How to Start a Charity Organization Online [+Free Web Themes]
“A man’s true wealth is the good he does in this world”
Muhammad
Perhaps, sooner or later there’s a moment in the life of almost every person when we realize that it’s not enough to live only for ourselves. We start thinking and understand that we want to do something for others. If you are reading this article, maybe, it means that such a moment has already come. You are ready to make an attempt to make this world a better place. To tell the truth, we highly appreciate your desire. That’s why we decided to give you several tips on how to start a charity to help you achieve your noble aim.
Types of Charities
Have you already decided what type of charity you are going to start? If not, let us remind you the main directions your charity may follow:
- international NGOs;
- health charities;
- education charities;
- arts & culture charities;
- environmental charities;
- animal charities.
As soon as you choose the type that is to your liking, you are ready to start.
How to Start a Charity
Although some people say that the task is daunting, don’t be in a hurry to believe them. Maybe, they’ve simply never bothered themselves with such things and just don’t know how to start a charity. Believe, anyone with a strong desire and patience will successfully cope with it.
Probably, if you ask several experts how to start a charity their answers won’t differ greatly, and it’s not surprising. Whether you want to learn how to start a charity shop or an animal shelter the basics will be the same. We’ll gladly share them with you in this article.
Define Your Mission
First and foremost, you are to focus on your mission. In general, any mission should have specific and challenging but at the same time measurable and achievable goals. To put it simply, your initial task is to clearly understand your purpose and the ways to achieve it. So, take time to formulate your goals and develop a set of values.
As soon as you figure out your mission, try to express it in a mission statement. As a rule, a good mission statement is short (not more than 3-5 sentences). Also, it is clear and free of jargon.
Think of a Suitable Name
The next thing your future charity needs is an appropriate name. As usual, a good charity name refers to your charity function or a person associated with your charity type.
Firstly, a right charity name should help distinguish you from others. Consequently, it’s important that it isn’t similar to the names of existing charities. Secondly, it should make you visible and inspire people to donate. Thirdly, it mustn’t contain the words you don’t have an official permission to use. For instance, trademarks.
Note that to use such words as “charity” or “charitable” you need approval from the Charity Commission.
Create a Logo
It goes without saying that there’s one more thing that alongside with the name helps make your charity recognizable and memorable. It’s your logo. That’s why your next step is designing one.
First of all, your charity logo is to visually represent everything your charity stands for. Then, it has to be eye-catching and appeal to the target audience. Next, your logo should make your charity stand out from the crowd. Finally, it should be simple and easily understood.
On the one hand, if you have enough knowledge and time you can create your own logo yourself. On the other hand, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg to hire a professional to care about your logo design. Frankly speaking, a professionally designed logo is worth the investment.
Get Ready to Go Online
Undoubtedly, online presence is a must-have for any charitable organization nowadays. There’s no better way to bring the work of your charity to the wide audience. So, you are to create an effective charity website to take your charity to the next level.
To begin with, a charity website helps convey your message to millions of people worldwide. It gives you an opportunity of increasing the number of your supporters and followers. Furthermore, a charity website gives you credibility. It makes your charity organization look more trustworthy. Moreover, it enables you to keep in touch with the people who are interested in your charity. Finally, a charity website makes the process of donation easy and quick.
It’s not a problem if you don’t know how to start a charity website yet. Go on reading and you’ll definitely grab the idea.
Select a Hosting Provider
The primary thing you are to do is to choose a reliable hosting provider. A hosting provider is a company that houses, serves, and maintains files for your website. In other words, it provides the technologies and services necessary for your website online presence.
The good news is that today there are many hosting providers that offer free hosting to nonprofits and charities. Actually, a good practice is to choose a provider whose servers are situated as close to your location as possible. In this case, the server will respond more quickly thus saving both your and your audience precious time.
Decide on a Domain Name
It’s a common knowledge that your online presence is impossible until you have a domain name. Your domain name should be catchy, memorable, and arouse trust. Since your charity has already got a name, try to make it a part of your domain.
Although you can register any type of domain you like, it’s better to use a .org domain. The matter is that this type is the most common for nonprofit and charitable organizations.
It may happen that the name you want to take already exists on the web. However, it’s not a problem. Try to insert a hyphen between the words or add “charity” to the end of your name.
Choose an Appropriate Charity Website Template
As you’re going to create a charity website by yourself, it’s a wise idea to use one of user-friendly website builders. In fact, almost all modern website builders offer you a number of ready-made charity website templates for any budget. Moreover, you can even find free website templates that will perfectly suit your needs.
While choosing a template, keep in mind several things that are important for your future free charity website success.
Firstly, your future website should be 100% responsive and cross-browser compatible. These features will ensure your website attractive look and smooth performance despite the device and browser your online audience uses.
Secondly, your charity template should include various widgets and plugins to provide your future website with the necessary functionality.
Thirdly, your charity website template should be easily customized to save your time and efforts.
Take Care of Design
Of course, some people may say that design is a subjective thing. However, it’s not quite right. If you want your charity website to be an effective one there is a number of things to consider.
Your charity website design should be eye-catching and straightforward at the same time to grab the attention of the audience immediately. It has to tell a coherent story and clearly convey your message. The entire layout should be clean and easy to navigate.
Choose a color scheme similar to your logo. Don’t overdo with a number of fonts. Select those which are highly readable. Try to keep your charity website design simple, with enough white space.
Never forget that the majority of people are visuals. So, use visuals to highlight the main goal of your mission, announce the upcoming events or showcase your volunteers and donors.
Use highly visible CTA buttons to enable your online audience make donations and join the events on the go. Create a donation page and a volunteer page to help your donors and volunteers get involved.
Add Useful Content
First of all, fill your charity website with readable content. Unfortunately, very often website owners concentrate too much on keywords for SEO rankings. Remember, that first and foremost, you write your content for people, not for search engines. So, try to find a good balance between SEO optimization and readable content.
Besides, be original. Make sure that your content doesn’t copy the content of other charity websites.
What’s more, don’t be boring. Of course, charity is a serious thing. However, it doesn’t mean that you have no right to surprise your readers or make them smile.
Finally, try to update your website content regularly. It will not only keep your visitors well-informed but also increase your search engine rankings.
Promote Your Charity Website
It’s quite obvious that your charity website needs promotion not less than any other site on the web. To provide your website promotion, don’t forget to insert social media buttons. It will enable your audience share your content on various social network platforms.
One more way of promotion is email marketing. So, ensure that there’s a “Sign up” form on your website and your audience is able to receive your newsletter.
Now when you know how to start a charity the only thing that remains is to wish you good luck. Hope, you’ll succeed in your noble mission and really make this world a better place.