Most website advice is about long-term growth. This isn't that. Some website problems are emergencies — they're losing you supporters, donations, or trust today, and they're usually cheap and quick to fix. Here are five to check right now, in the order that matters, and how to spot each one yourself.
1. Your site isn't secure (no padlock)
Open your site and look at the address bar. If there's no padlock, or the browser says "Not secure," that's urgent. Visitors see a warning, donors won't enter card details, and Google pushes you down. Moving to a secure (https) connection is a standard, inexpensive fix — but it needs to happen first.
2. It's broken on phones
Most of your visitors are on a phone. Open your site on yours and actually try to donate or contact you. If text is tiny, buttons are hard to tap, or things overflow the screen, you're turning away the majority of your audience. A mobile-friendly fix pays for itself in recovered gifts.
3. It's painfully slow
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If your homepage takes many seconds to appear, people leave before they see it — especially on mobile data. Slow sites lose visitors and rank worse. Oversized images and bloated pages are the usual culprits, and both are straightforward to fix without a rebuild. If you're worried a fix will be pricey, see what a nonprofit website should cost.
4. Your donate or contact form is broken
A form that errors out, goes nowhere, or never emails you is a silent disaster — you'll never know how many people tried. Test your own donate and contact forms end to end, from a phone, at least once a month. If a submission doesn't reach you, that's an emergency.
5. Your contact info is wrong or missing
An outdated phone number, a dead email, or no address at all costs you real inquiries and trust. Check that every way to reach you is current and easy to find. It sounds basic because it is — and it's often wrong.
Bonus: are you even findable?
If none of the above is broken but nobody's arriving, the problem may be that Google can't find you at all. That's its own urgent issue — see why your nonprofit isn't showing up on Google.
How to handle these
Work top-down: security, then mobile, then speed, then forms, then contact info. The first four directly affect whether a willing supporter can act. None require rebuilding your site — they're targeted repairs, usually done in days.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my site is secure?
Look for the padlock in your browser's address bar and confirm the URL starts with "https". If it says "Not secure," it needs an SSL certificate — a quick, standard fix.
How much do urgent website fixes cost?
Most are small, fixed-price jobs — often a few hundred dollars and a few days — because they're targeted repairs, not redesigns. The cost of leaving them is almost always higher.
How often should I test my forms?
At least monthly, and after any website change. Submit your own donate and contact forms from a phone and confirm the message actually reaches you.
Think something's broken? We'll check — free
Our free nonprofit website audit catches the urgent stuff — security, mobile, speed, broken forms — and tells you what to fix first. Urgent fixes are usually small and fast; see how we work or send us your site.
