Before You Start

This checklist covers everything that needs to happen before a nonprofit website goes live. It’s written for the person responsible for managing the launch (typically a Digital Manager or Head of Communications) regardless of whether the build was done internally or by an external developer.

This is not a development checklist. It’s a governance and operational checklist: the items that protect the organisation’s credibility, compliance, and donor trust from day one.

Use this alongside your developer’s technical QA process, not as a replacement for it.

Domain and Hosting

  • Custom domain is connected and resolving correctly
  • Both root domain (yourdomain.org) and www subdomain redirect to the canonical version
  • SSL certificate is active: the site loads over HTTPS with the padlock visible (Webflow provisions the certificate itself once the domain is verified)
  • Old domain (if migrating) has 301 redirects pointing to the new site
  • Domain ownership is in the organisation’s name, not an individual’s or agency’s
  • Domain auto-renewal is enabled with a valid payment method

For domain setup details, see How to Connect Your Domain to Webflow via DNS.

Content Review

  • Homepage clearly states who the organisation is, what it does, and what it asks visitors to do
  • All programme/service descriptions are current and accurate
  • Team page reflects current staff and leadership
  • Board of Trustees is listed
  • Annual report is uploaded and accessible (current financial year)
  • Financial accounts or summary is accessible
  • Privacy policy is current, UK GDPR-compliant, and links to the cookie consent mechanism
  • Safeguarding policy is accessible (if applicable to the organisation’s work)
  • Contact information is complete: email, phone, physical address
  • No placeholder text (Lorem ipsum, “coming soon”, “TBC”) anywhere on the site
  • All images have appropriate alt text (descriptive for meaningful images, empty for decorative)
  • No broken internal links: run a crawl with Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs) or similar
  • Charity registration number is visible (footer is the standard location; a charity with income over £10,000 must state that it is a registered charity on anything that asks for money, under section 39 of the Charities Act 2011)
  • Registered company number is visible (if applicable)
  • Registered address is displayed
  • Privacy policy is linked from the footer and from all forms
  • Cookie consent banner is implemented and functional
  • Cookie consent blocks analytics and marketing scripts until consent is given (the ICO's guidance on storage and access technologies is that cookies need consent before they are set unless one of five exceptions applies, and the statistical one also requires clear information and an easy way to object)
  • Accessibility statement is published
  • Terms and conditions are published (if the site handles transactions)

For cookie consent implementation, see CookieYes and Google Consent Mode V2 for Webflow Nonprofit Sites.

Accessibility

  • Run an axe DevTools scan on the homepage, a programme page, and the donation page, and resolve all critical violations
  • Keyboard navigation works: Tab through the homepage, verify all interactive elements are reachable
  • Focus states are visible on all interactive elements
  • Colour contrast meets WCAG 2.2 AA (1.4.3): 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text
  • Heading hierarchy is logical (H1 → H2 → H3, one H1 per page)
  • All forms are keyboard-accessible with visible labels (not just placeholders)
  • Skip-to-main-content link is present
  • Screen reader test: navigate the homepage with VoiceOver or NVDA

For the full accessibility implementation guide, see WCAG AA Accessibility on Webflow.

  • Every page has a unique, descriptive title tag (under 60 characters)
  • Every page has a unique meta description (under 160 characters)
  • URL slugs are clean and descriptive (no /page-1, /untitled)
  • sitemap.xml is generated and accessible at /sitemap.xml (in Webflow the auto-generate sitemap toggle must be switched on)
  • robots.txt is configured correctly (not blocking important pages)
  • Google Search Console is verified and connected
  • Google Analytics (GA4) is installed and collecting data
  • Open Graph meta tags are set for social sharing (title, description, image)
  • 301 redirects are configured for all old URLs that have moved

For analytics setup, see Analytics and Consent on Webflow: GTM, GA4 and Consent Mode V2. For redirect guidance, see 301 Redirects for Website Migrations.

Donation and Conversion

  • Donation flow works end-to-end: test with a real (small) donation
  • Donation confirmation is sent to the donor
  • Donation data reaches the CRM or payment processor correctly
  • Contact form submissions arrive at the correct email address
  • Newsletter sign-up works and adds subscribers to the correct list
  • Thank-you pages or confirmation messages display after form submission
  • All calls to action are clear and functional on mobile

For donation platform options and embedding, see How to Embed a Donation Form on Your Webflow Nonprofit Website.

Performance

  • Run Google PageSpeed Insights on homepage, programme page, and donation page
  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) under 2.5 seconds (Google's "good" threshold, measured at the 75th percentile of visits)
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) of 0.1 or less
  • Images are optimised (WebP format, appropriately sized)
  • No render-blocking resources that aren’t necessary
  • Mobile performance score is acceptable (aim for 80+)

Mobile

  • Test every page template on mobile (real device, not just browser resize)
  • Navigation works on mobile: hamburger menu opens, closes, and links work
  • No horizontal scrolling on any page
  • Touch targets are large enough (aim for 44x44px; the WCAG 2.2 AA floor, 2.5.8, is 24x24 CSS pixels)
  • Donation flow is completable on mobile
  • Images don’t overflow their containers
  • Text is readable without zooming

Integrations

  • All third-party integrations are tested: CRM, email platform, payment processor, event booking
  • Google Tag Manager is installed correctly (head and body snippets)
  • GA4 is receiving data (check Real-Time report)
  • Cookie consent is blocking non-essential scripts before consent
  • Social media links point to correct profiles and open in new tabs

Backups and Access

  • At least two staff members have CMS editor access
  • Admin/owner credentials are documented in the organisation’s password manager
  • Webflow site is backed up (Webflow creates a restore point automatically on every 50th auto-save, not on a schedule, and a free Starter site can restore only its two most recent backups unless the Workspace is on a paid plan, so verify)
  • Hosting and domain credentials are held by the organisation, not an individual

For what a complete handover of credentials and documentation looks like, see Website Handover Planning.

Launch Day

  • DNS changes made (if switching domains): allow up to 48 hours for propagation, though Webflow says it usually completes within a few hours
  • Verify site loads correctly on the live domain
  • SSL is active on the live domain
  • Test all forms on the live site
  • Test donation flow on the live site
  • Submit sitemap to Google Search Console
  • Monitor Google Search Console for crawl errors over the following week
  • Announce the new site through existing channels (email, social)

Further Reading