Charity Website Redesigns: 5 things every non-profit team should know

From my experience, charities often begin website projects with a clear goal in mind. They might want to increase donations, recruit more volunteers, or modernise their digital presence in an increasingly digital world.

However, once the project gets underway, many teams discover there are a few things they wish they had known at the start.

As a Project Manager working on charity website projects (and with previous in-house experience in the charity sector), I see the same themes come up time and time again. None of these are critical barriers, but understanding them before a project begins can make the process smoother, faster, and ultimately more successful!

Here are five things every charity team should know before starting a website project.

1. Start with your audience, not internal requirements.

It’s tempting to focus on what internal teams want from the website, but the most successful charity websites are built around user needs first. Sway from internal teams can steer you away from data-backed decisions that are going to have the most meaningful impact.

For many charities, the main audiences might include beneficiaries, donors, volunteers, and supporters. Identifying them and understanding what they want from your website and how they want to engage with your charity is going to help create a space that works for them. User research can play an important role in validating those key decisions in website development and design, ensuring the website genuinely serves those audiences (and your charity’s goals).

Tip: Be clear about your priority audiences before the scoping phase begins. If possible, allocate some budget for user research or testing to inform key decisions.

2. Internal alignment matters more than you think.

One of the most common causes of project delays is differing visions among stakeholders. Early agreement on goals, audiences, priorities, and KPIs helps prevent repeated revisions and misalignment later in the project.  The agency you work with should help you to define these during the discovery stage and it’s a focus for us here at Studio Republic. This keeps everyone on the same page from the offset and helps to create a unified vision with shared achievements throughout.

Tip: Identify key decision-makers early and agree on a clear approval process. Ensuring these stakeholders are involved from the start can significantly reduce delays later. Want to know more about the power of people in project delivery? Have a read here.

3. A good brief makes a huge difference.

The brief is one of the most important foundations of any website project. It sets out your goals, expectations as well as budget and timeline constraints, providing clarity and focus on what you want to get out of a charity website redesign. Capturing the right level of detail helps ensure the agency you work with understands all of this and can create a roadmap that will set you on the road to success. It also helps to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings later in the process and keeps everyone on the same page.

Tip: Take time to capture the important details early. A clear brief will save time, reduce revisions, and help the project run more smoothly.  Need more guidance on writing a brief? Check out our guide on crafting the perfect brief and download our free template here.

4. Content takes longer than you expect.

Preparing content for a charity website redesign is often one of the biggest undertakings for a charity team. This includes both written and visual content.

From a copywriting perspective, teams often need to review existing content, decide what to keep, and which key pages need rewriting. For visuals, strong photography can transform a charity website, helping to add personality, authenticity and build more meaningful connections with users.

Much like the overall website design and development, content should be created with the user in mind. It should tell your story, communicate your mission and inspire support.

Need help with capturing visuals? We’ve partnered with Paul Meyler to help our charity partners get the photos they need!

Tip: Start thinking about content early and decide who will take ownership internally. However, avoid writing final content until the user experience (UX) stage has been signed off, so you know the structure and parameters you’re working within.

5. Launch is just the beginning

Many teams think of launch as the end of the project. In reality, it’s the start of the website’s life! After launch, the real value comes from analysing user behaviour, improving content, refining journeys and testing new ideas. Remember, if KPIs were set at the start of the project, you’ll be able to clearly measure how the new website is performing and identify opportunities for further improvement.

Tip: Plan time and budget for optimisation after launch so the website continues to evolve and improve over time.

Conclusion

A website project is a significant investment for any charity, but it’s also a valuable opportunity to improve how you engage supporters, volunteers and beneficiaries with your cause.

At Studio Republic, we aim to create a collaborative process where we become an extension of your team rather than an external partner. In our experience, the strongest projects happen when everyone feels like they’re working towards the same shared goal.

If you’re about to start a charity website project, these five considerations should hopefully give you a helpful starting point. And if you do work with us, your Project Manager will be there every step of the way to guide the process and support your team throughout the journey.