Yes, we know times are tight.

The best thing you can do long-term for your nonprofit is to host your site with First Cup.

 

Worried about funding? 

Let's Estimate the cost of a non-profit, non-commercial site:

 

You MUST pay for your domain name.  $12 (typically)

 

Monthly hosting fee without site sponsorship:  $12

 

Pictures or videos: You should budget $20 for this and this can be an annual expense unless you have a ready source of high-quality, web-ready pictures pr graphics that are either used with permission, you own the copyright, or are donated by your photographer.   (Web ready pictures typically have a background that contrasts with the foreground or aesthetics where they need little or no editing before being published.) 

 

$12 + 144 + 20 = $172 

 

Design: $120 which can be waivered for *qualifying* nonprofits.  Qualifying?  Think kids, moms, babies, Vets, Boy Scouts, Churches, Schools, pretty much, inside the Domestic United States or with a  Domestic U.S. Office. 

 

Site sponsorship is available and can (and often does) reduce part of these costs.  Domain name fees must be paid by the organization or the organization's web sponsor.

 

Why a "Free" Website is the Worst thing you can do for your Nonprofit

  It's really the most expensive thing you can do in the long run...

 

Once upon a time... in a land not so faraway,

a webmaster offered

to give a free class to a group of young nonprofit supporters. 

 

What was amazing is that the organizer of the class didn't think it was important for their supporters to build websites.  Or, if they wanted to, they could use a "free" service.  OK, I'll say it: WordPress.

 

WordPress can be a wonderful platform, but it's quirky.  An update to the site or the addition of a plug in can make your site no longer function as it should.  (Joomla, Drupal, and many others have this same issue.  open source is great dfor developers, but not something your local nonprofit can really do unless they have help.)

 

It's time-consuming, and well, it gets kind of dull.

It's not easy and fun to use, so you have to be Really dedicated to keep a WordPress site updated.

 

Is it really "free"?  --

Only if you devalue the labor of your volunteers and supporters.  Keeping a website up and up to date can be a good deal of work. 

 

This means, from the nonprofit perspective, that it is easy to build and abandon websites because there is no corporate or organizational commitment to keeping them up to date, running, or bringing a return for the organization. 

 

So, one volunteer spends hours and hours developing the organization's website.  But then a new set of leaders takes over, or the volunteer moves on, and the website goes into disrepair.  That means that all that nonprofit labor was wasted...

 

In an era when 41% of nonprofit donations are online donations, it's well, pretty irresponsible to think that not having a website for your organization is unimportant.  A here's a bit of a rub: if your nonprofit is not interested in growing, performing its mission, or seeking donations to support its mission, then what kind of nonprofit is it? 

 

Websites come and go on the internet constantly.  Free websites are often abandoned in a few weeks of being set up, although some bloggers are very dedicated and have kept their free blogs up for years.

 

It's not very realistic to expect that a nonprofit webmaster can keep a "free" website going when the organization has not invested anything in the site.  Group leaders come and go -- and often the organization's website goes into inertia because of it.

 

At First Cup Site Creator, we believe in the adage that anything worth doing is worth doing well.  We also believe that to be successful, a nonprofit must have an internet presence -- a permanent internet presence.

 

What's the return on investment there?  Well, if one child needs help or one client, or one lonely soul can contact you through your website and you can make a difference in that person;s life, that is the benefit, isn't it?

 

Do your nonprofit volunteers and webmaster a favor, and get a robust web hosting platform that is easy and fun to use, and has customer support.  And when your volunteer gets a new job or relocates, and you have a new volunteer or webmaster, your website won't suffer for it, becuase yopu have dedicated customer support, online training, and someone who will help train your volunteer whenever there's a problem. 

 

We don;t think it's realistic or fair for nonprofit organizers to tell people to use WordPress because it's "free" but often not supportable or feasible in the long run.  If your volunteer's labor is going to really make a difference, it needs to be on a website that is permanent and supported by your organization -- or at least sponsored in some fashion. 

 

We host a number of nonprofits at a very low cost.  Nonprofits need new media, and they need to create permanent sites that they can control and administer themselves with a little bit of help now and then. 

If you are serious about your nonprofit mission, Contact us and we would be happy to help you.