non profit websites

February 25, 2014;Nonprofit Tech for Good

As more and more traffic is being driven from tablets and mobile devices, chances are that your nonprofit has at least considered taking on responsive web design. Responsive web design involves crafting your website’s layout to provide an optimal viewing experience based on the user’s device and is very important for any organization hoping to expand their online audiences, as online content is increasingly being directed from devices we use on the go. These multi-device layout templates are also driven largely by an increase in social media directing traffic; 51 percent of Facebook’s referral traffic is now driven from mobile devices.

Here are eleven examples that Nonprofit Tech for Good has highlighted as implementing responsive web design in an effective way:

  1. Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM)
  2. The Gates Foundation
  3. Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
  4. Heifer International
  5. National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy
  6. Nature Conservancy
  7. Oxfam America
  8. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
  9. Pew Research Center
  10. Rijksmuseum
  11. Wilderness Society

Take a look at these websites and note their strikingly different template layouts when viewing on the desktop, a tablet, or a smartphone. Responsive web design is a very dynamic and user-friendly way to display your website, and could encourage your online mobile community to interact more with your nonprofit.

While responsive web design can be an expensive endeavor, nonprofits looking for a cheaper alternative may look to an adaptive design (to understand the differences, see this article). Adaptive web design directs online users to a specific page template for viewing based on the three common screen sizes. This could be a less expensive option since responsive design requires organizations to completely redevelop the front-end codebase of your website, but one con to adaptive designs vs. responsive is that the web is constantly changing, so conventional screen sizes are likely to vary in the future.

We’d be interested to hear if your organization has tackled responsive web design.—Aine Creedon