01 / Sectors

Free websites by nonprofit sector

Free websites by nonprofit sector: eight pages, each covering how that kind of organization actually uses a website, and what usually goes missing. We donate the design and the build. Hosting is $25 a month for the first 12 months, then $50.

  • Rolling, no deadline
  • Decision in 2 weeks
  • Live in 4 to 6 weeks

The offer

Donated build, $25 a month

Build
Donated. $0 upfront for design or development.
Monthly
$25 a month for the first 12 months, then $50 a month. Hosting and SSL only.
Domain
Registered in your organization's own account, under your own name.
Leaving
Stop any time. You keep the files and can host them anywhere.

Full program terms

02 / The eight

Eight sectors, in detail

These are the kinds of organization whose work we have looked at closely enough to be useful about. Fire and EMS is the one with finished, named builds behind it.

Fire, EMS and first responders

Staffing is the problem, so recruitment is the page. Requirements, the honest time commitment, the roles that are not interior firefighting, and an application that works on a phone at 11pm. Around it sit call updates, apparatus and station pages, the fund drive and the banquet, and signups for CPR classes and smoke alarm installs. A large share of volunteer companies are still running on a site a former member built, on an account nobody can log into. First In Foundation is a live build of ours.

Sector page

Animal rescue

The adoptable list changes weekly and is usually maintained in three places at once: a listing platform, Facebook, and the website. Something has to be the source of truth or the site is wrong by March. Underneath that sit foster recruitment, which is the real ceiling on capacity, an adoption application with the steps after it spelled out, surrender information that ends phone calls before they start, and urgent vet appeals that have to be publishable in an hour.

Sector page

Food security

Hours and locations outrun everything else, and they are often trapped in a flyer saved as an image that no phone, screen reader or search engine can read. Then eligibility and what to bring, because people stay home over a requirement you do not actually have. Then which door, the mobile pantry schedule, closure notices, volunteer shifts, and the referral list for the days you are closed. Assume the reader is standing up, on a phone, deciding whether the trip is worth the fare.

Sector page

Youth programs

Registration decides it. Ages and grades first, then dates, times, cost, and the scholarship line directly under the cost rather than on another page. Then who the adults are, the screening policy in plain sentences, ratios, and what happens when a child is sick or a session is canceled. Photo release belongs on the form as a real choice. The same site is also read by a program officer checking whether the organization on the grant application is the organization on the internet.

Sector page

Veterans services

Most visitors are a veteran or a spouse trying to work out which benefit they qualify for and who files the paperwork. Discharge status, era of service and county lines all change the answer, so an eligibility page written in plain language does more work than any other page on the site. Then the service directory, accredited representative contacts, appointment paths, and an honest referral list for everything you do not handle yourself.

Sector page

Community health

Clinic hours, which insurance is accepted, what the sliding scale actually costs, and how an appointment is made. Frequently read in a second language and often by somebody who has been told they cannot afford care and is checking whether that holds here. Screening events, vaccination clinics, transport options, and a plain statement of what you treat and what you refer out are the pages that get used.

Sector page

Arts and culture

The calendar is the site. Season and exhibition dates, opening hours including the holiday exceptions, ticket links out to whatever platform sells your seats, and venue accessibility detail that a visitor needs before they commit. The archive of past seasons is not vanity: it is what a grant panel, a visiting artist and a prospective board member all read. Membership tiers and calls for artists are the pages that get bookmarked.

Sector page

Environmental conservation

Volunteer workdays need a meeting point, a rain policy and what to wear on your feet. Preserve and trail pages need parking, hours, and whether dogs are allowed. Then there is a second, completely different reader: a landowner weighing an easement or a donation, who arrives with legal and tax questions and will leave if the site only speaks to volunteers. Advocacy updates carry dates, because an undated action alert is worth nothing.

Sector page

03 / Everyone else

Not on the list

The eight pages exist because we had something specific to say about those sectors. They are not the eligibility rule. The eligibility rule is short and it is below.

  • Eligible

    US 501(c)(3), (c)(4), (c)(5), (c)(6) or (c)(19) in good standing, an application filed and awaiting IRS determination, or operation under a qualifying fiscal sponsor.

  • Eligible

    Annual operating budget under $1,000,000.

  • Eligible

    Anywhere in the United States. There is no narrower geographic limit, and no sector requirement at all.

  • Excluded

    Other 501(c) subsections. 501(c)(7) clubs, 501(c)(8) and (c)(10) fraternal societies, and 501(c)(13) cemetery companies.

  • Excluded

    Partisan political campaign activity. Social welfare and labor organizations are eligible. The site may not be used for electioneering or candidate advocacy.

Full eligibility criteria

04 / Apply

Free websites for US nonprofits

The design and the build are donated. Hosting is $25 a month for the first 12 months, then $50 a month. You own the domain and the source files, and you can leave with both. Rolling, no deadline, a decision within 2 weeks of a complete application.

The phone and the email are support channels, not a sales line. Nobody will call you to close a deal.

Apply for the grant