Creating a charity website is an extremely difficult task. Not in terms of designing complexity, but in terms of balancing budgets with the number of elements required on the site. On the one hand the non-profit organization their website to be clever and clean enough to make people donate for their cause, and on the other hand, they cannot afford to spend a lot of money on charity website creation. However, there should be no trade-off or compromises. If the website has to attract people and get donations it must be made by professionals. Here are the essential elements that must be built into a charity site:

1. Interactivity – Every charity site must have a forum that is open to its donors, volunteers, stakeholders, employees and beneficiaries. These folks must be given a place to share their experiences. For example, a non-profit healthcare organization’s forum can have people posting about their medical problems and healthcare professionals answering to their queries. Alternatively, a non-profit organization that delivers quality education for free can feature a homework help section on their forum where teachers and students interact with each other for the benefit of the whole community. When a visitor lands up on the site and reads interactive, he realizes that the organization is live and throbbing. For all you know, interactivity will help you get lots of volunteers and donations.

2. White papers and reports – charity websites must always support their cause with authoritative data and keep potential and existing donors informed the latest goings-on. They must also link to authoritative research by reputed organizations that endorse the cause.

3. News and a blog sections. The news section must feature the latest news concerning the cause and the blog must provide expert and interactive commentary on the news. This could lead to analyses, debates, and more, thereby making the website resemble as a buzzing, busy place.

4. Case studies are required as well. It is important to let donors know how their money has actually helped people lead better lives. Case studies can be in text, audio and video format.

5. The reports section must contain data on how much money has been received and how it has been spent. In addition, the organization must also publish a list of its activities and an events calendar just to let visitors know what happened and what’s forthcoming.

6. Donors seek recognition. They contribute to a social cause because they feel supportive about it, get tax exemptions and their social responsibility quotient goes through the roof. So, charity websites must publish the prominent donor’s list, with links to their websites, on a special page.

7. It wouldn’t hurt to run a classifieds section on the website just in case people would like to sell or buy or trade something. Who knows, the advertisers may turn back and make a donation or volunteer.

These are the essential elements that must go into a charity website. These are over and above the usual links found in such websites. These may require some programming and some extra money, but are well worth it.