Nonprofits · Website maintenance

Website maintenance for nonprofits

A nonprofit website is read by four people with no patience: a donor at 9 p.m. on Give to the Max Day, a program officer opening the site the week before a visit, a family looking for eligibility in a second language, and a volunteer with thirty seconds to find the sign-up form. Every one of them is checking the same thing underneath, which is whether the organization is paying attention. The staff page lists a board member who left in 2024. The donate button opens a platform you stopped using. The annual report link goes to a 2022 PDF. None of it is dramatic, and all of it costs money, because the person deciding whether to give or refer concludes, quietly and correctly, that nobody is minding the site.

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We built the websites for Bridge and Bloom, HARO, Ultimate Success Insight in St. Cloud, A Hand 4 Change, Somali Orphanage Support, Maangaar Voices, and Lyricality, seven nonprofit sites, and every one carries a donate page, a program list, and a staff page that has to stay right.

We built the websites for seven nonprofits, most of them in Minnesota: Bridge and Bloom, HARO, Ultimate Success Insight in St. Cloud, A Hand 4 Change, Somali Orphanage Support, Maangaar Voices, and Lyricality. The same question arrived after every launch: who updates this on a Tuesday? The honest answer is one part-time coordinator with about forty minutes a week between grant reports, and forty minutes is not enough to patch plugins, test the donate flow, post the board minutes, and get the Give to the Max Day page up on time. A care plan gives that coordinator a second person. We patch the software every week, post what you send, test every form each month, and keep a calendar of the dates your site has to be right. You keep the logins. We keep it current.

What goes stale first

  • 01The donate page breaks quietlyThe donate button is the one link on a nonprofit site that cannot be wrong for an hour, and it is the one most likely to drift: a processor switched, a campaign page that expired, a recurring-gift option that stopped appearing after a plugin update. Nobody on staff gives through the site, so nobody notices. We make a small test donation every month and confirm that the receipt arrives and the recurring option still works.
  • 02The documents funders check go staleA program officer looks for four things before a site visit: what you do, who runs it, whether the numbers are current, and whether the latest Form 990 is one click away. The IRS expects the last three years of 990s to be available to anyone who asks, and posting them online satisfies its widely-available rule. A board page that still lists the 2023 board reads as a governance signal, not a stale page.
  • 03Giving-day pages arrive lateGive to the Max Day is Thursday, November 19, 2026, with early giving open from November 1, and in 2025 it raised $37.8 million for 6,430 organizations through GiveMN. The pages that carry it, the campaign story, the match announcement, the thank-you, have to exist weeks ahead and change the morning of. Most years they are built the week before by whoever is free, and they look like it.
  • 04Ad Grant landing pages fall below the lineA Google Ad Grant stays active only while the account holds a 5 percent click-through rate each month, and two months under it can deactivate the account. The Google Ad Grants website policy behind it requires a domain you own, no broken links, a secure site, fast mobile pages, and a donation page that works. One expired program page or one dead link in an ad can cost the grant, and the warning email lands in an inbox nobody checks.

The year on the website

This is the calendar we keep for a nonprofit site on a care plan. Your dates go in during onboarding; the work happens without anyone on your staff having to remember it.

  1. JulyThe Minnesota Attorney General annual report is due July 15 for calendar-year filers. The new fiscal year starts, the staff and board changes from June go on the site, and the summer program pages replace the spring ones.
  2. August – SeptemberFall program enrollment, volunteer sign-ups, and the first event of the year go up. The latest Form 990 is posted beside the previous two, the annual report page is refreshed, and every program page is read once for last year's dates.
  3. OctoberGive to the Max Day preparation: the campaign page, the match language, and the thank-you page are drafted, and the donate flow is tested end to end, including the receipt email and the recurring option.
  4. NovemberEarly giving opens November 1 and Give to the Max Day lands on Thursday the 19th. The site is checked that morning, the thank-you and the total go up that night, and the year-end appeal pages follow the week after.
  5. December – JanuaryYear-end giving pages, holiday hours, the tax-receipt reminder, then the January cleanup: last year's campaign pages archived or redirected, and the Candid profile refreshed so the seal does not lapse.
  6. February – AprilGrant season. Impact numbers, outcomes, and leadership pages are brought up to date before program officers read them, translated pages are checked against the English, and a spring event or gala page goes up.
  7. May – JuneVolunteer and summer program pages, graduation or showcase events, the annual report draft, and a full accessibility and speed pass before the fiscal year closes.

