2024-07-12

Drupal For Nonprofits: Is Drupal Right For Your Nonprofit?

Like for-profit businesses, non-profit organizations benefit from having a well-performing website. It can serve as a place to let people know about your work, attract donors and volunteers, and offer potential clients a way to seek out services. Unfortunately, many nonprofits don’t have the technical know-how to design and develop a better website on their own - or even to decide how to start the process. 

One of the first steps in building any website is to pick a content management system or CMS. A popular option for many businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies is Drupal - an open-source CMS that is secure, customizable, and relatively low cost. Because Drupal requires some coding, it isn’t necessarily the best choice for all nonprofits. Inclind can help you decide if it is a good option for your organization. 

Our website design and development agency works with nonprofits throughout the United States. We have experience working with all types of CMS, including Drupal and WordPress. We offer a full suite of services, from initial design and build-outs to redesigns, custom integrations, and accessibility audits. Reach out to talk to a team member about our design and development services for nonprofits. 

What Is Drupal? 

Drupal is a content management system (CMS). A CMS software allows any entity—including a nonprofit—to create, publish, and manage web content at scale. Some CMS platforms offer features like drag-and-drop placement, while others—like Drupal—require a bit more coding. 

Drupal is an open-source CMS platform, meaning it is maintained by a community of developers rather than a software company. With an open-source CMS, the source code is available to anyone, and it can be downloaded. 

Like another popular open-source CMS, WordPress, Drupal is PHP-based and allows the use of Gutenberg for page building. Drupal uses a theme and module system, where a user picks a theme and then adds modules to add different functionalities. More advanced themes and many modules are available for a cost. 

Drupal is used by 1.4% of all websites globally. With more than 3,000 themes and 47,000 modules, you can build a highly customized website for your nonprofit using Drupal. 

Benefits of Drupal for Nonprofits 

Working with Drupal offers several key benefits, especially for larger nonprofits. Some of the world’s most influential businesses and organizations use Drupal as their site CMS. Below are some of our clients' most considerable benefits after switching to Drupal. 

Cost Savings 

First, many nonprofits work with a relatively small budget. Drupal is a low-cost CMS option, particularly when compared to software offered by large companies like Adobe. It may be possible to build a website for relatively little cost using Drupal, which is a huge advantage when you don’t have the extra funding to purchase a CMS and/or pay for ongoing software fees/licensing. 

Easily Scalable 

Second, Drupal is scalable. You can grow your website with thousands of modules and themes as needed. If your organization expands its services over the years, it will be relatively simple to build out your website - rather than starting from scratch or doing a complete redesign. Drupal also offers more content types and views than many CMS platforms, allowing you to organize and filter content better as you produce more. 

Feature-Rich 

Third, Drupal offers an unlimited number of add-on features. One of the benefits of open-source platforms like Drupal is that the community of developers is always working on something new. This means that upgrades and new themes and modules can often be utilized. For example, if you want to build a custom donation form for your site, you can find a module that allows you to do just that. There is an existing module for just about any feature you may want to add to your site, so you won’t have to reinvent the wheel when you’re looking to add additional functionality. 

Extremely Customizable 

Fourth, Drupal also allows for custom coding and themes. This is important for more complicated websites that may need more than what the modules and themes offer. With proprietary CMS platforms like AEM, you’re more limited in what code can be modified and changed. 

Seamless Integrations 

Fifth, Drupal allows for integrations with other software. This aspect is key, as it can streamline operations and allow you to optimize your website. For example, integrating your website with customer relationship management (CRM) software will allow you to gather data about website visitors, volunteers, and donors. This data can then be analyzed to make smarter decisions about where to devote your time and resources. Similarly, your website can be integrated with payment processors to simplify donations. 

Enterprise-Level Security 

Sixth, Drupal has enterprise-level security features and offers security reports. These are critical to ensuring the security of your website and any data you may collect from visitors. 

Accessible By Design 

Seventh, Drupal is committed to accessibility. In other words, you can access Drupal from any device, and the platform follows the World Wide Web Consortium guidelines for accessibility. Drupal also has easy-to-integrate accessibility features (such as high-contrast text). 

For many nonprofits, Drupal is a great choice. It is often a lower-cost option and can be easily scaled and customized. Many large nonprofits - such as the National Audubon Society - use the platform to build responsive, secure websites. 

Drawbacks of Drupal for Nonprofits 

Of course, every CMS has downsides, and the same is true for Drupal. While the platform has a lot to like, it may not be the best fit for every organization. 

Larger Learning Curve 

One of Drupal's biggest challenges is that it is more complicated than other CMSs (like WordPress). There is a significant learning curve, so if you and your team are unfamiliar with Drupal, adapting to the system may take some time. Of course, we provide free site training with every website we build so we can help reduce the time it takes to learn the platform. 

Requires Some Coding Knowledge 

Similarly, you will probably need some coding experience if you use Drupal. Customizing the site can be challenging, mainly when adding and implementing modules. In addition, you will have to stay on top of module updates to ensure that you are using the most secure version available - which can be an issue for open-source CMS platforms. If you’re trying to manage a site on your own, this can be cumbersome, but with a web development partner like Inclind, we can handle all this work for you. 

Fewer Site Themes To Choose From 

There are also fewer themes for Drupal compared to other CMS. This means you may have to settle for a theme that isn’t quite right - and spend a lot of time trying to customize it. At the same time, some themes and features are data-heavy, leading to slower loading times. It will take some work to clean up code, compress images, and take other steps to reduce load times. 

The bottom line: Drupal requires more technical expertise than other CMS platforms. You will probably need some coding knowledge to make a great Drupal site. If you still want to use the platform for its many benefits, a website design and development agency with specific experience building Drupal websites - like Inclind - can help you with the initial build and ongoing support and maintenance

Need Help Deciding on a CMS for Your Nonprofit? Our Experts Can Help 

CMS platforms like Drupal and WordPress make it relatively easy to build a website. But even with a simple CMS, you may still need assistance from a website design and development firm to ensure your website is set up properly and functions as it should. While Drupal is great for nonprofits, most agencies find that getting support is critical to the process. Our team can sit down with you and review your organization's needs and goals to help you select the best possible CMS for your nonprofit. 

Based in Delaware, Inclind works with nonprofits throughout the United States. We offer various services,including website design and redesign, support and maintenance, website consulting, and conversion optimization. Whether you choose Drupal or another CMS platform for your nonprofit, we can help you create a beautiful, well-designed site that helps you meet your goals as an agency. 

Interested in learning more about our design and development services for nonprofit organizations? Fill out our online contact form or give us a call at 800-604-8139 to talk to one of our experts about your website.

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