Guided route · Charities
Plan a charity website that earns donor trust
A guided route for trustees and communications teams planning a new charity website or a focused redesign. Work through the decision points in order; each linked resource has more detail.
Work through these decisions
1. Define the visitor and the action
Separate donor, volunteer and beneficiary needs. Choose a primary action for each important page before discussing visual style.
Write a website project brief →2. Set scope and budget
Compare a starter website with bespoke work. Keep payment processing, CRM and Ad Grants costs separate.
Review charity website costs →3. Build trust around the donation journey
Check registration wording, appeal clarity and what happens after a gift. Review a live project and its stated limits.
See the World Aid Network project →4. Review the information donors need
Explore our dated desk review of six charity donation pages, then use the editable checklist to review giving choices, gift examples, Gift Aid guidance and help routes on your own site.
Read the donation page research →5. Make useful answers findable
Use clear pages for causes, programmes and common donor questions. Measure search visibility without promising AI citations.
Explore charity SEO and AEO →6. Confirm what the site must show
Plan registered-status wording, company or CIO details, Gift Aid declarations, privacy and cookie notices before the design is signed off.
Check charity website requirements →7. Check the launch journey
Start with public-page checks, then separately test mobile donations, receipts, accessibility and analytics. Name the person responsible for future content updates.
Start with public-page checks →
What you should have at the end
You should finish with a brief, a realistic budget and a list of trust and donation requirements to test before launch.
Want another starting point? Search all resources or tell us about your project.