What we handle every month

  • A test donation every month, receipt and recurring option confirmed
  • Give to the Max Day and year-end pages built and changed on the day
  • Form 990s, annual report, board, and staff pages kept current as they change
  • Program, eligibility, and volunteer pages updated from what your coordinator sends
  • Ad Grant landing pages kept live, linked, and free of broken links
  • Translated pages flagged and updated when the English page changes
  • Weekly plugin and core updates, daily backups, uptime and SSL monitoring
  • A quarterly accessibility and speed pass, plus a monthly report to the director

Worth knowing

What the rules actually require of the website, and what they do not

Very little of a nonprofit's compliance load lives on the website, which is exactly why the site is allowed to drift. Form 990s must be available to anyone who asks for three years, and posting them online meets the IRS widely-available rule under Treas. Reg. 301.6104(d)-2. Minnesota charitable registration under Minn. Stat. ch. 309 applies once contributions pass $25,000 a year, with the annual report due July 15 for calendar-year filers, but nothing has to be posted on your own site. Google Ad Grants are the exception: the website policy is a condition of the grant, and a site with broken links, slow mobile pages, or a dead donate flow can lose it. Separately, the HHS Section 504 web rule puts recipients of HHS funding, which reaches many grantees through state and county pass-through, on WCAG 2.1 AA by May 11, 2027 for organizations with 15 or more employees and May 10, 2028 below that. General information, not legal advice.

What it costs

Care plans for nonprofits

The same three plans as everywhere else on the site; the one we usually recommend for this sector is marked. Each shows the market range for that level of service, and your own number is a fixed monthly quote. Hosting and the domain stay in your name, and there is no contract.

Protect

Keep it running

A site that rarely changes but has to stay up, patched, and backed up. Hosting stays in your account; we manage it.

What this level costs elsewhere

$50 – $100 / month

Entry plans with updates, backups, and monitoring but no content time ran $50 to $100 a month at the three Twin Cities agencies that publish one, and $59 to $99 at four national WordPress maintenance vendors, read October 2026.

Your price: a fixed monthly quote, in writing, after a free site check

Content time
30 min / month
We respond
2 business days
  • Weekly core, plugin, and theme updates, taken after a fresh backup
  • Daily off-site backups, kept for 30 days, restore tested once a year
  • Uptime monitoring every 5 minutes, with the alert going to us
  • Malware scanning, firewall, and login hardening
  • SSL, domain, and hosting renewals tracked so nothing lapses
  • + 3 more, on the maintenance page
Start with Protect

Update

Keep it current

Most common

An organization whose site has to change most months, and nobody on staff whose job it is: schools, nonprofits, clinics, mosques, busy small businesses.

What this level costs elsewhere

$349 – $474 / month

Twin Cities plans that include about two hours of content work a month were published at $349 to $474 in October 2026; plans with 30 to 60 minutes ran $149 to $250.

Your price: a fixed monthly quote, in writing, after a free site check

Content time
2 hours / month
We respond
Next business day
  • Everything in Protect
  • Two hours of content work each month: news, events, calendars, staff, photos, PDFs
  • New pages built from copy you send, inside the hours
  • Contact, application, and donation forms tested end to end every month
  • Broken links, 404s, and redirects checked and fixed monthly
  • + 4 more, on the maintenance page
Start with Update

Grow

Keep it growing

An organization that wants the site worked on, not just kept: new content written and posted, local search watched, and a monthly conversation about what to do next.

What this level costs elsewhere

$749 – $850 / month

The two Twin Cities agencies that publish a four- to five-hour plan priced it at $749 and $850 a month in October 2026, usually without the writing and search monitoring included here.

