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According to the 2023 Nonprofit Tech for Good Report, 27% of nonprofits have experienced a cyberattack, and only 37% have an SEO strategy in place. Alarming.
However, trying to manage cybersecurity, SEO, and other technical tasks on your own can drain your energy and pull focus from what matters most: helping the community, connecting with donors, and advancing your mission.
That’s where the right maintenance partner makes all the difference – we take these responsibilities off your plate with proactive, reliable website support.
Let’s explore why it matters and how to find the right partner.
What Is Nonprofit Website Maintenance?
Nonprofit website maintenance refers to security hardening and monitoring, content refreshes, and software updates that keep your site safe, fast, and helpful. Typical maintenance tasks include:
- Updating core files, plugins, and themes to boost security and performance
- Adjusting SEO strategies and ensuring consistent branding so you reach more people
- Hardening security practices, i.e., 2FA logins and website firewalls
- Backing up your website data in case you get hacked or make a mistake
- Creating new, relevant content to show your visitors how your nonprofit is helping the community
- Checking and improving your page load speed to prevent people from “bouncing” from your site, since most people leave sites that take longer than three seconds to load
Why Is Website Maintenance Important to Nonprofits?
If your website is slow, outdated, or glitchy, it may quietly drive visitors away before they ever engage with your mission.
In contrast, a well-maintained site signals that your organization is credible, active, and worthy of support. It’s secure, fast, and filled with relevant, educational content. It builds trust, offers a smooth user experience, and makes visitors more likely to get involved, whether that means donating, volunteering at an upcoming event, or sharing your cause.
Let’s take a closer look at four website maintenance practices that help your organization.
1) Content strategy
You need to communicate what your nonprofit does, who’s involved, and what you’re fighting for.
Regular updates – like blog posts, impact stories, and volunteer opportunities – show that your team is active and committed. On the other hand, outdated content and broken links send the wrong message: that things may have stalled or that no one’s paying attention.
2) Web security
Nonprofits often handle sensitive donor and organizational data, making them attractive targets for cyberattacks. Attackers often assume you’ll pay up quickly to protect your reputation, even if your resources are stretched. The average cost of a data breach is estimated at $4.88 million.
Proactive maintenance – including security monitoring, plugin updates, and access control – helps protect your site and your supporters.
3) Compliance
You might be inadvertently blocking people from your site, which could lead to fines if you’re found to fail the accessibility standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG).
A solid maintenance routine ensures your website remains inclusive, usable, and legally sound.
4) Search engine optimization (SEO)
Even the most inspiring cause won’t gain traction if people can’t find you online.
Search engines and LLMs prioritize websites that are technically sound, mobile-friendly, and frequently updated with high-quality content. Google evaluates not just keywords, but also performance metrics like page speed, accessibility, and responsiveness. All these key metrics improve with regular maintenance efforts.
How To Perform Website Maintenance for Nonprofits
We’ll start this section by giving you a quick overview of how to handle website maintenance on your own – not because you should, but so you understand what matters and why. For most nonprofits, partnering with a reliable expert is the best use of time and budget.
The rest of this guide focuses on helping you find a trustworthy, proactive maintenance partner who can take the pressure off your team and keep your website running at its best.
0. Understand what maintenance tasks a nonprofit needs
Here’s a simple website maintenance checklist to follow:
| Task | In brief |
| 1. Set up hosting | Choose a reliable hosting provider that offers essential website security, a domain, server space, and a healthy amount of bandwidth |
| 2. Manage website security | Use SSL to encrypt data, manage passwords and user permissions, set up a firewall, and run malware scans |
| 3. Back up data | Save “snapshots” of your site that you can reload if something goes wrong on the live version |
| 4. Update core files and software | Ensure your website’s essential files, plugins, and themes always have the latest security and performance patches |
| 5. Check and optimize performance | Test page load speeds, remove software you don’t need, and run audits |
| 6. Test forms and interactive elements | Fill out your donation forms to make sure they send data to the right place, and scan for malware and flaws in interactive elements |
| 7. Measure and adjust SEO | Check your web content ranks highly on search queries that are relevant to your business; optimize and eliminate broken links |
| 8. Analyze visitor traffic | Use tools (like Google Analytics 4) to check how many people visit your site, where they are coming from, and how many visitors are donating or volunteering |
Download our nonprofit checklist template to get started on maintenance yourself; if not, keep reading and discover the much easier option for nonprofit website maintenance.
1. Decide what level of maintenance your website needs
Now that you know what nonprofit WordPress website maintenance involves, it’s time to figure out what your website needs.
You should look closely at your site and make a list of the most important factors that affect your online success.
Ask yourself:
- Are you okay with someone handling only the security and performance basics?
- Would you benefit from a dedicated account manager you can contact for advice?
