A nonprofit website that shows where the money goes
Supporters give to organisations they understand and trust. A nonprofit website should say in one sentence what you do and for whom, show what donations actually pay for, make giving and volunteering easy, and publish the governance details that prove you're accountable. Here's how to plan each part, and how Anticode fits as a nonprofit website builder for small and volunteer-run organisations.
A mission someone can repeat
"Building stronger communities together" could be any of thousands of charities, and a reader can't repeat it to a friend. Say what you do, for whom, where: "We run a weekly food pantry and cooking classes for families in east Leicester." Put that on the first screen with a photo of the work happening. Supporters who can explain you to someone else are the ones who share your appeals.
Impact you can stand behind
Donors want to know what changes because of their gift. Show it concretely, and only with figures you can back up from your own records: what a typical month of your work involves, what a set amount buys (a week of meals, a training session for a volunteer), and stories from the people you work with, with their consent. Avoid inflated or estimated numbers that aren't in your reports.
- What we do: the programmes or services, each with a short page.
- Where the money goes: the main categories of spending in plain words, and a link to your latest annual report or accounts.
- Stories: a few real accounts, anonymised where needed.
- News: what's happening this month, kept in a CMS collection.
Donations through payment links
Anticode doesn't process donations itself. Instead, Donate buttons point at a checkout link from a provider you already use: Stripe Payment Links, PayPal, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Shopify or Whop. There's one payment link per account, so every Donate button opens the same checkout. The money goes straight to your organisation's account, and the provider handles receipts and recurring gifts if it supports them.
A simple pattern is to describe three suggested amounts on the page, each with what that amount does, and point the button at a donation page at your provider that offers those amounts, a choose-your-own amount and monthly giving, if your provider allows it. Explain any tax-relief schemes that apply in your country, and say how donors can update or cancel a regular gift. The online donations for a small charity workflow takes you through setting this up from start to finish.
Volunteers: a form that leads somewhere
Volunteer interest goes cold quickly if nobody replies. Keep the form short (name, contact details, which roles interest them, availability, and anything you need to know about access needs) and say what happens next: "We'll call within a week to talk it through." List the actual roles with what each involves and how much time it takes. If some roles need background checks or training, say so up front.
The standard contact form has name, email and a message; for separate fields, use a custom form tied to a site function (up to 30 plain-text fields). Anticode saves each sign-up and can email it to your volunteer coordinator, add it to Google Sheets or Airtable as a volunteer list, or post it in a Slack channel. The volunteer sign-up process covers the follow-up.
Governance and accountability details
Publishing who runs the organisation and how it's regulated is one of the strongest trust signals a charity has. Include the legal name, registration number with your country's charity regulator if you're registered, the registered address, the trustees or board, key staff, and links to annual reports and accounts. Add a safeguarding statement and a complaints route if you work with children or vulnerable adults. Regulators often set what must be shown, and the organisation is responsible for its own wording.
Anticode writes a starting Privacy Policy and Terms from what the site collects, which helps with donor and volunteer data. Check them against your own policies before publishing.
Building it with Anticode
Describe the organisation in one or two sentences and the Architect asks what changes the build, such as whether you take donations and recruit volunteers. A landing page with About, Services and Contact pages, a donation section and a news collection suits most small charities. Organic (Figtree) gives a warm, human feel; Editorial (Geist) suits an organisation that publishes research or campaigns; Playful (Fredoka) works for a children's charity. Use your own photos of the work rather than stock images of handshakes and hands holding seedlings.
Where Anticode stops
- No donation processing or gift-aid style tax claims. Your payment provider handles payments and receipts.
- No donor database or CRM. Connect HubSpot, Airtable or Sheets for contacts, or use dedicated fundraising software.
- No fundraising pages for individual supporters or progress thermometers tied to live totals.
- No event ticketing. Use a ticketing tool for paid events; free events can use a registration form.
Questions people ask
Can I take donations on a site built with a nonprofit website builder like Anticode?
Yes, through a payment link from your own provider, such as Stripe Payment Links or PayPal. Anticode doesn't handle the money itself.
Can volunteers sign up online?
Yes, with a form. Submissions are saved and can be emailed to your coordinator or sent to Google Sheets, Airtable or Slack.
Can several people in our charity edit the site?
On Team plans, a shared workspace has owners, admins and members, and members can't delete projects or take the site down. See /pricing.