Charity website cost  - what to consider when choosing a website provider

How can you budget for your charity website?

Before you even think about contacting potential website providers, it’s essential that you have costed an accurate budget. Without this, you will have no point of reference when considering whether the charity website cost of various providers is reasonable. Strategising your budget should therefore be the first step that you take as it will serve as a strong foundation in finding a suitable charity website.

Tips for setting a realistic website budget

It is essential that you set a realistic charity website budget. Failing to do so can potentially lead to long-term financial difficulties from implementing a platform that is too expensive.

However, this can be avoided by taking the correct steps that will allow you to make an informed decision. These are outlined by the following steps:

 #1 Define your goals

Clearly define your charity website’s goals. These can include ambitions such as:

• Safely and securely receiving donations
• Gaining full attendance for charity events
• Recruiting a number of volunteers
• Keep supporters informed of your charity and overall sector news
• Outlining your impact via positive case studies

#2 Determine your scope

Once you have a set of clear goals in mind, you can then begin to determine the scope of your website. You can gain a better understanding of this by considering factors such as:

• How many pages do you think you need?
• Do you require a login or members area?
• What kind of data will you be processing on your website?
• Do you have any functionality requirements that are vital such as creation of fundraising pages by supporters?
• Will you be selling anything on your website – online charity shop or event tickets?

Establishing these elements will provide a better idea of the size of your proposed website, which you can inform any prospective providers of from the outset.

#3 Prioritise features

Now that you have an idea of the goals and scope of your website, you can begin to proritise the features and functionality you require. These will help you to decide which features are essential and those that can be removed to ensure you stay within budget. Several common ‘essential’ features include:

• Donation payment processes
• Sign-up/contact forms
• Visitor usage dashboards
• Easy user experience
• Integrations with existing or future systems e.g. website-CRM integration

#4 Research costs

Conduct research into the costs associated with website development, hosting, and ongoing maintenance. Although this information can be found online, it will be far more accurate approaching the providers themselves. Clearly outline your requirements to several providers and enquire how much their service would cost. By receiving several quotes, you can then compare these to determine whether the prices are fair.

#5 Enquire about charity discounts

Depending on the provider, some may offer discounted rates for charity organisations. You may therefore be entitled to a discount! Don’t be afraid to ask about this, as it could be a key element to your budgeting plans.

#6 Plan a contingency

We can quite often have a figure in mind before making a purchase – only to learn that reality is slightly more expensive! Although this is generally the case in many walks of life, it is an experience that doesn’t exclude charity website budget planning.

For this reason, you should build in a contingency to account for unexpected costs. We would recommend setting aside 10-15% to be on the safe side.

#7 Revise and adjust accordingly

This process is never a ‘one and done’ approach. Remember, as your charity develops, grows, and evolves, additional costs may be needed to successfully adjust your requirements. You should therefore take regular (e.g. quarterly) evaluations of your organisation to determine how it is developing, the additions or changes that are required to your website, and how much these could cost. Although it is good to note, that depending on your provider, low level changes such as additional content or content updates should be something you can manage internally via the Content Management System (CMS), so is less likely to have cost associated to it.

Find out the best ways to boost online charity donations

Can certain factors influence charity website cost?

Building a website can be a technical project that requires a great deal of resource, especially time. This generally means that the longer a website takes to develop, the more expensive it will be to implement.

Given the many areas associated with website development, there are a number of factors that have an impact on the charity website cost. These components vary as they can be influenced by aspects such as the structure of your charity, the type of provider you choose, or the level of autonomy you desire.

Several of the most common factors are outlined below.

Level of customisation and upgrades

Depending on the provider you use and the type of content management system they develop, customisations may be required. This approach requires either amending your website’s current features or adding new components to ensure that it operates to your desired standards.

This is usually avoidable if you opt for a platform that has been specifically designed for charities as it is built with your niche requirements in mind. However, opting for a more sector-agnostic approach, such as WordPress, can require customisation, which often means the implementation of plug-ins and coding to tailor your themes and features. Unsurprisingly, the number of customisations you employ – along with their level of technicality – will have an impact on costs.

