flexibility. But, is your nonprofit ready for WordPress?
Here are a few questions to ask yourself to find out if WordPress may be right for your organization’s website:
- Does “free” (or, “almost free”) sound good? If you’re paying a lot of money for a content management system (CMS) for your website, using WordPress could give you some welcome relief for your budget. With WordPress, there are no software licensing fees because the software is open source, meaning that the source code is open for anyone to view and modify. The only things you’ll spend money on are the design (using one of the hundreds of inexpensive WordPress theme templates or designing a custom theme from scratch) and hosting for your website.
- Are you having a hard time finding people who can work on your current website? Because WordPress is open source software, there is an entire community of people and agencies who know how to use WordPress. With such an extensive market of WordPress experts, you’re almost certain to find a person or people who can meet your needs and budget.
- Do you want to allow more people at your organization to update the website? Since there are no software licensing fees with WordPress, there are no costs involved in giving more of your staffers access to the site. WordPress also is easier for non-technical people to use than some CMS tools, so more of your staff members are likely to be able to use it without extensive training or support. In addition, you can give different people different levels of access to the website depending on what changes you want them to be able to make.
- Do you want to add new features and make changes to your website? There are tens of thousands of WordPress plug-ins and themes, so a site built on WordPress can grow with you as you decide to enhance your site with new functionality. And, if you have relatively simple content and like experimenting with new design and functionality, you can purchase an inexpensive WordPress theme and easily switch it out when you’re ready to change your site’s design.
WordPress is a great option to consider, but it isn’t necessarily right for every nonprofit’s website. If you keep in mind the considerations in this article, you’ll be pointed in the right direction to make the best choice for your nonprofit.
If you’re interested in learning more about WordPress, need help deciding if WordPress is the right CMS for your nonprofit, or need help with your WordPress site design, contact Cathexis Partners.
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by Jim Jasper, Designer/Developer, Cathexis Partners
Based in Northwestern Connecticut, Jim started designing and developing websites for nonprofits in 1996. He has worked with organizations of all types and sizes using a wide range of technologies.
What’s your favorite template to use for nonprofit websites?