Do you have a website for your organization? If you do, read on for several tips you can use to make your website look more polished and engaging.

If you don’t have a website yet, stay tuned! In future articles, we’re going to take you through a step-by-step process to create an inexpensive website that will allow you to share your organization’s news and connect with potential supporters.

Before we get into what makes a stellar website, let’s first consider why you need a website at all.

Why Have a Website?

Why do you need a website? You probably know the answer…because everything is very much Web-driven. When you need the answer to a question, what do you do? You head to Google.

What about when you are curious about a nonprofit organization, business, or educational institution? Again, you head to Google and expect to be directed to the organization's website.

What if an organization doesn’t have a website? For many people, a lack of a website can signal that an organization no longer exists or isn’t sophisticated enough to have a website. These are both things you do not want potential supporters to conclude about your organization.

A website provides a permanent online home for your organization. If you are currently relying on another organization to list a profile of your organization, there’s always a risk that the organization will shut down or will stop maintaining its website (or both). In addition, if you depend on another organization to post your content, you may not have control over what gets posted or how it appears on the website.

So the answer to the question “Why have a website?” is that a website gives your organization a stable online home that you can control and design exactly the way you want.

What about Using Facebook as a Proxy for a Website?

When organizations contact Peak Proposals requesting information, we look them up online.

Most of the organizations that contact us are small community-based organizations with limited financial resources. The majority of organizations do not have a website. However, most of them do have a Facebook page.

Because so many people have Facebook accounts and check Facebook regularly, it’s a good idea to maintain a Facebook page. Although you have limited options for customizing your content, a Facebook page can be a stand-in for a website by providing organizations with a way to post contact information, event listings, and project updates. By adding a donation button, a Facebook page can also help organizations initiate fundraising campaigns.

The downside of relying on Facebook is that you don’t have control over how your information looks and sometimes even what gets posted. With a Facebook page, Facebook, not you, gets the ultimate say on what appears.

Additionally, to access your Facebook page, visitors need a Facebook account. While most people are okay with this, not everyone wants to be on Facebook, so there’s a chance you'll reach fewer supporters if you rely on Facebook versus maintaining your own website.

Another challenge with Facebook is that Facebook visitors expect regular postings, more so than on a traditional website.

If you can’t post to your Facebook page at least every week or two, your page may not attract the attention of Facebook’s algorithms or the interest of visitors.