Website design for nonprofits

Nonprofit Website Design

Theo builds your nonprofit's website and hosts it from $29.99 a month on Basic. Starter, at $69.99 a month and free for the first 30 days, adds the ongoing search work that helps donors, volunteers and the people you serve find you. The first build is free, so your board sees the site before anyone decides.

Build a site free and see it first See If Google Can Find You - Free

By Theo. Updated September 28, 2026.

First build free: the board sees the site before anyone pays
Site and hosting from $29.99 a month on Basic
Donate, volunteer and event pages that link to the tools you already use
Ongoing search work on Starter and Pro, so the people who need you can find you

From $29.99 a month on Basic. Starter is free for 30 days.
Rated 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 27 reviews
10,000+ sites built
Your first build is on Theo: see the site before you decide

Nonprofit website design from Theo means a site built and hosted for $29.99 a month on Basic, or $69.99 a month on Starter with the ongoing search work, free for the first 30 days. Starter adds program pages, posts, technical fixes and indexing through Search Console, so a family looking for help or a donor looking for a cause can find you; Pro is $129.99 a month with more weekly pages and read-only site code access. The Donate button sends the gift to your giving tool, where the transaction, the receipt and the donor record live. The first build is free, so the board reads the first draft before any plan starts.

In Theo's audit of 5,974 small business websites, 44 percent of the 279 nonprofits, education and creators sites with search data got an estimated zero visitors a month from Google search, and 62 percent got fewer than ten. See the research.

Nonprofit web design

What a nonprofit website needs

Most nonprofit sites are organized like the org chart: About, Programs, Board, News. The person who just arrived is a parent who needs after-school care by next week, a donor who read about you in a newsletter, or a program officer checking whether you are real. Theo builds the six pieces below first, in that visitor's order, because a site nobody finds serves nobody, as the audit figure above shows. The tutoring demo on the examples page comes closest to this shape, with subject pages, how sessions work and a parent inquiry form; on request, the team shares live customer sites in your industry whose owners have agreed.

A homepage that says who you serve in one line

The first screen names who you serve, where, and what changes because of your work: a food pantry's homepage says which county it covers and that nobody is asked why they need groceries. Under that sit the two buttons that matter most, Donate and Get Help or Volunteer, and both stay visible as a phone scrolls. The mission statement moves to the About page; the homepage carries the plain version of it, the hours, a phone number that dials on tap and the address with a map link. Photos of your own work replace stock images, because a funder and a neighbor both recognize the difference.

One page per program, built for the search that finds it

A single What We Do list hides the work from Google and from the parent who needs one specific thing. Each program gets its own page: who it is for, eligibility and cost, location and hours, how to apply, what happens after applying and who to call with a question. That is the page a search like "free tutoring near me" or "food pantry open Saturday" can land on. On Starter and Pro the search work builds or expands these pages around real local searches and submits each one through Search Console.

A Donate page that hands the gift to your giving tool

The Donate page does the persuading; your giving tool does the transaction and holds the donor list. The page says what a gift pays for in your words, states your EIN and that gifts are tax-deductible where that applies, gives the mailing address for checks and carries the Donate button, which links to Givebutter, PayPal, a Stripe donation page or the giving page your fiscal sponsor provides. If your tool offers monthly giving, the page carries a separate link for it. Receipts, recurring gifts and donor records stay in the tool, and the same button sits in the header of every page.

Volunteer and event pages that stay current

The volunteer page lists each role with the time commitment, the schedule, any age or background-check requirement and what a first shift looks like, then links to the sign-up form you already use. Each event gets its own page with the date, the place, what it costs and a link to Eventbrite or your ticketing tool, published weeks ahead because that is when people search for a 5K or a coat drive. When a role fills or the gala sells out, one line in chat takes the listing down; when the next event is announced, one line puts it up.

The proof a program officer checks before a site visit

A funder, a reporter and a major donor look for the same things: named leadership and board members with short bios, the staff who run each program, partner organizations, recent photos of the work, outcomes you can back up with your own numbers, and the latest annual report and Form 990 one click away. Theo builds an About section that holds all of it, with a Financials page for the reports and a Press page for coverage. A grant application that links to these pages reads as an organization that is real, active and accountable, so the program officer spends the call on the program.

