01 · The ranges
What nonprofits actually pay
These are typical U.S. market ranges for the kind of site a community nonprofit needs — mission pages, a way to give, and something that doesn't embarrass you in a grant application. They are not quotes.
Who builds it
Typical one-time cost
Volunteer or board memberFree labor, real risk. Works until the person moves on and nobody left can edit the site.
$0 + your time
DIY site builderSquarespace, Wix, WordPress.com. You do the work; you rent the platform forever.
$0 + ~$20–$50/mo
FreelancerQuality swings enormously. The good ones are excellent value; the cheap end is a template with your logo on it.
$500 – $5,000
Small studioCustom design and code, a senior person doing the work, no account layer between you and the builder.
$1,500 – $10,000
Full agencyStrategy, discovery, a team. Genuine value on a large capital campaign; heavy overhead on a five-page mission site.
$10,000 – $75,000+
Ranges reflect typical U.S. pricing for small-to-midsize organizations. Location, timeline, and how much content you already have all move them.
02 · The discount question
"Do you offer a nonprofit discount?" is the wrong first question
It's a fair thing to ask, and plenty of studios — us included — will work with a mission budget. But a discount applied to an inflated quote is still an inflated quote, and chasing the discount tends to distract from the two things that actually decide what you spend: scope, and what you're paying every month afterward.
The better first question is: what is this site supposed to accomplish this year? A site whose job is "look credible to a foundation program officer" is a genuinely different project — and a much cheaper one — than a site whose job is "process $180,000 in year-end online giving without the treasurer touching a spreadsheet."
If a quote doesn't itemize, ask for it itemized. Nonprofit boards are used to reading line items, and a builder who can't produce them is usually protecting a margin, not a methodology.
03 · The drivers
What actually moves a nonprofit site's price
Taking money online
A "Donate" button that links to a hosted donation page is nearly free to add. Donations embedded natively in your site, with recurring giving, tribute gifts, designated funds, and a receipt that flows into your donor database — that's integration work, and it's usually the single largest line on a nonprofit quote. Decide which one you need before you collect quotes, because builders will quote the expensive one by default.
Events, volunteers, and programs
Ticketed events, volunteer shift signup, program applications, class registration, and a searchable resource directory are each small pieces of software living inside a website. One or two is a modest add. Five is a different project, and priced like one.
Content you don't have yet
This is the quiet budget killer. Most organizations have program descriptions written for a grant narrative, not for a stranger on a phone, and photography that's either stock or ten years old. Someone has to write and shoot it. If that's the builder, it's on the invoice; if it's your ED at 10 p.m., it's still a cost — just not one on the quote.
Accessibility
Contrast, keyboard navigation, real alt text, sane heading structure. Built in from the start it costs almost nothing extra. Retrofitted onto a finished site it costs real money — and some funders and government contracts do ask about it, so it's worth naming up front rather than discovering later.
Qualifying for the Ad Grant
Google Ad Grants gives eligible nonprofits up to $10,000 a month in free search advertising — but only to a secure HTTPS site with substantial, policy-compliant content and working conversion tracking. This is where organizations stall: the ad budget is free, the site that qualifies for it isn't. Building to that standard from day one costs far less than rebuilding to it after a rejection.
04 · The offsets
The free stack that lowers your real cost
Nonprofit pricing has a genuine advantage over small-business pricing, and it isn't the build discount — it's that a large share of your recurring software spend can go to zero permanently:
- Google for Nonprofits — free Google Workspace: email on your own domain, Docs, Drive, Meet, for the whole team.
- Google Ad Grants — up to $10,000 a month in search ads, which for many organizations dwarfs the cost of the site itself.
- Canva for Nonprofits — free Canva Pro for up to 50 people, which covers a lot of what a design retainer would otherwise do.
- TechSoup — deep discounts on Microsoft, Adobe, and Intuit licenses, and the verification hub several other programs rely on.
- Discounted processing — several payment processors publish reduced nonprofit rates; ask before you accept the standard one.
We keep the current list, with eligibility and where to apply, in free tools every nonprofit should claim. Work through it before you sign a build contract — it changes what you actually need to buy.
06 · Our numbers
What we charge, since we're asking you to trust the rest
Three build tiers, published, same for everyone: $1,295 for a Presence site, $2,595 for a Growth site, and $4,295 for a Flagship build. Ongoing care starts at $75/mo paid yearly. Donation integration, event tools, and Ad Grant setup are quoted on top of the tier, because they genuinely vary.
Most community nonprofits we talk to are a Growth build: mission and program pages, staff and board, a real donation path, and the structure the Ad Grant wants. See nonprofit web design for what that includes, or run the cost calculator for an itemized number without talking to anyone.
Common questions
The things boards ask us
How much does a nonprofit website cost?
Most small-to-midsize nonprofits land between roughly $1,500 and $8,000 for a custom build. What moves the number is what the site has to do — donations, events, volunteer signup — far more than page count or your tax status.
Do web designers give nonprofit discounts?
Some do, and it's worth asking. But a discount on an inflated quote is still inflated. Your larger savings come from the free software programs you qualify for, which cut recurring cost permanently instead of shaving a one-time build.
Can we get a free website as a nonprofit?
You can get free tools, free ad budget, and sometimes free volunteer labor — rarely a free professional build. Volunteer-built sites carry a real hidden cost: when the volunteer moves on, nobody left can update it.
Does the Google Ad Grant require a certain kind of website?
Yes — a secure HTTPS site with substantial, policy-compliant mission content and working conversion tracking. The grant is free; the site that qualifies for it is the part you build.
What does it cost to run every year?
A domain (about $10–$16), hosting and maintenance, and processing fees on donations — commonly around 2.2%–2.9% plus about 30 cents per transaction. Email and most productivity software can be free through Google for Nonprofits.