Your price: a fixed monthly quote, in writing, after a free site check

Content time
5 hours / month
We respond
Same business day
  • Everything in Update
  • Five hours a month, including writing: one article or two to four new or rewritten pages
  • Google Business Profile posts, photo updates, and review responses drafted for you
  • Monthly analytics and Search Console review, with a 30-minute call
  • Landing pages for a program, campaign, enrollment season, or Give to the Max Day
  • + 3 more, on the maintenance page
Start with Grow

Proof

Nonprofits sites we have built

Real organizations, live sites you can go and look at. Every one carries the kind of calendar, form, and posting load a care plan exists for.

Bridge and Bloom website design by TayoPro
NonprofitCommunity nonprofit

Bridge and Bloom

At Bridge and Bloom, they believe in the power of community to uplift and heal. They are a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a world where everyone has a chance to flourish.

HARO website design by TayoPro
NonprofitRelief organization

HARO

Humanitarian African Relief Organization (HARO) is a nonprofit international relief and development organization located in the United States. Its purpose is to provide urgent humanitarian relief and long-term solutions to systemic issues throughout the Horn of Africa.

Ultimate Success Insight website design by TayoPro
NonprofitYouth nonprofit

Ultimate Success Insight

Ultimate Success Insight (USI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in St. Cloud, MN. USI has been empowering communities and serving youth in the St. Cloud metro for several years.

A Hand 4 Change website design by TayoPro
NonprofitYouth programs

A Hand 4 Change

A Hand 4 Change empowers youth through literacy, arts, storytelling, and environmental education. They offer transformative programs including Climate Literacy, Story Praxis, and Art of Hosting workshops that build confidence and community.

Somali Orphanage Support website design by TayoPro
NonprofitHumanitarian

Somali Orphanage Support

Somali Orphanage Support is dedicated to providing essential care, education, and support to orphaned children in Somalia and East Africa.

Maangaar Voices website design by TayoPro
NonprofitDisability advocacy

Maangaar Voices

Maangaar Voices was officially founded in 2024, building upon nearly two decades of grassroots advocacy and activism for the immigrant disability community.

Lyricality website design by TayoPro
NonprofitArts collective

Lyricality

Lyricality is a collective of Central Minnesota poets focused on building a place of equity in the community for creatives to connect with care and kindness.

FAQ

Nonprofits: common questions

Our coordinator already updates the site. Why would we pay for this?

Keep them doing it; the plan is built around them. What they cannot do in forty minutes a week is patch plugins after a backup, test the donate flow every month, check that the forms actually deliver, keep the backups restorable, and watch the renewals. That is the part we take. Posting a news item stays with your coordinator if they like doing it, and comes to us the month they do not have the time.

What does website maintenance cost for a nonprofit?

We do not publish a rate card; you get a fixed monthly price in writing after a free look at the site. For context, Twin Cities agencies that publish care plans, read in October 2026, run $50 to $100 a month for updates and backups alone and $149 to $474 for plans with one to two hours of content work. Most nonprofits we talk to need the second kind for part of the year and the first kind for the rest, and we price it that way.

Can you handle our Give to the Max Day page?

Yes, and we would rather start in October than the week before. The campaign page, the match language, and the thank-you page are drafted ahead, the donate flow is tested end to end including the receipt email, and someone is watching the site on the morning of November 19. The GiveMN page itself is theirs to run; our job is everything on your site that leads people to it.

We have a Google Ad Grant. Does the plan help keep it?

It helps with the part the website controls. The grant requires a site you own, no broken links, HTTPS, fast mobile pages, and a working donation page, and the account has to hold a 5 percent click-through rate each month. We keep the landing pages the ads point to live and accurate, fix broken links monthly, and flag a page before it expires. Managing the ads themselves is separate work, and we will say so rather than fold it in quietly.

Do you maintain Somali, Spanish, or Hmong pages too?

We post translations; we do not produce them. When the English program, eligibility, or contact page changes, we flag the matching page in each language, post the translation your staff or translator provides, and keep the language switcher pointing at the right place. A translated page that quietly falls behind the English does more harm than an English-only site, so it is on the monthly checklist.

Read next

Guides for this sector

Costs, calendars, and the rules that make the website a standing job. Free, and useful whether or not you hire us.

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