Your mission deserves
a website that
works as hard
as you do.
Most charity websites underperform as fundraising and trust-building tools. Donors, funders, and volunteers form their first impression before they ever make contact — and most NFP sites aren't making a strong one.
CRA registered charity number — displayed as standard. The Canada Revenue Agency requires registered charities to display their BN/registration number publicly. Every site I build includes a clearly visible CRA badge — compliance and credibility in one.
Who visits your website
Four audiences.
One website that serves them all.
A charity website isn't a single-purpose marketing tool. Donors, funders, volunteers, and media all visit — each looking for something different, each forming a trust judgement that affects your organisation's ability to operate and grow.
Donors
Individual and major donors research before they give. They’re looking for confidence that their money will be used well and that the organisation is legitimate.
Funders & Grantors
Foundations and government funders visit websites as part of due diligence before awarding grants. A weak site can cost you a grant you’d otherwise have won.
Volunteers
People considering volunteering want to understand the mission, see that it’s credible, and find a clear path to getting involved — without having to dig for it.
Media & Sector
Journalists and sector organisations look for credibility signals, leadership contacts, and organisational history. A newsroom section and clear contact structure make this effortless.
What most NFP websites get wrong
Your website should be
your hardest-working fundraiser.
Most charity websites were built by volunteers, assembled from templates, or haven’t been meaningfully updated in years. The result is a site that looks credible enough — but isn’t working as hard as it should.
A donate button that's hard to find
Donation intent is fragile. If a visitor has to search for the donate button, scroll past walls of content to find it, or hit a clunky payment form — you've lost them. Donation UX is its own discipline and most NFP sites ignore it.
No CRA registration visible
Donors and funders check. A missing CRA number raises questions — is this organisation legitimate? Is it actually registered? Displaying it prominently removes doubt before it forms.
Annual reports buried or missing
Funders conducting due diligence expect to find your annual report without calling you. If it's not on the site — or hidden three levels deep — it signals a lack of transparency, even when there's nothing to hide.
No impact data on the homepage
Donors want to know their money changes something real. "We help people" doesn't convert. "2,400 students supported last year, 84¢ of every dollar to programming" does. Impact numbers are a conversion asset most sites leave off the page entirely.
Invisible in search
People search for causes they care about. "Youth mental health charity Toronto", "food bank volunteer Ontario", "donate to animal rescue Canada." Most charity sites don't rank for any of these — not because they don't deserve to, but because no one has ever structured the site for search.
A site that looks like a volunteer built it
Which someone probably did — and it shows. That's not a criticism of the volunteer. It's a recognition that a professionally built site signals to major donors and institutional funders that your organisation takes itself seriously.
Fundraising by design
Your website is a
fundraising tool.
Build it like one.
Every structural decision — where the donate button lives, how impact is communicated, how recurring giving is presented, how trust signals are layered — affects whether a visitor converts to a donor. This isn't accidental. It's design.
Persistent, prominent donation access
The donate button is in the navigation, in the hero, and again at the bottom of every page. Donation intent should never be more than one click away.
Recurring giving surfaced, not buried
Monthly donors have dramatically higher lifetime value. The donation form makes recurring giving the visible default — with one-time options still available and unforced.
Impact before ask
Every page that leads to a donation first shows what previous donations accomplished. Donors give to outcomes, not organisations. Show the outcome first.
Trust signals throughout
CRA registration, financial transparency, board governance, program outcomes, and third-party ratings — layered throughout the site, not confined to an "About" page no one reads.
What's included
Built for mission,
built for trust.
Every element serves either fundraising, credibility, or compliance — often all three. Nothing is included for vanity and nothing that matters is left out.
The website build
- Custom WordPress theme — hand-coded to reflect your brand and mission
- CRA registered charity number and BN — clearly and compliantly displayed
- Donation integration — CanadaHelps, PayPal Giving Fund, or custom payment setup
- Recurring giving flow — monthly donation prominently featured, not buried
- Impact metrics homepage section — program outcomes and financial transparency
- Annual report and financial statements page — easy to find, easy to access
- Program and service pages — structured for both visitors and search engines
- Volunteer recruitment page with low-friction application or sign-up
- Team and governance page — leadership bios, board members where appropriate
- News and stories section — impact stories, updates, press releases
- Newsroom and media contact — for press inquiries and sector organisations
- Event and campaign landing page templates — reusable for annual appeals
- Local and sector SEO — structured for the searches your audience makes
- AODA compliant — WCAG 2.0 Level AA, critical for this sector and audience
- Mobile-first — built for donors and volunteers on their phones
Ongoing care (monthly)
- Managed WordPress hosting on enterprise infrastructure
- Daily off-site backups with one-click restore
- Security monitoring, firewall, and malware scanning
- Plugin and core updates — researched and tested before applied
- Performance monitoring and Core Web Vitals upkeep
- Uptime monitoring — immediate response if anything goes down
- Content update support — new team members, events, news, annual reports
- Emergency response — fast turnaround when it matters
Content retainer available for organisations that want help publishing impact stories, program updates, and campaign pages — so your communications team can focus on the mission, not the CMS.
Funder credibility
Funders visit your website
before they award a grant.
Grant committees and foundation program officers conduct due diligence. A weak website doesn’t just cost you donors — it can cost you institutional funding. Here’s what funders look for when they land on your site.
Federal wage subsidies for NFPs hiring summer staff. Website presence and program description are part of eligibility.
One of Canada's largest grant-makers for nonprofits. Due diligence includes website review for organisational credibility and transparency.
Local community foundations distribute grants to registered charities. Application processes frequently reference the organisation's web presence.
Various municipal and provincial programs fund technology upgrades for NFPs — including website rebuilds. Check your municipality and sector association.
Grant availability changes frequently. I can help you identify relevant programs for your organisation type, sector, and geography.
How it works
A process built around
your capacity, not just your brief.
Tell me about your organisation
Share your mission, your audiences, and what your current website isn't doing. I'll ask about your donation platform, your content workflow, and whether you have a funding application in progress.
I review and propose
I look at what you have and come back with a clear scope, timeline, and fixed price. I'll flag any grant programs that might offset the cost before you commit.
We build it together
I work with your team's bandwidth — not against it. Staging access throughout, regular check-ins, and a process that doesn't require your ED to become a web project manager.
Launch — and stay supported
Hosting, maintenance, and content support are ongoing. Campaign seasons, annual report updates, new program pages — handled, so your team can focus on the mission.
Across the sector
The same needs exist
across every type of NFP.
CRA compliance, donor trust, grant credibility, and accessible digital presence are universal challenges across the charitable sector — regardless of cause area or organisation size.
"Warren covered everything from website management, custom web design, lead generation strategies, and SEO — and recently implementing strategies for AI visibility too."
Ready to build a website your mission deserves?
A quick conversation is all it takes. I'll review your current site and come back with a clear picture of what's possible — and whether there's a grant that could help fund it.
Start a conversationManaging multiple member organisations?
Sector associations, umbrella charities, and foundations managing multiple entities benefit from a shared design system — consistent quality across every member site, with individual customisation for each. Let's talk about how that works.
Talk about multi-org pricing