Nonprofits & Associations

Website development for nonprofits and member associations

We build association and charity websites on WordPress where joining, renewing, donating and registering for an event are each a short task, and where the next volunteer can pick up the admin.

  • 500+ WordPress projects
  • Built for volunteer admins
  • Phased to fit budgets
Get a free quote See our work
What is included
  • Member management and dues
  • Donations
  • Events and registration
  • Member-only resources
  • Continuing education
  • Volunteer and committee tools
Get a free quote Reply within one business day. NDA on request.
The problem

What small teams struggle with

An association website does a job that used to take an office. It signs up members, collects dues, sells event tickets, takes donations, hosts the resource library and sends the renewal reminders. It usually does this on a budget approved by a board, run by a part-time administrator or a volunteer who inherited the login from someone who moved away.

That reality shapes how we build. We choose well-supported WordPress plugins over custom code wherever they fit, because the next person must be able to find help. We stage the work so the first phase pays its way, often membership and renewals, with events or a learning area added in a later budget year. And we write the admin guide for someone who has never seen the site. With more than 500 WordPress projects behind us, we know which shortcuts come back to bite.

  • Renewals depend on one person

    Dues reminders go out when the membership secretary has a free evening. Lapsed members keep their login, paid-up members get chased by mistake, and the treasurer reconciles it all from bank statements.

  • The member list is a spreadsheet

    Contact details, membership grade, committee roles and event attendance sit in separate files. Nobody is sure which copy is current, and the newsletter list is another version again.

  • Giving online is clumsy

    The donate button leads to a payment page that looks nothing like your site, offers no monthly option and produces no receipt. Supporters who meant to give close the tab.

  • Knowledge leaves with volunteers

    The person who set up the website has stepped down. No one knows which plugins are paid for, where the domain is registered or how the events page gets updated.

What we do

What we build for member organizations

We put members, money and events in one system, with an admin area written up for whoever takes over next.

Member management and dues

Membership grades, individual and organizational members, chapters, automatic renewal reminders, online and invoiced payments, and access that follows paid status without manual edits.

Donations

One-off and recurring giving on your own pages, campaign and fund designations, tribute gifts, emailed receipts and exports that match what your treasurer needs.

Events and registration

Conferences, webinars and local meetings with member and non-member pricing, early-bird dates, session choices, attendee lists, badges and check-in on the day.

Member-only resources

A searchable library of guidance, journals, templates and recordings, restricted by membership grade, alongside a member directory that people opt in to.

Continuing education

Courses and webinars that award credit hours, certificates members can download, a transcript per member and reports for your accreditation or standards committee.

Volunteer and committee tools

Sign-up forms for shifts and roles, private committee spaces for papers and minutes, and simple workflows for grant, award or abstract submissions.

Typical projects

Nonprofit and association projects we do

01

A professional association site

Join and renew online, a member directory, grade-restricted resources, an annual conference with registration and a continuing education record members can print for their licensing board.

02

A charity website with fundraising

Clear program pages, campaign landing pages, recurring donations, supporter emails and a volunteer sign-up, built so staff can launch an appeal without a developer.

03

Moving off a legacy membership database

Members, payment history and renewal dates imported from an old system or spreadsheets into a current platform, cleaned of duplicates and checked with your membership secretary.

04

A chapter or branch network

A national site with sub-sites or sections for local chapters, each managing its own events and news within shared branding and one member database.

In depth

Designing for boards, budgets and volunteers

Build for the next administrator, not the current one

Staff and committee turnover is normal in this sector, so the real user of the admin area is someone who has not been appointed yet. That changes technical choices. We prefer widely used plugins with public documentation over clever custom code. We remove menu items a role does not need. We record every account the site depends on (domain registrar, hosting, payment gateway, plugin licenses, email service) in a handover document, each registered to an organizational address instead of a personal one. And we write task guides with screenshots for the ten jobs that come up each month.

Phasing to fit how budgets are approved

Boards approve spending in annual cycles and often against grant conditions. We scope in phases that each deliver something usable: membership and renewals first, events next, learning or a directory after that. Each phase has its own quote and can stop there. We also say when not to build. If a hosted association management system already does the job at a price you can sustain, connecting your website to it may be wiser than replacing it.