A Get Help page that works in a hard week

For many organizations the site is the front door for someone in crisis: a family facing eviction, a person leaving an unsafe home, a parent whose child needs care this month. The Get Help page keeps the path short: what you help with, who qualifies, the address, the hours, a phone number that dials on tap, the languages you speak and what happens after someone reaches out. The contact page repeats the essentials and adds a short form that asks only for a name, contact details and a message. Intake appointments link to Calendly or Acuity if the program uses one.

Who this is for

Who Theo's nonprofit website design fits

Theo fits a nonprofit with nobody whose job is the website: a food pantry, an animal rescue, an after-school program, a counseling center or an arts group whose site was last touched by a volunteer who has since moved on. It fits a first site and a replacement; give Theo the current address and it matches the look, then you change what you want in chat. It fits an executive director who wants to type a grant announcement and publish without a webmaster. Congregations have their own page at church website design. An organization that needs a member database, a donor CRM or a donation form keeps those in its giving tool; the Theo site links to them.

Choosing a path

How to choose nonprofit website design

Nonprofit website design usually means a project: a proposal, a board vote, a build, then a retainer for changes. Theo replaces the project with a monthly price and a chat. Three questions boards ask first.

Who on staff should run the chat?

The person with the account login, plus anyone they invite as a collaborator from the website's settings. None of them needs to be technical: the office manager, the executive director or a board member types what should change in plain English. Everyone else sends requests to them, the way they would email a webmaster, and a new pantry hour or a new program is handled the same way.

How does the board see what it is paying for?

On Starter and Pro, in the Growth tab, where pages, posts and fixes appear as Theo drafts them and wait for review unless you turn auto-publish on, and in a weekly report the account owner can forward. Starter's first 30 days are free, so with the domain and both Google connections set up early, the board reads real reports before the first charge.

We paid an agency for a site a few years ago. What carries over?

The look, if you want it: paste the address and Theo builds the new site in that style, then you adjust it in chat. The domain stays yours and the old site stays live until its records point at the new one. Once Search Console is connected, on every plan, the old addresses that still get traffic or carry links are redirected to the matching new pages, so a donor's bookmark and a partner's link keep working; on Starter and Pro the new pages are also submitted to Google.

Included

What Theo handles

The build, from a conversation about your mission

Tell Theo the organization's name, who you serve, each program and where it runs, your giving tool and the events on the calendar, and drag in photos of the work. Theo writes and lays out the homepage, a page per program, Donate, Volunteer, Events, Get Help, About with the board and staff, and Contact. There is no template gallery and nothing for a volunteer to learn; if a site exists today, Theo can build the new one in its style from the address.

Hosting and security, on every plan

Theo hosts the site and serves it as a static website over HTTPS, on Basic, Starter and Pro alike. The plan covers hosting and security: no hosting renewal, no plugin to patch, no security add-on. Gifts and sign-ups complete in the tools the site links to, and those tools keep the records.

Changes by chat, from the owner or a collaborator

A filled role, a new board member, a grant announcement, a holiday closing: the account owner, or a collaborator they invite from the website's settings, types it in plain English and Theo makes the edit. Small edits use a few of the month's chat credits, a new program page more, a redesign the most; Basic includes 1,500 credits a month, Starter 4,500 and Pro 7,000, and top-up credits roll over and never expire. The search work on Starter and Pro never touches them.

Search work on Starter and Pro

Theo researches what people in your area search for when they need what you offer, builds program pages, landing pages and posts around those searches, fixes technical issues, improves page speed, submits new pages through Search Console and works toward citations in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. It runs continuously, uses no chat credits and shows up in the Growth tab and a weekly report you can forward to the board. Over months it also refines copy, calls to action and page flow.

Your domain, kept, and your listings

Keep the domain donors and clients know. Theo walks you through pointing it at the new site, root and www, turning off forwarding and parking at the registrar and leaving email records alone so staff mail keeps working; the domains page covers the steps and timing. An organization without a domain can buy one inside Theo. Theo's Boost checklist then walks through the listings people check: Google Business Profile, Facebook, Apple Business Connect, Bing Places and Yelp.

