The 4-step guide to running your nonprofit content audit

Your website is more than words on a page—it’s a place where people go to learn more about your work, how you’re making a difference, and how they can get more involved in your mission. But as trends evolve and behaviors shift, it’s easy for your website content to become outdated or, worse, misaligned with your mission. This is where a nonprofit content audit comes in. 

Did you know that 55% of people love the accessibility of donating online? This is a great motivator for digital nonprofit campaigns. Running a content audit to refine your fundraising copy will help boost donor engagement and attract new supporters.

Let’s dive in. 

1. Find mission alignment and consistency through a nonprofit content audit 

Once you’ve done the prep work for your nonprofit content audit, take a step back and evaluate it through the lens of your mission. If you haven’t reached this point, check out our fundraising content audit prep guide.

Every piece of content should reinforce your purpose and inspire action—if it doesn’t, it may need to be refreshed or reworked. Ask yourself: 

• Does our content align with our mission and values?
• Are we clearly communicating what we’re trying to accomplish?
• Do we have outdated content that we can update to make it relevant?
• What content engages our audience the most? What falls flat?
• Is our brand voice consistent? 

By answering these questions and strengthening your messaging across your communications, you’ll create a more cohesive content strategy that keeps supporters interested, deepens engagement, and builds trust. 

2. Optimize content: Keep, refresh, discard, and consolidate

Using a spreadsheet to track your content? Consider creating a column with a drop-down menu that sorts what you’re keeping, what you’ll refresh, and what you’ll discard or archive.

Create a simple color-coded system to stay organized. For example: green = keep, yellow = refresh, and red = discard/archive.

The keep pile

The keep pile should include content that has high engagement, uses your target keywords, and doesn't need to be modified. If you’re looking at website data, key performance indicators like page views, time spent on page, bounce rate, and conversion rate are good metrics to access content performance. 

This is content you can repurpose. For instance, did you have a blog that brought in a lot of traffic? Awesome! Maybe you can turn it into a series of social media posts, emails, a podcast episode, or a YouTube video.

Notice common threads or patterns in your most engaging content, such as intriguing headlines, clear calls to action, and mission-driven messaging.

The refresh pile

The refresh pile can be valuable content that might just be outdated or need a slight update. Revise it with the latest, most relevant information to keep it accurate and engaging, then republish it. Remember to monitor its performance over time and track how it performs. 

Refresh content could also be content that’s underperforming—content that isn’t driving engagement, conversions, or the intended response from your audience. Instead of discarding it, consider giving it a strategic makeover.

Think about ways you can give it a makeover:

• Is the messaging too generic? Add more specificity, impact-driven language, or an emotional hook.
• Is the format too dense? Break it up with bullet points, subheadings, or visuals to make it more digestible.
• Is it lacking a clear CTA? Ensure your audience knows exactly what action to take next.
• Is the tone flat? Inject more personality or turn dry information into a compelling narrative.

The discard pile

This category includes content that no longer aligns with your mission, brand voice, or fundraising goals. It could be overly promotional, inconsistent in tone, outdated, or no longer relevant to your supporters.

Be ruthless. If a piece of content doesn’t serve your mission, add value to your supporters, or contribute to your overall strategy, it’s time to let it go. Clearing out irrelevant content keeps your messaging strong, consistent, and meaningful.

The consolidate pile

Finding twin or triplet pieces of content on your website? This means you have multiple pieces covering the same topic in a similar way, which can dilute your message and compete for search rankings. Instead of keeping redundant content, consider consolidating them into one comprehensive, high-quality resource that better serves your audience.

You’ll have less content during this optimization stage, but it ensures you have the highest quality content. There’s peace of mind in knowing everything is in its right place, serving a purpose—your mission. 

3. Identify gaps and opportunities

You’ve archived older pieces, refreshed content, and set aside strong content to repurpose. 

Congratulations—you’re off to a great start!

Now, you’ll want to identify gaps in content you don’t have and opportunities to create new content. Look at your content and ask: 

• Are there topics other nonprofits cover in their blogs, social media, webinars, or email newsletters that align with your mission but aren’t reflected in your content? 
• Are there key donor questions or concerns that aren’t being addressed? 
• Does your content cover all stages of the donor journey, or are there gaps?

These missing pieces are opportunities to strengthen your content calendar and provide more value to your supporters.

You might notice that topics reveal themselves during your audit in a-ha! moments. Beyond intuition, your audit data can guide you. Look at what’s underperforming—what’s not getting engagement? Could it be reframed or replaced with something more relevant? 

On the flip side, identify your high-performing content—are there recurring themes that resonate most? Could you expand on those topics with new formats or deeper insights? Donor behavior insights can also reveal areas where supporters drop off—could additional content help keep them engaged?

Think about different types of supporters and how they interact with your organization. If you don’t have much content for non-donors, consider creating stories that give them a glimpse into your world through the voices of donors, volunteers, or beneficiaries. Stories that exude gratitude, positivity, and community can help inspire them to take action.

You brought your stakeholders and colleagues along for the ride. Bring your audience, too! Involve them by asking questions through social media polls, emails, or surveys: 

What stories do you love hearing about the most? 

• Would you like more behind-the-scenes content?
• What topics do you want to learn more about? 
• What program areas are you most excited about? 

Bonus: Make room for your community’s voice by creating conversations! User-generated content is a powerful way to communicate your mission.

4. Turn insights into action 

You’ve taken inventory of your content’s relevance and performance. It’s time to create a clear plan of action.

Start by filtering your content into four categories: keep, refresh, discard, and consolidate. Tackle each category one at a time with clearly defined goals, deadlines, and action steps.

Prioritize content based on upcoming initiatives and goals. Address high-value content first—whether updating a key fundraising appeal, revamping an underperforming donor story, or consolidating duplicate pieces for clarity.

Don’t do it alone—leverage colleagues, stakeholders, and subject matter experts to deliver value based on knowledge or experience in a certain topic. Taking a structured, strategic approach will create a stronger content library that keeps supporters engaged and inspired.

What’s next?

Once you’ve completed your nonprofit content audit, you should walk away with clarity, a refreshed sense of your mission, and confidence that your messaging will deliver value-packed content so you can get back to achieving other important milestones.

How often should you audit? That depends on your content volume and team capacity. For most nonprofits, reviewing content a few times a year ensures that content stays fresh, relevant, and in line with donor expectations.

But the work doesn’t stop here—keep testing and refining. Experiment with different headlines, subject lines, images, and donation asks tailored to your supporter personas. See what resonates, track engagement, and use those insights to optimize your approach.

New to nonprofit content audits and need a little guidance? We’re here to help! Schedule time with one of our team members today. 

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