With customisation, additional costs occur where upgrades are required. These are built using third-party plug-ins that not only require a fee to implement, but also every time they need to be upgraded.

Hosting and ongoing maintenance

Hosting refers to the storage and maintenance of your website’s files and data on a server that is accessible to users.

The costs surrounding hosting a charity website can vary depending on a number of factors such as the type of hosting plan you choose, the amount of storage required, and the level of technical support needed. Other key factors can include:

• Shared hosting vs dedicated hosting: The former is typically less expensive due to multiple websites being hosted on the same sever. However, shared hosting may not provide the same level of performance and reliability as dedicated hosting, impacting the user experience and availability of a charity website.
• Bandwidth usage – If a charity website receives a lot of traffic or has large media files, such as images, PDFs or video, it may require more bandwidth, which in turn makes your hosting plan more expensive.
• Technical support – If a charity does not have technical staff to manage hosting internally, then additional costs may be required to receive technical support.

Number and technicality of integrations

As we’ve already established: time is money. This can especially be the case with integrations, as implementing a large number of these can take valuable time, especially if they are technical.

Regardless, integrations are a key part of a charity website as they help to align your processes, while providing further insight to make informed decisions that will benefit your organisation. Common charity website integrations can include platforms affiliated with:

• Charity CRM – Gain valuable insight into donor behavior and preferences
• Social media – Publish your social media feeds on your website
• Email marketing - Automate email campaigns when certain actions are performed e.g. filling in a sign-up form
• Gift Aid - The ability to process and submit Gift Aid claims directly to HMRC from your website donations within your website platform

View the benefits of integrating your charity website with your CRM for more information

Size of your website

The size of your website is an important factor to consider, as you must ensure that it is large enough to meet your requirements in terms of overall functionality. However, a large website will also have a major influence on costs including:

• Storage space – Requires more storage space for your content such as files and images. Due to hosting providers usually charging based on the amount of storage used, a larger website will require a more expensive hosting plan.
• Amount of traffic – Receives more traffic, which increases the amount of bandwidth used. You can therefore be charged additional fees for exceeding a bandwidth limit or paying for a higher bandwidth allowance to avoid this issue.
• Maintenance and updates – More complex to maintain and update, leading to additional time and resource from web developers which will be reflected in the costs.
• Design and development – Requires more technical design and development which can increase the upfront costs of building the website.
• Number of user permissions – Requires more users to have permissions to manage the website. Providers can charge per user, or so many users, which can quickly add up the costs.
• Content creation – Requires more content such as blog posts, event information, and volunteer job adverts. If this is outsourced to a third party, this time-consuming work will inevitably increase costs.

Level of security

Although security is a crucial part of keeping your supporters’ information safe, it requires an expense that you should factor into your budget. In particular, if your website uses a high number of external plugins, then this should be at the forefront of your mind.

Costs surrounding security can include:

• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate: A security protocol that establishes an encrypted link between a web server and web browser. This is essential for securing online transactions and protecting sensitive information and is commonly offered as an add-on service from providers.
• Website security software – Security such as firewalls and malware scanners can vary in cost depending on the provider and the level of protection required.
• Payment gateway integration – A payment gateway will be required to securely process transactions from donations, with advanced security features being more expensive.
• Regular security audits – A provider may offer to run audits to protect your website from the latest threats, the costs of which depending on the level of testing required.
• Staff training – Security breaches can occur due to human errors such as being victims of password and phishing attacks. Third-party training can help avoid these errors, however, the level of this training will dictate the costs.

Find out more about developing a successful charity website

What are your website provider options?

In terms of website provider options, the two most common are to work with either a website agency or a charity website provider.

These organisations take a different approach from the type of service and technology they provide, through to the features they offer and their respective pricing plans. For this reason, they present their own unique experience which you should be aware of prior to enquiring about their services.