Links to the tools you already run

The Donate button, the volunteer sign-up, the event page and the intake appointment each link to the tool you already use. Theo builds around these tools, and the gift, the sign-up, the ticket and the appointment complete there.

Process

How it happens

Tell Theo about the organization

Give the name, who you serve, each program and where it runs, the giving tool, the next few events and the board list. If there is a site today, paste its address and Theo matches the look. Drag in photos of real work, not stock. The first build costs nothing and happens before any plan.

Read the first preview with a donor's eyes, then a client's

The first preview is usually ready in minutes. Open it on a phone and try both paths: count the taps to the Donate button and to the Get Help page. Ask in chat for changes until every program page says who it is for and what to do next: "Put the pantry hours above the map", "Add the Form 990 link to the About page". Publish when the board is satisfied.

Put it on your own domain and connect Google

Publishing puts the site on a temporary address until your domain points at it. Point the domain you own, root and www, or buy one inside Theo; the registrar's records usually update within a few hours, and the old site stays live until they do. Then connect Google Analytics and Search Console, which connect only once the domain is active.

Theo keeps working, and the board sees it

On Starter and Pro, once the domain and both Google connections are live, the search work begins: program pages and posts built around real searches, technical fixes, faster pages, every new page submitted through Search Console. The Growth tab lists each piece as it is drafted, for the account owner to show the board before it goes live. On Basic the site stays hosted and editable by chat; the search work is what Starter adds.

Pricing

What it costs, in full

The site, hosting and chat editing start on Basic. Starter adds the ongoing search work and is free for the first 30 days.

Plan	Per month	Ongoing search work	Chat credits	Best for
Basic	$29.99	Not included	1,500 a month	Owners who just want their site live and easy to update.
StarterFree for 30 days	$69.99	Included, uses no credits	4,500 a month	Owners who want the site handled without heavy publishing volume.
Pro	$129.99	Included, uses no credits	7,000 a month	Owners who want more capacity, more publishing, and more room to experiment.

No contract, cancel anytime, and you own the site and its content. Top-up credits roll over and never expire. Full pricing and what credits are.

Reviews

What customers say

Rated 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 27 reviews.

Theo is the best in the game. I was originally forking over hundreds of dollars for a website hosting service only to be on the third page of Google search, but with Theo, I have a gorgeous site constantly optimizing SEO and actually getting me conversions. Truly life changing stuff, couldn’t be more grateful

Greg on Trustpilot

Theo is a fantastic platform, not only from a build and usability standpoint, but in terms of real, measurable performance. The platform is intuitive, well thought out, and easy to work with. More importantly, we saw significant lifts in a remarkably short period of time, and the analytics gave us a clear view into what was driving it. It has been genuinely impressive to see how quickly Theo makes an impact.

Tom Drymalski on Trustpilot

This tool is amazing! Truly the best bespoke AI tool that I've come across in the past year. The website design capabilities are tremendous, and even though I've only experienced 2 months of how Theo can support with SEO, the increases in traction we saw were significant. I've been telling everyone I know who could benefit from Theo to start using it today.

Josh Buoy on Trustpilot

Compare

Theo against the alternatives

	Theo	Typical agency	DIY builder
Monthly cost	$29.99 a month on Basic for the site and hosting; Starter at $69.99 or Pro at $129.99 adds the search work	A retainer for changes after the build; the build itself is quoted per project	The tool's monthly plan; a volunteer does the work
Up-front cost	None; the first build is free and the board sees it before any plan starts	A project quote, often paid in stages	None beyond the plan; a volunteer's hours are the cost
Who makes changes after launch	Theo, when the owner or an invited collaborator types the change in chat	The agency, on the retainer or by the hour	You, or the volunteer who knows the builder
Donations, volunteers and events	Pages that link to your giving tool, sign-up form and Eventbrite; the gift and the sign-up complete there	Set by the project scope	Blocks and widgets you set up and maintain
Hosting and security	Inside every plan; a static site served over HTTPS	Usually a separate bill or part of the retainer	Included in the plan
Ongoing search work	Inside Starter and Pro, reported weekly; it never uses chat credits	A separate SEO retainer	Not included
Ownership	The organization owns the site and its content, and can copy both if it leaves	Set by the contract	Content is yours; the site lives on the builder
Commitment	Month to month; cancel whenever the board decides	Project contract, then a retainer	Monthly or annual plan

FAQ

Questions buyers ask

How much does a nonprofit website cost?

