No law requires a 501(c)(3) to have a website. Once you run one, though, parts of it start to carry real weight. 501(c)(3) website requirements fall into two groups: a short list with legal or regulatory teeth, covering disclosure practices, donation page accuracy, accessibility, and donor data, and a longer list of things donors and funders expect to see before they give. This guide covers both, and flags the places where you need counsel rather than a web team.
What carries legal or regulatory weight
Most of these obligations aren’t website rules at all. They govern how your organization operates, and the website is simply where donors and regulators look first, so it’s where gaps show. The two lists also need different owners. The legal items belong with your leadership and counsel, while the expectation items belong with whoever runs your communications. This is general guidance, not legal advice — talk to your counsel about your specific requirements.
Form 990 public disclosure
Federal rules generally require 501(c)(3)s to make certain documents, including recent annual returns, available for public inspection. Handling those requests when they come in is common practice, and many organizations go a step further and post their Form 990s on the site itself. Posting is voluntary, and it works in your favor. It saves staff time and tells donors and grantmakers you have nothing to hide. Keep posted copies current and easy to find, usually on a financials or accountability page that’s linked from your site footer.
Donation page accuracy and receipts
Your donation page needs to describe, accurately, how gifts are used. When you tell donors a gift funds a specific program, that representation matters, and gifts restricted to a purpose generally have to be used for that purpose. Plain, honest language protects you here. Vague or inflated claims create problems later. The same standard applies to recurring gifts, so make the billing cadence and the cancellation path clear before the card is charged, and if you offer donors the option to cover processing fees, describe that accurately too.
Acknowledgments deserve the same attention. Donors generally need a written acknowledgment to claim a deduction for larger gifts, and prompt, accurate receipts are standard practice at every gift size. Confirm that your donation platform sends receipts automatically and that your organization’s legal name and EIN appear on them. Your accountant can confirm what your acknowledgment letters need to say.
State charitable solicitation registration
Many states require charities to register before soliciting donations from their residents, and a donate button on a public website can amount to soliciting in a lot of places at once. The rules and exemptions vary by state, which makes this a poor topic for general advice. If you accept online donations, ask your counsel or a charitable registration provider which registrations apply to your organization. It’s a known, manageable issue that just needs an owner on your team.
Website accessibility
Courts increasingly read the ADA to cover websites, and organizations receiving federal funding may have Section 504 obligations. WCAG conformance is the practical way to reduce that exposure. The mission case is at least as strong, since an inaccessible donation form turns away donors and excludes people your organization exists to serve. Accessibility work also covers more than the homepage. Donation forms, event registrations, and posted PDFs are the usual trouble spots, and they tend to be the highest-stakes pages you have.
At Elevation, WCAG 2.2 AA is the baseline standard on every build, and our team includes IAAP/CPACC-certified accessibility professionals. Our nonprofit accessibility checklist is a good first look at where you stand. When you want a deeper read, a structured website accessibility audit will surface the issues worth fixing, and our accessibility services team handles remediation.
Privacy policy, donor data, and security basics
Collecting names, email addresses, and payment details means holding data people expect you to protect. Post a privacy policy that says what you collect and how you use and share it, then follow it. Limit internal access to donor records, and think twice before uploading donor lists to ad platforms if your policy never mentioned that. If you send fundraising email, honor unsubscribe requests promptly and keep your lists consented. Card data should live with an established payment processor, which is exactly why you use one instead of handling it yourself.
On the technical side, hygiene goes a long way. Serve every page over HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate, keep your CMS and plugins updated, require strong passwords and two-factor authentication on admin accounts, and keep working backups. A browser security warning on a donation page ends the gift on the spot.
What donors and funders expect
Nothing in this section comes with a penalty attached. What it carries is trust, and trust decides whether a visit turns into a gift. When a program officer or a careful donor checks your site before a decision, these are the pages they look for.
- Current program information. What you do, who you serve, and what changed this year. Stale content reads as a stalled organization, and it’s the first thing a funder notices. Substantive, current program pages are also what keep a Google Ad Grant performing well. The program gives eligible nonprofits $10,000 a month in free Google search ads, and those ads need real pages to land on; our Ad Grants guide covers eligibility and setup.
- A leadership and board page. Funders look at governance before they fund the work. Names and short bios for staff leadership and the board are enough. An empty or outdated team page raises questions you don’t want raised.
- Financial transparency. Post recent Form 990s, an annual report, or audited financials where visitors can find them without asking. Donors who research before giving look for exactly this, and watchdog profiles are built from what you publish.
- Real contact information. Publish a street address and an email someone actually monitors. Adding your EIN makes it easy for donors to verify your status through the IRS exempt-organization search before they give.
If your current site makes these basics hard to keep updated, the site itself is the problem. Our nonprofit web design work starts from these pages, because they do the persuading long before anyone talks to you.
Where to start if you’re behind
Work in order of risk. Check this week that your SSL certificate is valid and your donation receipts are going out, because those two fail silently and cost you gifts while they do. Within the month, put the solicitation registration question to counsel if no one ever has, and get your latest Form 990 posted. After that, schedule an accessibility review, since it’s the item most organizations have never examined. If you’d rather have one prioritized list than six open questions, our free nonprofit website audit gives you a snapshot review of your key pages with a prioritized list of what to fix first.
Frequently asked questions
Does the IRS require a 501(c)(3) to have a website?
No. There is no federal requirement that a 501(c)(3) maintain a website. The obligations that do exist, like public disclosure and state solicitation registration, apply to how you operate, and the website is simply one place they show up.
Do we have to post our Form 990 on our website?
Posting is voluntary. The common practice is making recent 990s available on request, and many organizations post them anyway because it builds donor trust and saves staff time.
Does the ADA apply to nonprofit websites?
Courts increasingly read the ADA to cover websites, and organizations receiving federal funding may have Section 504 obligations. WCAG conformance is the practical way to reduce that exposure, which is why WCAG 2.2 AA is a sensible target. Ask your counsel how the rules apply to your organization.
Do we need to register before accepting online donations?
Many states require charities to register before soliciting donations from their residents, and an online donate button can count as solicitation. Requirements vary by state, so ask your counsel or a charitable registration provider what applies to you.
What should a nonprofit donation page include?
An accurate description of how gifts are used, the organization’s legal name and EIN, a secure HTTPS connection, and an automatic receipt or acknowledgment email. Clear, honest language about where money goes matters more than clever copy.
Elevation has worked exclusively with nonprofits since 2007, and WCAG 2.2 AA is our baseline on every build. If you want to know exactly where your site stands on the items above, request a free audit and we’ll send back a prioritized snapshot of where your site stands.