The membership model is messier than it looks

Before development we ask the awkward questions. Does membership run for twelve months from joining, or on a fixed year with prorated fees? Do organizational members get a number of named seats? What grace period applies before benefits stop? Can a student upgrade mid-year? Do life members and honorary members ever renew? Each answer becomes a rule in the system and a line in the test plan. Associations that skip this step end up handling exceptions by email forever.

Donor and member data

You hold personal details, giving history and sometimes information about beneficiaries. Card payments go through the gateway's hosted fields so card numbers never reach your server. Communication preferences are stored per channel and respected by every mailing. If you connect a CRM such as CiviCRM or Salesforce, we define which system is the master record and sync in one direction per field. Our WordPress CRM page describes those integrations. Where a privacy law, a fundraising code or a grant agreement sets conditions, name them and we build and test to them.

Peaks arrive on known dates

Renewal month, the opening of conference registration and year-end appeals bring a large share of the year's transactions. We test payment and email sending ahead of each one, and avoid updates in those weeks.

Process

A phased plan a board can approve

  1. 1

    Conversation with staff and a board sponsor

    We learn your membership rules, income streams, current tools and budget cycle. You receive a phased scope and a free quote.

  2. 2

    Rules and data cleanup

    Membership rules are written down, and your existing lists are merged, deduplicated and checked with the people who know the members.

  3. 3

    Phase one build

    The agreed first phase is built on staging and tested with sample members of every grade, including renewals, lapses and receipts.

  4. 4

    Admin training and guides

    We train current staff and volunteers on a call, record it and supply written task guides for whoever takes over later.

  5. 5

    Launch, then later phases

    Members receive clear instructions for their new login. Further phases are quoted separately when your budget allows.

Deliverables

What stays with your organization

  • Renewals, reminders and access that run without manual work
  • One member record in place of several spreadsheets
  • Donation and event income reports for your treasurer
  • A handover document listing every account and license
  • Task guides written for future volunteers
FAQ

Questions from directors and committee members

Our budget is limited. Can the project be done in stages?
Yes, and we recommend it. We split the work into phases that each stand alone, quote them separately and start with the one that saves the most administrative time, usually joining and renewals. You are not committed to later phases, and the first one is built so they can be added cleanly.
Can volunteers with no technical background manage the site?
That is the standard we build to. Day-to-day tasks such as adding an event, approving a member, posting news or exporting a list are done through simple screens, and each has a written guide. We also strip the admin menu down so people only see what their role needs.
Should we use WordPress or an association management system?
If you have complex needs across accounting, certification and chapters, a dedicated system may suit you, and we can connect your website to it. For small and mid-sized organizations, WordPress with membership, events and donation plugins covers the essentials and leaves you in control of your hosting and your data.
Can members earn and track continuing education credits?
Yes. Courses, webinars and event sessions can each carry credit hours. Completion is recorded on the member's transcript, certificates are generated automatically and your standards committee can report on totals by member or period. We build this on a WordPress LMS linked to the membership system.
How are online donations and dues payments kept secure?
Payments are processed by an established gateway such as Stripe or PayPal using its hosted fields, so card numbers are never stored on or passed through your website. The site itself runs over HTTPS with a small number of admin accounts, regular updates and backups.
Can you move our existing member data across?
Yes. We import from spreadsheets, an old database or a hosted membership tool, map grades and renewal dates, remove duplicates and run a trial import for your membership secretary to check. Members are asked to set a new password at first login, since old passwords usually cannot be transferred.
Who looks after updates once the site is live?
You can do it in-house, but most small organizations are better served by a WordPress maintenance plan, so updates, backups and security checks do not depend on a volunteer remembering. Either way, all accounts and code are registered to your organization.
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Start a project

Tell us how your organization runs

Share your membership numbers, how dues and donations are collected today and what your team has time for. We reply within one business day with a phased plan and a free quote.

  • Free consultation and quote
  • NDA on request
  • You own the source code
  • Reply within one business day
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