Having a powerful online footprint is mandatory when it comes to your nonprofit. Your website is one of the most important elements of this online presence, therefore selecting a web hosting plan that will allow your nonprofit’s website to work optimally as well as securely and efficiently.
The following is our ultimate guide to everything you need to know about web hosting for nonprofits, from what is web hosting, all the way down to which plan would be best suited for your organization. In this post, we will go through a few and high important key points that every nonprofit should consider before making the decision.
Web Hosting for Nonprofits – What Is It and Why Does It Matter to Your Organization?
Web hosting is the process of making your website accessible in the internet. In less tech talk, it is where your website files and data are stored and the hosting provider makes them available to visitors through the web. Whether you are sharing resources, promoting events, or taking donations, your organization’s ability to engage those who need you is contingent upon the performance and reliability of your website.
Nonprofits, on the other hand, need hosted domains that work doubly well for them.
Security: Nonprofits work with sensitive data, such as donor lists and volunteer information, as well as financial transactions. These data should also be protected through the use of a reliable hosting provider.
Website Performance:If your website is not loading as quickly it should be, then chances are they will wait for a specific time period to get the page loaded correctly and this results in high bounce rate from the users which makes you lose donations or funders.
1) Uptime: Nonprofit organizations depend on their website for communication and fundraising efforts. Downtime could mean missed opportunities — especially with a campaign or event on the line.
Scale: Your nonprofit is hopefully growing, and this means more people are visiting your website and asking for support. Your hosting should give you the option to scale and upgrade.
How to Choose the Best Web Hosting for Nonprofits
When it comes to picking the right hosting plan for your nonprofit, you should consider a number of important factors. In this post, we will go through these dimensions to help you choose wisely.
Understand Your Hosting Needs
IN A WORLD COMA OTHERWISE: Before you go taking a gander at facilitating alternatives, its imperative to grasp what your not-for-profit’s site really requires. What to consider when deciding the wireless charging for IIoT deployments
Monthly Visitors: Traffic volume. If you are new, or have a small subscriber base, shared hosting will be good enough. However, if your site is likely to have high traffic volumes you might need something more substantial such as VPS (Virtual Private Server) or dedicated hosting.
Website Type and Features — This is deciding the website you looking for. If it is a basic blog or info site, shared hosting will be sufficient. Depending upon if you require an e-commerce store or need for some complex website features like donations forms, you may require additional resources, security and functionality.
Future oriented: Sales Enablement Solution considering Growth Potential. Many nonprofit organizations start small but soon outgrow their plan, and switching to a new host later can be more of a hassle than you would like.
Security Features
Because nonprofits keep donor and payment information on their site, web hosting security should be a priority. These are some of the things you should look for when it comes to assessing web hosting for nonprofits:
SSL Certificates: SSL certificates create a secure protocol for transactions between your website and visitors, so this is fundamental in the protection of financial operations and sensitive data.
Daily Backups – Once a month is not enough, we backup the website daily so it can always be restored quickly if anything happens like a cyber attack or you lose data.
Firewall Protection: A firewall is like a gate that opens holes to welcome your legitimate traffic and blocks the bad one from sneaking in your site with a plan of hacking or cyberattacks.
It comes with DDoS Protection: Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks can slow down your website, sometimes below to 2 sec page load time. Check that your hosting service provides protection from such attacks.
2-Step Verification: An extra step added to your hosting account so the bad guys can’t get in and take control of your server.
Reliability and Uptime Guarantee
Uptime is the period during which your website is functional and accessible to users. Uptime guarantee: A quality web host will offer a minimum of 99.9% uptime guarantee. If the website crashes, you can have a loss of traffic, donation or support.
So, your search should be a web hosting provider that offers ~
Reliable Servers: The hosting provider should be equipped with performance servers to ensure the site loads quickly and is barely ever down.
Cloud web hosts can also provide lots of additional resources to deal with high traffic periods if you need them, such as during a fundraising campaign.
Service Level Agreement (SLA): Make sure that the hosting company you select has a good SLA in place (which brings an uptime guarantee and some form of compensation if they fail to meet this uptime).
Support and Customer Service
Chances are, especially if your team is from a nonprofit with no big technical skills. Having productive and responsive customer support is crucial, especially when you need help or the site has some issues. Select Host with:-
These advantages include 24/7 support (because non-profits are not always a Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm operation) A host that gives complete 24/7 support through either phone, chat or email is imperative.
