[PODCAST] Nonprofit Website Trends: Forego flashy for functionality

Nonprofit Website Trends: Forego flashy for functionality

The only part of a nonprofit under more pressure than its employees is its website. Nonprofit websites have to do and be a lot of things to many people. Accessibility, functionality, easy navigation, and a beautiful design are just a few considerations when building a cause-driven site. In this episode, Katie talks to Cliff Persaud of Kanopi Studios about what makes a great nonprofit website and what bells and whistles aren’t worth the draw on your bandwidth. 

Top trends for great nonprofit websites, including a “quick win.”

Cliff shares three attributes that all great nonprofit websites should feature:

  1. Accessible, inclusive content
  2. Lack of friction
  3. Relevant imagery (It’s a quick win!)

While making your site fully accessible might take time and strategy, ensuring the imagery you use is aesthetically pleasing is an easy way to update your digital presence. Cliff recommends Unsplash for stunning and open license lifestyle imagery, and Katie suggested Canva for Nonprofits. Either way, making sure you use modern and high-resolution images is a must. 

The wrong way to be resource-intensive

There are many web design trends right now that are bad for business. Cliff warns against using several of these, including parallax, carousels, and animations. Not only are these elements distracting, but they can also be detractors for people who struggle with motion or vision, and they are often a significant draw on your site’s speed. These “resource intensive” elements might be flashy and on-trend, but they’re not worth the inconvenience to your audience (or you!).

Listen to the full episode to hear Cliff’s suggestions for when and how to use animation to make your site beautiful and functional. 

Meet Cliff Persaud

Cliff focuses his time managing and leading Kanopi’s cross-functional creative team and projects internally and for our clients. Whether he is leading the charge on behalf of the innovative team or partnering with other facets of the company, he delights in working with organizations to elevate their online presence, making complex challenges beautiful, functional, and optimized.  

With nearly 20 years of experience as a designer, instructor, and creative leader, Cliff is active in crafting user-first full lifecycle experiences from initial discovery through strategy, UX, and creative and technical development to create sites that excite our clients and fulfill their objectives.

Shout out to our friends at AB Charities for making today’s episode possible! 

 
Cliff Persaud Nonprofit Website Trends

Katie Appold

Katie’s nonprofit career includes a variety of leadership roles for human service, foundation, and publishing-related nonprofits as well as many volunteer roles. Under Katie’s leadership, nonprofit organizations have developed new programs related to free healthcare, affordable and accessible housing and literacy programs for K-12 students. In her first Executive Director role, Katie increased the annual revenue of the organization she led by 300% and received the top grant prize in the nation for affordable housing through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis. Today, she leads Nonprofit Hub and Cause Camp, which collectively serve more than 50,000 nonprofits throughout North America. Her educational background includes an undergraduate degree in business administration and a masters degree in nonprofit leadership. Katie serves as the board president of Gracious Grounds, a housing organization serving individuals with disabilities. She is an active member of the Grand Rapids Young Nonprofit Professionals, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, Cause Network, and the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

September 15, 2022

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