Which free tools can a charity use for digital?
HubSpot's CRM, Canva for graphics, Mailchimp up to a number of subscribers, the free tiers of social media tools, and Google Analytics.
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Digital on a charity budget
By spending nothing on tools and time on the basics. Six of the 55 organisations I audited were charities or community groups, and their problems matched the businesses: missing meta descriptions, homepages that did not explain what they did, no CRM and unused analytics. The difference was that there was no budget at all. Meta descriptions, a clear homepage, Google Analytics, HubSpot's CRM and Canva all cost nothing; the barrier is someone with the time and knowledge to set them up.
What digital problems did the charities in the audits have?
The same ones as everyone else, with no budget. Six of the 55 were charities or community organisations: a community energy group helping residents cut fuel costs, a mental health charity supporting ten thousand people a year with a hundred and twenty staff, a philanthropic foundation connecting businesses with families in need, and a community facilities provider with three employees and almost no shared IT. Different sizes, same trap: the money goes on the wrong thing. If you are weighing up a digital project, the 12 questions to answer before you spend are the ones I would ask first.
How can one charity website serve donors, beneficiaries and funders?
By being clear about each audience. The most complex charity audit was a foundation whose website had to attract donors, reach beneficiaries and show impact to funders at once: three audiences with different needs and different language. The mental health charity needed its site to be a resource for people in crisis, a professional face for partners and funders, and an information hub for staff. The community energy group had to explain complex energy ideas to people struggling to pay their bills, in simple language, with obvious navigation, on the cheapest smartphones, because that was what its audience used.
What happened when a small charity wanted to build an app?
The audit became a scoping exercise. The charity wanted an app connecting surplus food from shops and restaurants with families in need, with a suggestion algorithm that learned what different communities would use, including cultural preferences and dietary needs. It had about three staff and an income of around half a million, and the concept was more technically complex than startup pitches I have seen from companies with ten times the funding. The work was about what was realistic: what could be built in phases, where to find developers willing to work on a charity budget, and how to prove the concept simply before committing to the full build.
What works when a charity has no budget for digital?
Foundations rather than tools. Search basics are free: writing meta descriptions, fixing page titles and structuring headings, which every charity site I audited was missing, including the mental health charity's, which was harder to find on Google than an organisation supporting thousands of people should be. A clear homepage is free: lead with what the charity does and who it helps, and put a donate or get-help link above the fold. Google Analytics is free, and most of the charities had it installed without using it. HubSpot's CRM and Canva are free, Mailchimp is free up to a number of subscribers, and social media tools have free tiers.
Why do the basics matter more for charities?
Because of who pays when they are neglected. Charities rarely have a head of digital, any more than most small businesses do. When a small business neglects its digital presence it loses revenue; when a charity does, people who need help cannot find it. That is why being findable, being clear, and making it obvious how to get help or give it matter more in the third sector than any app build.
Related evidence: Care home charity – digital strategy. Earlier in this journey: The charity digital spend checklist: questions to answer before you commit a penny.
Questions people ask
Should a small charity build its own app?
Only after scoping what is realistic. For a food redistribution idea run by about three staff, the audit focused on what could be built in phases and how to prove the concept simply before committing to a full build.
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