When you think of the internet, you might think of a virtual place: an intangible dimension to plug into and out of at will. But everything we do online is rooted in the physical world through servers, cables, and the energy required to power them. Every web page takes energy to create, host, and visit. Multiply that by the billions of pages accessed every day, and the carbon footprint is significant.
For mission-driven organizations, this is worth paying attention to. The good news is that the same intentionality your nonprofit brings to its work through your programs, partnerships, and communications can also inform how you show up online. In this Constructively Curated, we’ve rounded up resources to help you create and maintain a website that speaks to your mission and keeps sustainability in mind.
Get Started With These Recommended Reads
For a strong foundation, we recommend adding these books to your “to-be-read” list. Collectively, they cover everything from sustainable design principles to the hidden environmental cost of digital content:
- Design is the Solution by Nathan Shedroff
- Designing for Sustainability by Tim Frick
- Sustainable Web Design by Tom Greenwood
- World Wide Waste by Gerry McGovern
Stay Up to Date With Best Practices
Much like WCAG accessibility guidelines, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) provides guidelines for a more sustainable web. These guidelines address the planet, people, and prosperity (PPP) impacts of digital products and services to help organizations design, develop, and operate digital experiences that are clean, efficient, and resilient. For nonprofits especially, aligning with these standards is a natural extension of the values-driven work you’re already doing. See the Web Sustainability Guidelines (WSG) from the W3C to explore how your organization can put them into practice.
Deploy Sustainable Development Techniques
The foundation of a sustainable website is sustainable code. This is where green coding comes in: a practice that minimizes the energy used to process lines of code. This article from IBM shares how green coding is a powerful catalyst for sustainability initiatives, especially for organizations with substantial online presences. But sustainable development doesn’t stop at the code itself. Where your website lives matters just as much as how it’s built, and choosing a hosting provider is one of the most impactful decisions you can make. The Green Web Directory makes it easy to find a partner that aligns with your organization’s values.
Prioritize Energy-Efficient Design Features
When it comes to design, it may be tempting to go for the flashy features that visually stand out, but decorative choices can quietly bloat your site and drag down performance. The truth is, every design decision carries an energy cost. For example, as this article from Smashing Magazine states, “A landmark study by Purdue University in 2021 … revealed that at 100% brightness, switching from light mode to dark mode can save an average of 39% to 47% of battery power. On a global scale, if every major app defaulted to dark mode, the reduction in grid demand would be astronomical.” Typography is another design choice that can impact the efficiency of our sites. Certain typefaces require more data to render than others, and optimizing your font choices is a simple but effective way to lighten your site’s load.
Opt for Optimized Content Formats
Do you need a lengthy video on your homepage, or could your message be just as impactful in writing? This article by Alisa Bonsignore makes a strong case for being intentional in every content choice, showing how written content, static images, and thoughtfully designed graphics can communicate your impact just as powerfully as video (and with less energy). Of course, there’s a time and place for video content. But it’s worth considering the impact of your message and how it’s delivered. Your audience, your site speed, and the planet will thank you.
Clean Up Your Content Strategy
A regular content audit is one of the most practical steps you can take toward a leaner, greener website. This guide from Mightybytes walks through how to approach a content audit with sustainability in mind. Bonus: Not only does a regular website cleanup help the environment, but it also helps your SEO.
To Wrap Up
When it comes to sustainable web design and development, the good news is that you don’t have to overhaul everything overnight. Small, intentional changes to your code, web hosting, design choices, and content strategy add up to meaningful impact over time. Wherever you are on your sustainability journey as an organization, we hope these resources give you a useful starting point!
More Constructively Curated
- Beyond Web: Resources for Building a Cohesive Brand Experience Across Channels
- Designing for Stress: Resources to Support User Clarity in High-Stakes Moments
- 8 Best Practices for Crafting Effective Nonprofit Annual Reports
- Nonprofit Data Visualization: Resources for Effective & Ethical Data-Driven Storytelling
- 8 Ways to Build Lasting Trust in Your Nonprofit Brand
- Ethical User Research & Testing: 6 Practical Resources for Nonprofits
- Building Resilience: 7 Strategies for Nonprofits Navigating Uncertainty
- Ethical AI: 9 Resources & Best Practices for Nonprofits
