Handling a Transition to a New Website Manager

Unfortunately, turnover is all too common in the nonprofit space. When your website manager shifts to a new role or leaves the organization, there are a few updates to make around your site to make that transition smooth and set up your new website manager for success.

Jump Ahead To

• Administrative information to update
• Website content updates
• Helpful resources for new website managers

Administrative Information to Update

You’ll want to make sure the following details are up-to-date for your new website administrator.

Add the new website manager as a user

Within the Users section of the back end of your website, you can create a user account for your new website manager. Set them up with the “Administrator” user role to ensure they have the access they need.

You might also consider removing your previous website manager‘s user from the website. If they’ve left the organization, we’d recommend removing access to your website.

Check the billing information

Within the Account and Billing section of the back end of your website, review the “Update Billing Information” section to ensure that it’s not tied to the individual leaving your organization. Make sure the name, email address and payment information on file for your website is still up-to-date.

Check the Administration Email Address

The Administration Email Address for your website receives any administrative emails from your website forms and other features. To view and update that email address, click “General” under Settings in the admin menu on the left side of your Dashboard.

If you do need to update the email address, be sure to click the blue “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page after you do so. We’ll send you an email at the new email address to confirm the change. The new address will not become active on your site until it’s confirmed.

Update form notifications

Each form on your website can also be set up to send email notifications to your team with the details of new form submissions. To update the notification email or emails that these send to, you’ll need to review and update each form on your website individually.

Under Forms, select the form that you’d like to review and click “Notifications” under the form’s Settings. Select “Admin Notification”.

You can then update the notification email within the “Send to Email” settings. If you see the code {admin_email}, these notifications are set to send to the Administration Email Address that we covered above. You can also add any additional emails to the list separated with commas. Be sure to save your changes!

Repeat this process for all of the forms on your site. If a form does not have an Admin Notification option under Notifications, that means you do not have any administrative notification emails set up for that particular form. See how to add notifications to a form.

Check other technical account access

While you’re updating administrative details and access on the website, don’t forget about the outside technical accounts that affect how your site runs. Your new website manager will need access to all those accounts related to the website, including hosting and integrations.

Mailchimp Integration

If your site uses Mailchimp, you’ll want to make sure it is still connected correctly. If the person who originally set up the connection no longer has a user with access to your Mailchimp account, you’ll need to reconnect the site to Mailchimp.

To check your connection to Mailchimp, go to Forms in the left-hand admin menu. If your site isn’t connected to Mailchimp, you’ll see a notice at the top of the Forms page that includes a “Connect to Mailchimp” button.

Update Website Content

Shifts in staff roles are often accompanied by updates to website content. Where is your previous website manager listed on your site? Search for their name and update the content to reflect current staff positions. That likely means your Team, Staff or Staff & Board page as well as any other pages where they may be listed as a contact person.

Helpful Resources for New Website Managers

For website managers who are new to the organization or who don’t have much background on the website, there are a few useful resources to help get more comfortable with the setup in WordPress:

• Our Getting Started article is a great overview of the website functionality with links to related support articles.
• Our Website Handbook is written for folks who are building out their site for the first time, but it’s a helpful reference and includes a few video tutorials.
• Our support hub has a bunch of other articles to help you maintain and update your site.
• Use the Request Help form in your Dashboard to ask for help or marketing advice whenever you have questions or run into issues. Amplify clients can also submit 30-minute tasks for our team to tackle.