Nonprofit Support: Some web hosts also have nonprofit-specific support, which can be useful if you need recommendations and help from experts in features important to nonprofits like donation integration, event functions, etc.
Cost-Effectiveness
When you work at a non-profit, money is often a touchy subject. Sure, many organizations have sizeable budgets, even for their websites—but they could also be sending that money to feed hungry children or fight disease. And if they do operate on a shoestring budget, then it’s all the more important that every penny spent goes where it needs to—and not out into the ether of hosting costs. Though it is never a good idea to skimp on quality, you have low-cost alternatives that can deliver the best performance plus security and support.
There may also be some hosting providers that provide special nonprofit discounts or a plan designed for nonprofits. Consider the following when pricing:
Free Hosting for Nonprofits — The allure of no-cost hosting is strong, but usually too good to be true in terms of server features, security support. Unfortunately, they are not usually good options if you want a stable and professional website for your nonprofit.
Inexpensive Hosting Solutions: Seek out companies that offer hosting plans at a low cost for nonprofits. Most of the top web hosting companies offer nonprofit discounts in the range of 50%.
Scalability: Makesure that your hosting provider offers you resouces that can be scaled as your nonprofit grows, so that you will not have to switch hosts when you need more resources.
Hosting Types for Nonprofits
Web hosting plans are available in various types and which best suits your nonprofit’s website, is totally based on the requirement of your site. Common Hosting Options
Shared Hosting: This is the most popular and cheapest hosting type, in this case, host a lot of websites sharing the same server. Best for: Low-traffic, simple website non-profit sites; generally not large this is better for small nonprofits. Shared hosting – the most affordable type of deal but noticeably slower and less protected.
Virtual Private Server (VPS) : VPS server gives you more power and flexibility compare to shared hosting. A VPS gives your nonprofit its own slice of a server, offering more control and enhanced performance. Great for large, very active websites with complex needs (such as many NPOs).
This includes dedicated hosting which is for when your nonprofit has high-traffic needs or demanding site requirements and need the most control over what you get. Dedicated hosting: A dedicated host is a top-of-the-line system when the need arises, and in this plan, you rent an entire server for yourself.While more expensive than your other options, it also grants you the maximum level of performance.
Managed WordPress Hosting: If you host your nonprofit website on WordPress using managed hosting, it provides a much smoother experience. Managed WordPress hosting includes automatic updates, better security and performance for your WordPress website.
Eco-Friendly Hosting for Nonprofits
For example, if you are a nonprofit working on sustainability or environmental issues, going with a web hosting provider that emphasizes eco-friendly practices can make sense. Many hosting providers buy electricity from renewable sources, or invest in wind power to offset their carbon emissions. This could seem like an impassioned value alignment with your organization, a way to show you are committed to being environmentally aware.
Best Nonprofit Web Hosting Providers
With what to consider in a nonprofit web hosting solution out of the way, here are some great hosting providers that provide plans catered towards nonprofit organizations:
Bluehost — This is a good option if you have cost in mind for the reason that Bluehost is VERY affordable and will work any hosting price of $0.99/mo, it provided that your organization has 501(c)(3) status or regional equivalent.. And they also provide a free SSL certificate and 30-day money-back guarantee.
SiteGround: SiteGround cannot be beaten on customer service, speed or hosting security. They provide unique nonprofit discounts and premium features for companies in growth mode.
HostGator : Offering shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting options with free site building tools Host Gator is a good choice for cost-conscious nonprofits. They offer support 24/7 and a non-risky refund for 45 days.
DreamHost: DreamHost is a powerful hosting option with discounts for nonprofit, offering free domain registration, free SSL, and free email hosting. They are also using renewable energy and eco-friendly hosting.
Closing: Finding the Right Choice for Your Nonprofit.
Selecting the appropriate web hosting for non-profits is a very important step in ensuring your organization website functions properly, is secure and will perform well. Evaluate your nonprofit needs, measure offered support and security options, and decide on a plan that matches both current and future goals. All this can be made easier and much more effective if you choose a hosting provider that enables you to use the right web technologies, tools for your nonprofit site, which in turn allows you to build a strong online presence to connect with your community of donors and supporters.
Simply refer to this ultimate guide and use the information given here, and you can rest easy knowing that your nonprofit has chosen the perfect web hosting solution that enable it to grow in today’s digital age.
