Prepare Your PTO Website for Google for Nonprofits

Your website does not need to be impressive.

It does need to make your organization easy to understand.

Your website matters at two different points in this process.

During Goodstack verification, the site can help establish that your PTO or PTG is a real organization and that you are connected to it.

Later, during Google Workspace activation, Google reviews whether the Workspace domain you submit clearly belongs to and represents the nonprofit that was approved.

Prepare the site once so it is ready for both reviews.

Prepare your website for both reviews

Help Goodstack verify your connection to the organization

Make it easy for a reviewer to understand who runs the organization.

Your website should ideally show:

• The organization’s official or legal name
• 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 help confirm that you are connected to the organization.

Help Google verify the Workspace domain

Later, Google performs a separate review when you request Google Workspace for Nonprofits activation.

Make sure the site clearly shows:

• The organization’s official or legal name
• Its mission or a clear description of what it does
• Its EIN or other nonprofit registration or tax ID
• Its physical street address
• A working organization contact method
• Real, organization-specific content
• A clear relationship between the organization and the domain

The site should load correctly and should not contain “Coming Soon” pages, unfinished template text, or generic placeholder content.

Google specifically identifies missing organizational information, an unclear relationship between the nonprofit and the submitted domain, nonfunctional pages, and placeholder or templated content as reasons a Workspace activation can fail.

Remove former officers, broken links, placeholder content, and contradictory organization information before starting the process.

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.