I received this question the other day:
“For our nonprofit’s website redesign, does it make sense to engage with a consultant / agency?”
My answer:
Not always.
There are three contexts in which it makes sense to work with an outside party on a nonprofit website.
⌛ URGENCY
Many orgs we work with have specific time considerations surrounding a website redesign.
Maybe the 20th anniversary celebration is just around the corner. Or maybe a big fundraising push is scheduled for later this year.
Either way, there’s a date leadership has in mind for when the new website needs to be online.
If your org has a more general timeline (“it can take as long as necessary”), then you may not need to seek out a vendor to assist with the redesign. 🚫
📚 EXPERTISE
Many orgs I speak with don’t realize that website creation requires more than “just” creating a website.
The most engaging nonprofit sites arise when your messaging, design, brand, and features all work together to create an experience for your community.
Flat messaging leaves your site uncompelling. Weak design drags down your content. Rough branding erodes trust. And broken features leave visitors frustrated.
Accordingly, engaging with a group who understands these aspects — specifically from a nonprofit perspective — makes a big difference in the final product.
If you’ve already got members of your team who feel confident in their ability to cover most (or all) of the skills a website redesign requires, then you can safely keep things in-house. 🚫
📦 CAPACITY
Is this the most obvious point on the list?
Perhaps.
And it’s also one of the most important.
Websites take a lot of effort. Unless you’ve managed a website project before, it’s likely far more complicated than you’d expect. There are hundreds of details you need to coordinate by the end of a project.
Couple that with the increased number of stakeholders for most nonprofits (leadership, staff, board, funders, donors, wider community, and others), and you can see how easily things start to balloon.
If your team is about to enter a slowdown period or you’ve got someone on staff who can shift major focus to working on the website, then you don’t need to solicit an external agency. 🚫
—
Long story short:
If you’ve got…
🕒 An open timeline
🛠️ Solid in-house website skills
🍽️ Members without a full plate
…then it probably doesn’t make sense to work with a consultant or agency for your website redesign.
But if you don’t have those items, it’s worth having at least an intro call with someone to see where the conversation goes.