A food bank website for people who need help and people who want to give it

"Get help" comes first

Put a "Get help" button at the top of every page, above any appeal for donations. The page behind it should be short, kind and practical, in plain words that work for someone reading in a second language or on a cheap phone with little data:

1. How to get food: whether you need a referral or voucher, or can simply turn up.
2. Who can refer you, if referrals are needed: for example advice centres, health visitors, schools or social workers, with how to reach them.
3. Where and when: each distribution point with its address, days and opening hours.
4. What to bring: a voucher, a bag, nothing at all.
5. What happens when you arrive: a short description removes a lot of fear.
6. Other help: dietary and cultural needs, baby supplies, toiletries, fuel support or advice services you can connect people with.

Avoid photos of people collecting food parcels, even with consent, on the help page. People in need don't want to see themselves there.

Locations and opening times

Many food banks run several distribution centres on different days. A CMS collection called centres, with fields for name, address, days, times, accessibility and a short note ("enter by the side door"), gives each centre its own page and lets coordinators update a time from the dashboard. Bank holiday changes should go up as soon as they're known. Maps can't be embedded on published pages, so give the address, bus routes and a link to a map.

Every published Anticode site can be installed on a phone with an offline fallback. That helps someone with a limited data plan who saves the site, but always repeat the key times on posters and through referral partners.

A current needs list donors trust

Donors often give what they assume is needed, and food banks end up with shelves of pasta while running out of tinned meat and toiletries. Keep a short "Most needed this week" list in the CMS, dated, and update it when stock changes. Also list what you can't accept (open packets, home-cooked food, items past their date, alcohol) and where the supermarket collection points are.

Volunteer sign-up

Roles

Warehouse sorting, distribution sessions, drivers, collections at supermarkets, admin, fundraising.

Commitment

How often and how long each role is.

Requirements

Minimum age, background checks for some roles, a driving licence for drivers.

The form

A custom form with name, contact details, roles of interest, days available, and whether they have a driving licence or relevant experience.

A connector can add each volunteer to a Google Sheet or Airtable base for the coordinator, or post to a Slack channel. See volunteer sign-up process for what to do after someone applies.

Donations through payment links

Anticode sites don't take card payments directly. Point a "Donate" button at a payment link from Stripe Payment Links or PayPal, or at the donations page of a charity fundraising platform you already use. There's one payment link per account, so let donors choose an amount at the provider, and explain what each amount does, in honest, general terms. If you're a registered charity, any gift aid or tax-relief declaration needs to be handled where the payment is taken. See online donations for a small charity.

Privacy and dignity

Don't collect personal information from people seeking help through the website unless you must; referrals and registration are better handled in person or by your referral partners' secure systems. If a form does collect anything about someone's circumstances, Anticode seals it at rest and won't publish the site until the account owner and the person publishing have two-factor sign-in on. The Privacy Policy Anticode writes from your forms is a starting point that your trustees should review.

Design for readability

Organic (Figtree) or Swiss (Inter Tight), Light theme, large body text and a green or blue action colour work well. Anticode's design gate checks focus visibility, alt text and reduced-motion support before publishing. Keep sentences short on the help page. Related: community organizations and nonprofits.

Limits

• No referral or voucher management; use your existing system.
• No donations processed on the site; a payment link or a fundraising platform.
• English-language sites only, which matters for many food bank users.
• No embedded maps.

Questions people ask

What should a food bank website show first?

A clear Get help link explaining how to get food, whether a referral is needed, and where and when centres are open.

How do we keep the needs list current?

Keep it as a dated CMS entry and update it from the dashboard whenever stock changes; no design changes are needed.

Can people donate money on the site?

Through a payment link from your provider or a link to your fundraising platform. The site itself doesn't process payments.