Prepare Your PTO Website for Google for Nonprofits

Your website does not need to be impressive.

It must be functional, use the domain you submit, and make the connection between your nonprofit, your domain, and your application easy to understand.

What your website should show before you apply

The website is part of the evidence a reviewer can use to understand your organization. These details may not all be formal Google requirements, but including them makes verification easier:

• The organization’s official or legal name
• Its mission or a clear description of what it does
• Its EIN and nonprofit status, where appropriate
• A physical or mailing address
• A working organization contact method
• Its current executive board or officers
• The applicant’s full name and current role
• Ideally, the same organization email used for the Google for Nonprofits application

For example:

Jordan Lee, President
president@jeffersonpto.org

Goodstack may use the site to confirm that you are connected to the organization.

Remove former officers, broken links, placeholder content, and contradictory contact information before applying.

Make sure your group controls the domain

A domain is the address people type to visit your site, such as jeffersonpto.org.

A website is what they see at that address.

Google Workspace uses the domain to create organization-owned email addresses. If your domain is jeffersonpto.org, you can create addresses such as president@jeffersonpto.org.

During Google Workspace setup, Google will ask you to add a DNS record to prove that your parent group controls the domain.

Make sure a current leader can sign in to the company that manages the domain and change its DNS settings. This is often GoDaddy, Squarespace, or another domain provider.

You do not need to change anything yet. You only need to know where the domain is managed and confirm that you can access the account.

If you already have a website

You do not need to rebuild it or switch providers.

Just make sure it loads correctly and includes the information listed above.

If you do not have a website

Build the simplest site your board can maintain.

You can use Google Sites, Wix, WordPress, Big Nest, or another website provider. The platform does not determine whether you qualify.

A single complete page may be enough. A blank page or “coming soon” message is not.

A Facebook page is not a replacement for your website. It lives on Facebook’s domain, not the domain your parent group will use for Google Workspace.

Google Sites is a free option, although you will still need to buy a domain and connect it to the site.

Big Nest websites can give your parent group a public home. Before applying, confirm that your site displays the organization details listed above.

Next step: Complete Goodstack Verification for Your Parent Group.