- Do you need staging site support, where you test features and updates to your site without affecting your live content?
- Do you have a member portal?
- Do you process payments and online donations via your website?
- Do you need digital marketing services as well?
Once you have a list of needs, shortlist maintenance packages that can handle your site.
2. Find the right nonprofit website maintenance partner
Now, start narrowing down the field.
Look for maintenance experts with a strong track record of supporting nonprofits. They should prioritize security, accessibility, and user experience, and understand how important your reputation and educational content are to your mission.
Review their case studies and the websites they manage. Are the sites fast, accessible, and regularly updated?
For instance, you could look at our StateWP team’s work for CiviCorps, a fast-loading, responsive nonprofit website with tons of educational content that inspires potential donors.
We’re also proud to maintain a 100% hack-free record – something worth asking about when you evaluate potential partners.
The best maintenance providers don’t just keep things running and resolve technical issues; they also offer ongoing support with SEO audits, mobile-responsive design and fixes, content updates, and larger development projects.
Finally, look for an agency that offers a streamlined, custom experience, ideally with a single dashboard and a dedicated point of contact who knows your site inside and out. You shouldn’t have to juggle multiple logins or repeat yourself to a different advisor every time you reach out.
You’ll recognize the right partner pretty quickly. 🙂
3. Outsource website maintenance and optimize performance
Go ahead and sign up for website maintenance with your top choice. Most companies either offer a free trial or a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can rest easy.
Outsourcing to experienced web developers gets you:
- Flexible expertise available on demand, without the need to train people or pay salaries
- Friendly, scalable help that grows with your nonprofit
- A website that’s always performing at its best with quick load speeds and useful content, bringing in more donors, volunteers, and supporters
- A fantastic jumpstart to appearing in the top search results for relevant keywords
The Ballet School is a nonprofit that has relied on StateWP for maintenance, guidance, and growth support for years. We have helped the school track visitor traffic and scale up its website with dedicated Google Search Console and Analytics 4 support.
With our round-the-clock maintenance and security monitoring, the school saves dozens of hours every year to put back into developing programs and supporting young people.
Get Started Today with WordPress Website Maintenance
There are two roads ahead. You can:
- Do all the maintenance yourself, and lose time and money that would be better spent running your cause.
- Delegate the maintenance tasks to seasoned experts, so you can focus on the issues that matter most.
If you ask us, the choice is obvious!
Our Premium package is ideal for nonprofits. You get 24-hour monitoring, a dedicated account manager, proactive error fixes, regular performance boosts, and quick site updates.
Or in other words, peace of mind without breaking the bank. 🧘
Become a StateWP partner, and you’ll follow another of our nonprofit clients, Lead Liberated. Frustrated with slow updates and poor support from its legacy partner, the organization approached us for more proactive, cost-effective website care and development.
With our help, the company saves more than 25 hours a year on regular updates and benefits massively from having a watchful, expert eye take care of its website behind the scenes.
“As a small nonprofit, we don’t have the internal resources to devote to technical upkeep. Knowing that StateWP’s team is monitoring our site and handling any necessary updates or security issues allows us to focus on our core mission. Their reliable and expert support is invaluable.”
– John Westerlund, Director, Lead Liberated
We know you’re passionate about your cause, and we want to help you by taking the anxiety out of running your website.
If you’re unsure where to start, run a FREE website audit for a complete breakdown of your site’s performance, from load speed to site responsiveness.
From there, book a call with Garrett, our CEO, to find out how StateWP can help you boost and maintain your website’s vitals while you focus on your cause.
P.S. You can get acquainted with Garrett before your call – check out his interview with The SEO Sommelier or his chat with Daya Naef on the Success Partner Podcast.
Website Maintenance for Nonprofits: FAQs
Let’s close our guide with four frequently asked questions about website maintenance services for nonprofits.
What maintenance is required for a nonprofit website?
Nonprofits should always focus on security first. They’re at high risk of getting hacked and often can’t afford to bounce back from cyber attacks.
Is WordPress good for nonprofits?
However, all WordPress sites need regular maintenance. While WordPress is somewhat secure, you need to update its core files and plugins against vulnerabilities.
How much is nonprofit website maintenance?
You can expect to pay between $100 and $800/mo with a leading maintenance service provider. FYI, our packages start from $99/mo.
The exact cost of nonprofit website maintenance depends on how complex your site is and how much time and effort you dedicate to it. Hosting, domain management, backing up data, updating and managing security, testing theme updates and features, and third-party software and integrations are key elements you need to account for.
What is the average bounce rate for a nonprofit website?
Poor site navigation, irrelevant content, strange call-to-action buttons, slow loading speeds, and a lack of mobile optimization all make bounce rates worse.
You should ask your ongoing maintenance provider to improve these engagement metrics by implementing UX best practices and running A/B tests.