Most nonprofits exist, in some form, to dismantle barriers, to expand access, to reach people who have been left out of systems that were not built with them in mind. That’s the mission. And then there’s the website, with its gray text on a white background, its 10-point font, and its videos with no captions. The mission and the materials are having two different conversations.
Unfortunately, this is the rule, not the exception. An estimated 98% of websites fail to meet basic web accessibility standards, and nonprofits are not exempt. When your digital front door is hard to open, the people most likely to be locked out are often the same people your mission exists to reach.
What inaccessibility actually looks like
Low-contrast text — think light gray on white — is the most common offender. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards require that text contrast highly with its background. This is low contrast. This is high contrast. See the difference? About 81% of home pages fail to meet this contrast requirement. Font size matters too. Anything below 12 points creates real barriers for people with low vision, and that includes the fine print in your email newsletters.
It’s not only digital. Think about your last in-person event. Chances are someone — a panelist, a board member, a guest speaker — said some version of “I don’t need the mic, I’m loud enough.” They didn’t mean harm, but for anyone in the room with hearing loss, that moment was about exclusion. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, roughly 15% of American adults, or about 37.5 million people, report some trouble hearing. If your events routinely skip amplification in larger settings, a meaningful slice of your audience is left straining or left out.
What universal design means
The term was coined by architect Ronald Mace to describe designing products and environments that are usable by everyone, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialization. Not just people with identified disabilities. Not as an afterthought, once someone complains. Universal design means built in, from the start, as a baseline expectation.
The classic example is the curb cut. It’s designed for wheelchair users, but is indispensable for strollers, delivery carts, and anyone rolling a heavy suitcase. That’s the point. Design that centers people who face the most barriers tends to work better for everyone. Applied to your organization, universal design means asking accessibility questions before you create something, not after. While there are tips (see below), universal design is not a checklist. It’s a philosophy, and it’s a justice framework.
It’s an equity issue
Accessibility isn’t a separate room in the inclusion house. It’s part of the foundation. The communities most likely to be locked out by inaccessible design are often the same communities that face compounded barriers everywhere else: people with disabilities, older adults, people with lower literacy or limited English proficiency, people navigating systems while also managing poverty, illness, or housing instability.
When a nonprofit’s website is inaccessible, it doesn’t exclude people equally. It tends to exclude the people who already have the fewest alternatives. If your organization has a stated commitment to equity, that commitment has to show up in the font size of your newsletter and the captions on your event recordings, not just in your mission statement.
There’s a pragmatic dimension here, too. If your organization receives federal funds, accessibility compliance is already a legal requirement under Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. But even without federal funding, Title III of the ADA prohibits disability-based discrimination by nonprofits that serve the public, and courts are increasingly ruling that websites count. Beyond the legal risk, an inaccessible site sends a message to the donors, volunteers, and community members you’re trying to reach. And most fundamentally: if people can’t access information about your programs, your mission has already fallen short.
Where to start: practical fixes for small nonprofits
You don’t need a web developer or a big budget to make meaningful progress. Most of the highest-impact changes are habit and policy, not technology.
On the digital side:
- Run your homepage through WAVE (wave.webaim.org). It’s free, takes five minutes, and flags your most common issues immediately.
- Set a minimum 12-point font and contrast standard in your brand or style guide. That takes away any questions.
- Learn about alt text and add it to every image as a standard step when uploading content.
- Write descriptive link text always. “Read our 2025 impact report” tells the reader something. “Click here” tells them nothing.
- Caption your videos. YouTube auto-captions are free, imperfect, and editable, and they’re a reasonable starting point.
On the events and communications side:
- Make microphone use at larger meetings and events mandatory policy, not a polite suggestion. Frame it as a house rule at the start of every event.
- Add an accessibility line to event confirmations: “Need accommodations? Contact us by [date].” This lets people self-identify without having to make an awkward ask in the moment.
- Pay attention to the font size and contrast notes above for any printed materials and emails. Avoid light-colored text on any background.
On the structural side:
- Designate someone as your accessibility point person. It doesn’t require technical expertise, just ownership. Without a named person, it stays everyone’s job and no one’s job.
- Add accessibility as a standing item in your content review process, the same way you proofread.
- When you hire a web developer or redesign your site, make WCAG 2.1 AA compliance a written requirement in the contract.
- Make accessibility and universal design part of your onboarding training.
The alignment question
Accessibility is not a technical compliance issue that lives in the IT department. It’s about values that are transmitted every time you put out a communications piece. Every gray-on-white email, every uncaptioned video, every “I don’t need the mic” moment is a small contradiction of the inclusion your organization says it stands for.