Websites for charities
that do good work.
I build websites for charities of all sizes, from community growing projects to hospital charities and national helplines. Sites that show funders and donors what you're all about, make giving as easy as possible, and that your team can keep up to date without ringing a developer every time.
Charities who need their website to work harder than it currently does. Sometimes that's a DIY site that's become hard to update and doesn't look like the organisation anymore. Sometimes it's a rebuild that went wrong and needs someone to pick up the pieces. And sometimes it's a launch date that isn't moving, with nobody lined up to build the thing.
I also work with agencies who've won a charity project and need a developer who's done it before. If that's you, there's a page for that.
A charity website has a few more jobs to do than most. It needs to be the shop window funders look through before they decide to back you, the place supporters go to give, and a resource for the people you help. The things I tend to sort out:
- Donation forms that make giving quick, with custom amounts and the payment methods people actually use
- Connecting donations to your CRM, like Donorfy, so supporter details land where your fundraising team needs them
- Content blocks your team can build pages with, without breaking the design
- Events, challenges, appeals and publications that are easy to add and easy to find
- Migrating years of existing content, without losing it or your search rankings along the way
- Accessibility built in from the start, and Welsh and English versions if you need them
I build charity sites on WordPress. It's well supported, your team has probably used it before, and you'll never struggle to find someone to work on it after me, which matters when budgets and suppliers change from year to year.
I keep plugins to the ones that earn their place, so there's less to go wrong, less to pay for each year and less to keep updated. If a donation platform or tool you already use will do the job, I'd rather plug into that than build something new.
Of course every build is different, and I can adjust to your requirements - but this is the rough approach I'll take for every project.
01. Discovery
We sit down, in person or over a call, and go through who the site is for: funders, donors, volunteers, the people you support. Then what each of them needs to do when they get there, and where the current site is letting you down.
02. Design
The structure comes first, then a design on top of it that looks like you rather than a template. If you've got brand guidelines I'll work to them, and if you've got a few brand quirks worth showing off, even better.
03. Development
Where I get into my flow. Everything gets built as content blocks your team can use, across every device size and browser, with donations, forms and integrations wired up and tested as I go. Accessibility, speed and SEO get handled along the way rather than bolted on at the end.
04. Testing
Your dedicated window to sit with the site, try a test donation or two, and make sure you're happy with how it looks, reads and works.
05. Launch
More a moment than a phase, and one I've done hundreds of times, so downtime stays at the absolute minimum. If you're launching for an appeal or awareness month, we plan backwards from that date.
06. Support
However much or little you want. Some charities take it from here themselves, some want me on hand for updates, maintenance and the odd Christmas shop. Whatever suits.
Here's one I built earlier:
RBH Charity: Getting a Hospital Charity Website Back on Track
Picking up a troubled rebuild for the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity, fixing the bugs, simplifying how the team edits it, and sticking around for ongoing improvements, from custom forms to a Christmas shop.
Read the full story →
More work like this: Meic.Cymru, Grow Cardiff, Sepsis Research FEAT
"I've been working with Alex for the best part of a year now and he is an absolute pleasure to work with. I find him to be incredibly helpful, knowledgeable and speedy. He has helped solve numerous challenges, always finding easy and reasonable solutions."
Jacq Nortman, Head of Marketing & Comms, RBH Charity
Some things people often ask me:
We're a small charity. Is this going to be out of our budget?
Can you help us choose a donation platform?
Will our team be able to update the site?
Can you take on a site another agency built?
We've got a fixed launch date. Can you work to it?
Got a charity website project coming up?
Tell me what you're working on, and I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right fit.
