Website planning tool

Charity website brief checker

Use this before commissioning a charity website, donation journey, volunteer page, referral form, campaign microsite, or internal tool. It helps turn a vague redesign request into a brief with user tasks, content ownership, wireframes, measurement, and maintenance controls.

Brief checks8Weighted around user value, source-backed content, forms, traffic, and ownership.

Best usePre-commissionRun before design, development, copywriting, or supplier selection.

Thin-page riskReducedForces real user tasks, evidence, and maintenance before publishing.

Data entryLocal onlySelections run in the browser and are not submitted.

1. Tick what is already true in the brief

One primary website goal is namedThe brief says whether the priority is donations, volunteer recruitment, service access, campaign signups, event registration, or information support.Audience groups and tasks are specificThe brief names donors, volunteers, beneficiaries, trustees, referrers, journalists, or partners and explains what each group needs to do.Current content and source ownership are mappedThe team knows which pages, PDFs, images, forms, impact claims, policies, and contact details will be kept, rewritten, retired, or redirected.Critical journeys will be wireframed firstDonation, service access, volunteering, referral, event, or internal workflow screens will be sketched before visual design or build work starts.Trust, safeguarding, and legal basics are includedThe brief includes charity number, contact route, privacy policy, safeguarding context, complaints route, accessibility, and evidence for impact claims.Forms and data handling are definedDonation, volunteer, referral, newsletter, survey, event, or service forms have owners, consent wording, storage location, retention rules, and export process.Traffic sources and measurement are plannedThe brief explains expected traffic from search, Google Ad Grants, email, social, referrals, events, or partners and defines success events.Security, access, and maintenance ownership are clearThe team knows who owns domain, DNS, CMS, hosting, forms, backups, updates, admin access, MFA, and emergency recovery.

What a strong brief should prevent

Redesigns that produce attractive pages without donation, volunteering, referral, or service outcomes.
Google Ad Grants traffic sent to generic pages with no measurable next action.
Forms that collect personal data without ownership, consent, retention, or export rules.
Supplier lock-in caused by unclear DNS, CMS, hosting, analytics, and recovery ownership.

Related source-checked benefits

Stack guide

Wireframing, product planning, service design, collaboration

Balsamiq for Nonprofits

Balsamiq's official nonprofit page says nonprofit organizations can get 50% off Balsamiq Starter and Teams plans for wireframing and product decisions.

Official Balsamiq nonprofit page verified; discount is limited to Starter and Teams plans and depends on case-by-case approval2026-06-22

Search advertising and campaign traffic

Google Ad Grants

Google's official Ad Grants page says each qualifying nonprofit can access up to USD 10,000 per month in search ads shown on Google.com.

Official Google Ad Grants page verified2026-06-22

Design and communications

Canva for Nonprofits

Design platform for nonprofit brand, campaign, social, and fundraising materials.

Official page reachable but protected in automated checks2026-06-21

Design, PDF, e-signatures, creative content

Adobe for Nonprofits

Adobe's official nonprofit page lists special pricing for eligible nonprofits, including Acrobat Pro, Adobe Express, and Creative Cloud routes.

Official Adobe nonprofit page verified2026-06-21

Cybersecurity and resilience

Cloudflare Project Galileo

Cloudflare provides free cybersecurity services to qualifying public-interest organizations.

Official program page verified2026-06-21

Password manager and access security

1Password for Non-Profits

1Password offers special pricing and support routes for nonprofit teams that need to protect passwords, passkeys, account logins, files, notes, and contacts.

Official nonprofit page verified; exact support and discount level depend on application review2026-06-22

Email, documents, meetings, shared storage

Google Workspace for Nonprofits

Google's official Workspace nonprofit page lists Google Workspace for Nonprofits at USD 0 per user per month and discounted Business and Enterprise nonprofit offers.

Official Google Workspace for Nonprofits page verified2026-06-22

Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics, security

Microsoft for Nonprofits

Microsoft publishes nonprofit grants and discounts including Microsoft 365 Business Basic free for up to 300 users, annual Azure credits, and discounted business applications.

Official nonprofit offers page rechecked2026-08-12

Online forms, donation forms, volunteer registration, event forms

Jotform nonprofit discount

Jotform's official nonprofit pricing page says it offers 50% off any paid plans for nonprofit organizations, and its nonprofit page says nonprofit organizations get 50% off all annual plans.

Official nonprofit and pricing pages verified2026-06-22

Document automation, proposals, contracts, eSignatures, payments

PandaDoc for Nonprofits

PandaDoc offers a general Free eSign plan. Its current comparison lists five documents per month for current Free accounts and distinguishes older 60-document annual accounts. Confirm charity-specific pricing with sales rather than assuming a published discount.

Official nonprofit and plan pages checked on 12 October 2026; charity-specific pricing needs confirmation2026-10-12

Maps, location technology, geocoding, routing, impact storytelling

Mapbox nonprofit support

Mapbox's official Nonprofit Support page says Mapbox supports hundreds of nonprofit organizations each year with donated or discounted services, technical guidance, and promotion.

Official Mapbox Nonprofit Support page verified; support is application reviewed and not a fixed public credit amount2026-06-22

Video storytelling, fundraising, supporter education

YouTube Nonprofit Program

Google's official YouTube Nonprofit Program page says verified nonprofits get access to nonprofit-useful YouTube features including link-anywhere cards, YouTube Giving features, and Creator Academy lessons.

Official YouTube Nonprofit Program page verified2026-06-22