If you run a non-profit, a social enterprise or any purpose-driven business you might be thinking “Oh we’re too small for hackers to care.” That’s all well and good and dare I say even cute until someone steals donor records or hijacks your site to spread spam. Cybercriminals don’t care about your mission statement what they care about is easy wins.

Strong website security shouldn’t be an afterthought, dismissed or considered a luxury. It’s a way to protect your community, your funding and the trust you’ve worked hard to build. Below are ten of the most overlooked website security mistakes I see every day when auditing mission-driven organizations and growing business websites. Read through them, fix them and you can sleep a little better tonight.

1. Outdated or vulnerable third party code

WordPress plugins, themes and JavaScript libraries are like sweet candy for hackers. If you don’t keep them updated or are installing random freebies then you’re basically posting a “Welcome” sign to encourage hackers. Audit your plugins monthly and delete anything you don’t use.

2. Believing you’re too small to hack

I would argue that there’s no target that’s too small to hack and this myth should be retired. Automated bots can scan for weak websites around the clock and they don’t care if you’re the Red Cross or a local dog-rescue group. What they care about is that you forgot to update your CMS last month and that gives them a weak vulnerability to work with.

3. No written security plan

Who updates the site? Who responds if you’re hacked at 2 a.m.? If those answers live only in someone’s head then you don’t have a plan. Write out a plan (even if it’s a simple one), assign roles and make sure the whole team knows it exists.

4. Accounts with too much privilege

Do volunteers have and really need admin rights? Does that intern from 2019 still have a login? Every extra permission is an open window to your website backend. Please review user roles quarterly and enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for anyone with editing powers. Admin privileges should be very limited to those who regularly need the advantages to do specific work on your site otherwise assign them a lower permission level or remove them.

5. Weak or reused passwords

This is a big one. It’s 2025 and “charity123” isn’t acceptable. Remember to enforce strong, unique passwords and enable MFA everywhere. Password managers can help to make it easier for staff and volunteers so consider trying one out with your team.

6. Skipping regular activity monitoring

It’s important to regularly monitor the activity on your website. If there’s nobody watching for unusual activity and logins or file changes you’ll likely miss and may never spot the red flags. Install a security plugin or service that monitors suspicious activity and sends real alerts. Logs aren’t optional anymore they’re your black box after an incident. When there’s a breach or odd behaviour logs can show you who logged in, when they logged in, from what IP and what files were changed. Without logs it’s difficult to know and you can’t see how an attacker got in or what they touched.

7. Incomplete HTTPS or weak TLS

Some pages still load over plain HTTP or allow weak protocols and I’m judging. Browsers will flag you as not being secure, donors will hesitate, and attackers can listen in. Force HTTPS everywhere and configure strong TLS settings PLEASE!

8.No security training for staff or volunteers

People click phishing links, reuse passwords, and install unsafe plugins because it has a cool feature they want quickly. A one-hour training session can save you from days of cleanup and go a long way. Teach basic security hygiene and repeat it every year.

9. Third-party integrations you never audit

Donation widgets, analytics scripts, chatbots and other external scripts are all potential entry points. I suggest you review all integrations quarterly or twice a year, remove what you don’t use and confirm that the rest are still maintained by their developers.

10. Treating security as a “set it and forget it” thing

Security isn’t a one-time project. Plugins and software change, threats evolve and staff change overs will happens so it’s important to contantly be thinking and working on security. Budget for ongoing updates, audits and monitoring just like you budget for other important services.

These mistakes aren’t only about hackers stealing data. They can also damage search visibility too in the following ways:

• Google lowers rankings for sites flagged as unsafe
• A hacked site often loads slowly or gets blacklisted which can tank SEO in days
• Donor trust drops when browsers warn that your site isn’t secure. Nobody wants to interact with or input sensitive and financial information into websites that feel unsafe.

A single breach can undo years of relationship building and fundraising efforts. The cost of prevention is tiny compared to the cost of rebuilding trust.

Website security fixes you can implement right away

• Run a free SSL/TLS test to check your encryption
• Review user roles and remove old accounts
• Turn on MFA in the backend of your site for all users esp admin and editor accounts
• Test your backups and restore a copy to make sure it works
• Create an incident response plan this week (even if it’s brief for now). The important thing is to have a plan in case something happens.

Your website is often the first handshake with donors, volunteers and the press. Treat it like the front door of your office by locking it, checking it and keeping the keys safe.

Need help turning this list into an actual action plan? We can help you with website security audits, ongoing monitoring and other website security issues. Contact us to get a security health check.