With Theo, $29.99 a month on Basic pays for the site and its hosting. Starter is $69.99 a month, free for the first 30 days, and adds the ongoing search work; Pro is $129.99 a month. Nothing is charged for the build, and the paid extras are top-up credits, a domain name if you buy it through Theo, and the optional backlink packages in the Boost checklist. The pricing page lists what each plan includes.

How soon can a nonprofit site be live?

The first preview is usually ready in minutes; the time after that is yours, reading it and asking for changes. Once published, the site sits on a temporary address until your domain points at it. The registrar's records usually update within a few hours, and your current site stays up until then.

Who owns the website?

Your organization does: the site, the copy and the photos are yours, and Theo hosts them. Leave, and you take a copy of the site and its images. On Pro, the site code is readable and copyable through GitHub.

Can we cancel if funding changes?

Yes, at any time and without a contract. The cancellation confirmation states the date the subscription ends, and you can copy the site and its images before then. A board can approve the plan a month at a time instead of a multi-year agreement, and there is nothing to buy out when a grant ends.

Can Theo take donations on the site?

Donations complete in your giving tool: the Donate button links to Givebutter, PayPal, a Stripe donation page or your fiscal sponsor's giving page, and the gift, the receipt, the recurring schedule and the donor record live there.

Do we need Starter, or is Basic enough for a nonprofit?

Basic, at $29.99 a month, if the site is a front door for people who already know you: referrals, current donors, the board. Starter, at $69.99 a month, if you need to be found by people searching for the help you provide or the cause you serve; the first 30 days are free, so the board can read a month of weekly reports before deciding.

Will our site show up on Google?

Nobody can promise a position, Theo included. On Starter and Pro, the search work described under How it happens is what gets pages found. Buy My Lunch, a school lunch ordering service that moved to Theo in June 2026, went from 131 clicks from Google search in one 90-day period to 929 in the next, by its own Search Console data through September 27, 2026; it is a business rather than a nonprofit, and its numbers are its own. The guide to a site not showing up on Google explains the usual causes.

Is a free website builder good enough for a nonprofit?

Searches for a nonprofit website builder turn up lists of free plans. A free plan supplies the tool and the hosting and leaves the rest to a volunteer: the build, every update and every fix, for as long as that volunteer stays. When they leave, nobody else knows the tool and the site goes stale. With Theo the first build is free, the site is $29.99 a month on Basic after that, and updates are typed in chat by the owner or a collaborator they invite, so the site does not depend on one person's spare time.

Your industry

Questions specific to what you do

Which donation tools work with a Theo site?

Any tool that gives you a link, and the Donate button goes there. If your tool offers monthly giving, the page carries a second link for it.

Can we run a year-end or Giving Tuesday campaign on the site?

Yes. Ask in chat for a campaign page with the goal in your words, what a gift pays for and the Donate link to your tool, and Theo builds it. Meta and TikTok pixels can be set on the site so the ads you run for the campaign can be measured, and when it ends one line in chat turns the page into a thank-you.

Can volunteers sign up and can we list events?

Yes, through links to the tools you already use: the volunteer page links to your sign-up form and each event page links to Eventbrite or your ticketing tool, and the sign-up and the ticket sale complete there.

Is there a nonprofit discount?

Theo's published prices apply to nonprofits too: $29.99 a month on Basic, $69.99 on Starter with the first 30 days free, $129.99 on Pro. There is no build fee, no contract and no annual commitment, so a small nonprofit pays month to month and a board can approve it a month at a time.

Should a nonprofit have a Google Business Profile?

Yes, if people visit you or you serve a defined area; it is how a food pantry shows up for "food pantry near me" and how a thrift store shows its hours. It is one of the listings in Theo's Boost checklist, which walks you through it so the address and hours there match the site.