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Your Association's Website: Powering Your Mission Forward
A compelling website can be the difference between success and failure for your association or nonprofit's mission. How can you ensure your digital presence perfectly matches your audiences' expectations?
Your association or charity's website is no longer just the digital brochure it was a decade ago. Today, it serves as your primary communication channel with your target audience and supporters.
This evolution means your website must not only meet technical requirements—like responsive design that works seamlessly on both mobile devices and computers—but also deliver an exceptional user experience. Today's visitors are discerning and will quickly abandon your site if they can't find what they need efficiently. Your website has become the cornerstone for achieving your organizational goals and fulfilling your mission. Effectively managing or updating your website is now critical to your association or charity's success. But how can you ensure you're maximizing your website's potential?
We sat down with our UX designer and interaction design team lead Kars Kremers to discuss how associations and charities can leverage their websites to drive their mission forward. With his comprehensive knowledge of functional and technical website design, Kremers offers valuable insights.
Tailoring Your Association or Charity Website to Your Target Audience
Increasingly, people are accustomed to accessing digital information on their tablets or smartphones. "This means you must not only understand what information your audience needs but also present it in a way that's accessible to everyone, regardless of which device they're using," explains Kremers. For associations and charities with audiences distributed throughout the Netherlands, a user-friendly website represents a valuable opportunity to reach and serve their communities effectively. By "serve," we mean providing the specific information visitors are actively seeking.
"While there's typically nothing wrong with an association or charity's core narrative, experience shows that most website visitors aren't primarily interested in that story—they come with specific information needs," Kremers points out. "That's why understanding the reasons people visit your website is crucial." Furthermore, effective websites require intuitive navigation to prevent visitors from getting lost. It's equally important to communicate in language that resonates with and is familiar to your target audience. "People crave simplicity."
This desire for a streamlined user experience also manifests in how people prefer to consume valuable information, according to Kremers. "Many professional associations and membership organizations maintain knowledge bases with exclusive member-only content to enhance membership value. This needs to work seamlessly—members shouldn't have to log in multiple times just to read an article. An integrated platform offers significant advantages here: members can authenticate once on the website, while necessary verifications happen behind the scenes without disrupting the user experience. All content then becomes barrier-free, even when visitors return to the site later. As a website administrator, you gain the added benefit of deeper insights into what content your members value most in your knowledge base."
Kars Kremers
Complex Connections
While your website serves as a valuable source of information about your members and users, you'll only gain comprehensive insights when you connect this data with other information sources, such as your membership administration or CRM system. Though widely implemented, these connections come with significant challenges.
"Fundamentally, a connection is specialized software that must be built or commissioned to enable optimal communication between two programs," Kremers explains. "Creating effective links between different systems is inherently complex—you need precise understanding of how information processes in one system impact the other." This complexity explains why few organizations develop these connections in-house. "This work is typically outsourced to programmers. However, even when commissioning custom software, you must have a clear vision of what you aim to accomplish with that connection. Additionally, these connections require ongoing maintenance after implementation, which incurs continued costs in both time and financial resources."
Integrated Platform
Beyond merely connecting different information sources, there exists the concept of system integration. The key distinction is that with integration, all systems function as parts of a larger platform where interconnections already exist and all components "speak the same language," enabling seamless operation. Every component within the platform communicates in a consistent manner, significantly reducing the complexity of data exchange.
"While this primarily affects the system's back end, users experience the benefits through the front end interface. For instance, they no longer need to authenticate across multiple systems but can access all relevant sections with a single login. Similarly, their information appears pre-populated when registering for events. Eliminating these friction points can dramatically improve your conversion rates."
An integrated platform also enhances organizational brand consistency, as various components—previously supplied by different vendors with disparate designs—now present a unified and recognizable look and feel. Additionally, centralizing all information eliminates the need for manual data processing across multiple systems.
"Consider this scenario: when someone registers on your website, their information automatically appears correctly in your CRM system without requiring staff to manually transcribe or merge lists to eliminate duplicates," Kremers explains. "Since the integration processes data in real-time, you also avoid awkward situations like inviting someone to become a member or make a donation when they've already done so the previous day."
Step by Step
When your association or charity is contemplating a website update or even a complete redesign, it's tempting to focus exclusively on that component of your digital ecosystem. However, taking a holistic approach to your digital infrastructure can ultimately save significant time, effort, and money. While this comprehensive perspective might initially seem overwhelming—and typically requires a larger upfront investment than a standalone website project—viewing your website as an integral part of your organization's mission can yield substantial long-term benefits and help you avoid recurring costs associated with building and maintaining numerous connections between disparate systems.
"One of the advantages of choosing a platform approach is that implementation can be phased," notes Kremers. "You don't need to migrate everything simultaneously—you can gradually transition toward the benefits of an integrated platform." He emphasizes that the value proposition varies depending on an organization's current technological landscape. "If you already maintain a well-functioning website and CRM system with effective communication between them, and your membership administration is already digitized efficiently, the immediate need for a platform may be less pressing. However, the situation differs considerably if your membership records still reside in various Excel spreadsheets and the connection between your website and CRM functions suboptimally, resulting in significant information gaps."
Think Holistically
According to Kremers, an integrated platform offers associations and charities two significant advantages. First, it provides enhanced visibility and comprehensive oversight of your members and donors. "You gain clarity on who your members are, donation patterns and amounts, engagement with your offerings, event attendance, newsletter readership, community participation, and more. With these insights, you can proactively identify members at risk of disengagement while also recognizing and celebrating your most active supporters."
Second, partnering with a platform provider enables strategic collaboration around your broader organizational goals. "When you work with vendors specializing in nonprofit organizations, they can provide guidance that extends beyond website functionality or membership administration. This expertise helps maximize the return on your technology investment by aligning it with your overall mission."
Reaching Younger Generations
Kremers points to additional benefits beyond the core advantages. "Today's younger generations conduct much of their lives online. When they encounter a well-designed website that efficiently delivers the information they seek, it validates their perception that your organization aligns with their values and expectations. This digital affirmation can successfully motivate young people to engage beyond their screens and participate in physical activities. However, it's crucial to understand that for this demographic, digital engagement always precedes physical participation. To connect with younger generations effectively, your organization must establish a compelling digital presence first."
Would you like to learn how an integrated platform can support your organization's mission and goals? Feel free to contact us
