Top 9 powerful WordPress plugins for nonprofits

Every nonprofit deserves a website that looks credible, tells its story clearly, and makes it easy for supporters to take action.

WordPress is a great fit for nonprofits of any size—from solo founders working with tight budgets to established organizations with complex needs. The key is choosing plugins that help you raise funds, grow your email list, manage events, and keep your site secure and fast.

The plugins in this post cover the core needs of most nonprofit organizations. Start by identifying your biggest priorities, whether that’s fundraising, event management, or simply getting found online, and choose the plugins that address those needs first. You can always add more as your organization grows.

1. The Events Calendar + Events Tickets

Price: Basic versions are free. Plus and Pro versions start at $149/year each.

Best for: You need a way to display your events clearly and sell tickets or track RSVPs.

The Events Calendar and Event Tickets plugins work together to help nonprofits organize and promote events. The Events Calendar allows you to display events in a clean, user-friendly calendar format. It presents event details clearly, including dates, times, locations, and descriptions, making it easy for supporters to find and engage with upcoming activities.

Event Tickets complements The Events Calendar by enabling you to manage RSVPs and sell tickets directly from your website. Moreover, if you pair it with The Events Calendar Pro, you’ll have a direct integration with Zoom, enabling you to host and promote online workshops and webinars.

You should use The Events Calendar + Event Tickets if…

You need a way to simplify event promotion and registration, while ensuring integration with other popular tools.

2. Gravity Forms

Price: Starting at $59/year.

Best for: You need to have a way for your supporters to contact you or share their personal information with your organization.

Almost every website needs forms of one kind or another, and nonprofit websites are no different. This may include member registration forms, donation forms, or testimonial submission forms.

The good news is that you can solve all your form needs with a single plugin! Gravity Forms is the most powerful form builder for WordPress, allowing you to create simple or sophisticated forms using a drag-and-drop interface.

With Gravity Forms, you can build:

• Simple contact forms
• Member registration forms
• Donation forms
• Product checkout forms
• Event registration forms
• Newsletter sign-up forms
• … And more!

You should use Gravity Forms if…

You need to collect any kind of data on your site, from user registration info to grant applications.

3. GravityView

Price: Starting at $119/year.

Best for: You want to build a member directory, volunteer database or display donations on your site.

GravityView is an add-on for Gravity Forms that allows you to display form data on the front end of your website. For nonprofits operating with limited resources or technical capabilities, this provides an easy way to create volunteer portals, fundraising dashboards, directories, and other functionality that nonprofit websites often require.

GravityView’s preset layout templates and drag and drop builder make it easy for nontechnical users to set up powerful web applications. While code is not needed, GravityView is also fully extensible, making it a popular plugin for developers and more advanced WordPress users as well.

You should use GravityView if…

You already use Gravity Forms and you’re looking to do more with the data that you collect. For example, create dashboards, portals, directories, people profiles, or reports.

4. GravityCalendar

Price: Starting at $99/year.

Best for: Your organization needs to showcase and promote in-person or online events.

GravityCalendar is an add-on for Gravity Forms that allows you to display form entries on a calendar. Event management is important for most nonprofits and GravityCalendar makes it easy to showcase upcoming events and edit event information from the front end. 

With GravityCalendar, you can create beautiful calendars and embed them anywhere on your site. GravityCalendar supports multiple layout options, allowing you to display events in a grid, list or agenda view. 

You should use GravityCalendar if…

Your organization runs in-person or online events and you want to showcase those on a public calendar that visitors can view and subscribe to.

5. GiveWP

Price: The basic version is free.

Best for: You need a reliable way to accept donations on your website, and keep track of individual donors and their contributions.

GiveWP allows you to take donations through your website and raise money for your nonprofit. In fact, GiveWP is one of the best donation plugins for WordPress!

Several charities and nonprofits use GiveWP to automate their fundraising activities, increase donations and manage donor information. With GiveWP, you can create donation pages for your site and accept donations through a variety of payment methods available in multiple countries.

GiveWP includes the following powerful features:

• Support for recurring donations
• Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns
• Fundraising reporting and analytics
• Integrations with popular third-party tools and payment gateways

You should use GiveWP if…

You need a reliable way to accept donations on your website, and want support for several different payment gateways.

6. WooCommerce

Price: The basic version is free.

Best for: You’re looking for an affordable and reliable way to sell products, event tickets, and other goods through your website.

WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress, allowing you to build online stores and sell products through your website. Just like WordPress, WooCommerce is free!

With WooCommerce, your nonprofit can sell merchandise, run events, accept donations, set up email automations, and more—all from inside the WordPress Admin.

Many well-known nonprofits, such as the World Wildlife Fund, use WooCommerce to sell merchandise and drive their fundraising schemes.

You should use WooCommerce if…

You’re looking for an affordable and reliable way to sell products, event tickets and other goods through your website.

7. WP Simple Pay

Price: Starting at $49.50/year.

Best for: You’re looking to set up a simple donation collection system for your nonprofit using Stripe.

WP Simple Pay is a lightweight WordPress plugin that allows you to receive Stripe payments through your site without needing to write any code. You can also receive non-card payments, giving users alternative ways to donate.

Nonprofits can use WP Simple Pay to receive donations and raise money without the need for a complicated shopping cart system. The plugin includes a payment form builder as well as support for recurring payments and user-entered amounts.

You should use WP Simple Pay if…

You’re looking to set up a simple, lightweight donation system on your website.

8. WP-Optimize

Price: Basic version is free. Premium version starts at $49/year.

Best for: You’re looking to improve the load time of your nonprofit’s website and decrease database bloat. WP-Optimize may also help you increase donations by reducing user bounce.

WP-Optimize is a powerful performance plugin for WordPress that cleans your database, compresses your images, and caches your web pages.

For nonprofits looking to keep users on their site, WP-Optimize provides a powerful suite of tools for improving website performance. Not only is website speed a Google ranking factor, it’s also an important aspect of the user experience.

You should use WP-Optimize if…

You’re looking to improve the load time of your nonprofit’s website and decrease database bloat. WP-Optimize may also help you increase donations by reducing user bounce.

9. Yoast SEO

Price: The basic version is free. The premium version starts at $118.80/year.

Best for: You want to create content that’s easy to read, easy to share, and more likely to show up in search results—so more people discover your mission.

With built-in keyword guidance and readability checks, Yoast SEO makes it easier to create content that both search engines and humans understand. That means your stories, impact updates, event pages, and donation appeals can reach more potential donors, volunteers, and partners—without relying on paid ads.

One of Yoast SEO’s standout benefits is how it supports your writing process. As you draft, the plugin gives real-time feedback on clarity, structure, and SEO basics, so you can improve content before hitting publish. It also includes helpful technical features like XML sitemap generation, schema markup, and social media previews. This makes it easier for your content to be discovered and look great when shared.

You should use Yoast SEO if…

Your organization regularly publishes content, and you’re looking for that content to reach more people.

Get started with these powerful plugins for nonprofits

 Building a nonprofit website doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. With WordPress and the right combination of plugins, you can accept donations, manage volunteers, promote events, and grow your online presence, all without breaking your budget.

Ready to get started? If your nonprofit uses Gravity Forms, GravityKit can help you build member directories, volunteer databases, event calendars, and more—no coding required.