We outline the difference between the two and how you can evaluate them.

What is a website agency?

An agency develops and manages websites for organisations across a number of sectors.

Despite not necessarily having specialist sector knowledge, they are able to take a flexible approach to website development. This is demonstrated by implementing a neutral, out-the-box system such as WordPress or Drupal which enables them to customise these platforms beyond their initial parameters and meet the niche requirements of their respective clients.  

Agencies have a wealth of digital marketing experience, which makes them a popular choice given that they can manage every aspect of your website if you require. However, while they are able to work with virtually any organisation due to their ability to customise niche features, this can be an expensive approach.

Pros

• Ability to customise a website to meet niche requirements
• Have a wealth of digital marketing expertise
• Can meet the requirements of larger organisations

Cons

• Do not specialise in the charity sector
• Customisations include expensive additional costs
• Can potentially pose security risks via customised plug-ins

What is a charity website provider?

A charity website provider implements a specialist solution that has been specifically built for organisations within the charity sector.

Unlike an agency, a charity website provider is operated by charity professionals – many of whom have worked in the sector. At Access, we offer Access Charity Websites which is an out-the-box solution, built on our own technology platform, that consists of features and functionality developed for organisations from the charity sector in mind. Unlike platforms such as WordPress, our software does not require customisation due to its niche design from the outset.

As a charity website provider, we encourage you to embrace the freedom of managing your charity however you see fit. Once we have successfully implemented the system and provided the required training, you will then be able to manage your day-to-day processes. While we are available to provide guidance where required, we won’t manage your website and charge an additional fee for the privilege.

Pros

• Platform built specifically for charity organisations
• Promote autonomy of your day-to-day management by having access to your own CMS
• A user-friendly ‘drag and drop’ system

Cons

• Limited customisation opportunities
• Not recommended if you only want a one-page or holding page site
• May be too feature rich for very small organisations such as micro-charities

Regardless of the provider, find out the best practices to increase your online fundraising

How can you evaluate website providers?

Choosing the right website provider is a definitive step. As many charities operate on a tight budget, it’s crucial that you implement a suitable platform from the outset. For this reason, there are certain criteria that providers should meet before you decide on investing in their services.

These can include the following:

• Cost – Charity website cost is unsurprisingly a priority element to consider. Where cost is concerned, you must understand the respective website provider’s pricing package from the outset. Ensure you are clear on the flat fee and what services require any additional costs such as customisation, surpassing user limit thresholds, and third party management of your website.
• Software user experience – Ensure that the system can be used by someone with minimal training. If it feels overwhelming and requires the management of a third party, then this is a clear sign that the software may not be suitable for you. We strongly advise that you watch demos of the various platforms to get a clearer understanding of the user experience for both you and your supporters.
• Knowledge and experience – When implementing a CRM for charities, it should ideally be managed by a website provider who has specialist knowledge of your sector. Otherwise, how can they understand your pain points and requirements? When approaching website providers, you should enquire about not only how their software meets your niche, but their experience working with charities.
• Autonomy – Managing your own website is an important facet to working with a suitable website provider. Generally, this will make your payment plan more affordable as you won’t require third party management after receiving post-implementation training. This reinforces the importance of implementing a user-friendly system that promotes autonomy.
• Reputation – Don’t just take the website provider’s word for it – do your own research into their reputation. Look at third party review websites and speak to current and past clients to gain a better insight. This feedback will be crucial in identifying their credibility and whether they are a suitable provider for you.

Find out whether an agency or charity website provider is the most suitable option for charities

Why not consider Access Charity Websites?

Charity website cost should be at the forefront of your mind when budgeting for a suitable piece of software. Now that you have a better understanding of the factors that influence the pricing plan of a charity website, you can approach website providers with the required knowledge to ask the right questions.

We strongly advise that you approach several website providers to find a platform that successfully meets your requirements. At Access, our Not For Profit department consists of charity professionals who have a wealth of experience in the sector and would be a great starting point.