A not-for-profit website has four jobs. It helps people find your service, takes donations, signs up volunteers, and shows funders the organisation is properly run. Each job needs different content in a different place on the site.
The rules have moved too. NSW fundraising law changed in April 2026, the $2 minimum for tax-deductible donations was removed in July 2026, and the Australian Human Rights Commission now points to WCAG 2.2 for accessibility. All of it affects what goes on the page.
Who the site has to serve
Four groups visit a not-for-profit website, and each one wants different information.
| Visitor | What they look for | Where it belongs |
|---|---|---|
| People who need your service | What you offer, who’s eligible, what it costs, how to make contact | Home page, plus a “Get help” item in the main menu |
| Donors | A donate button, whether the gift is tax deductible, where the money goes | A button in the header of every page |
| Volunteers | Roles, time commitment, checks required, how to apply | “Volunteer” in the main menu |
| Funders and grant assessors | ABN, ACNC registration, annual reports, board members, outcomes | An “About” section and an impact page, linked from the footer |
Give each group its own menu item. “Get help”, “Donate” and “Volunteer” are clearer labels than “Support us” or “Get involved”, because they say what happens when you click.
Write service pages in plain English. Program names and funding terms mean a lot to staff and very little to someone looking for help. Describe the service by what a person gets, then name the program.
Donations
The giving form
Design the donation form for a phone before a desktop. A form that works on a small screen works everywhere.
- Put a “Donate” button in the header of every page, in a colour nothing else on the site uses.
- Offer preset amounts and a custom field. Say what each amount pays for if you can back it up.
- Show one-off and monthly as two clear options. Don’t pre-tick monthly.
- Ask for a name and email with the payment details. Leave postal address optional unless you need it.
- Accept cards plus Apple Pay and Google Pay. They save donors typing a card number on a small screen.
- Keep the donor on your site. If a platform such as Raisely or GiveWP opens a separate page, say so next to the button.
- Send the receipt by email automatically.
Tax deductibility
Registering as a charity doesn’t make donations tax deductible. That takes a separate endorsement as a deductible gift recipient (DGR). The ATO says donors can only claim a deduction for gifts to an organisation that held DGR status when the gift was made.
The $2 minimum no longer applies. The threshold was removed from 1 July 2026 and the change was backdated, so a gift of any amount made to a DGR on or after 1 July 2024 can be claimed. If your donation page still says “Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible”, change it to “Donations are tax deductible”.
If you aren’t a DGR, leave the phrase off the site entirely. Donors can check your status on ABN Lookup.
Payments that buy something aren’t gifts. The ATO lists raffle tickets, items with an advertised price, fundraising dinners and membership fees among the payments a donor can’t claim as a gift. Token items such as lapel pins and stickers don’t affect the deduction. Keep ticket sales and merchandise on a different form from donations so the two never share a receipt.
Receipts
A DGR doesn’t have to issue a receipt. If it does, the ATO requires the receipt to state:
- the name of the fund, authority or institution
- the DGR’s ABN, if it has one
- that the receipt is for a gift
Add the amount and the date as well, since donors need both at tax time. Check the receipt template before launch and make sure it carries your organisation’s name and ABN.
Send a receipt for every online gift, whatever the size. NSW fundraising rules only require one for donations of $2 or more, but the tax deduction no longer has a minimum.
Registration and credibility
The Registered Charity Tick
Charities registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) can display the Registered Charity Tick. The ACNC’s conditions are:
- only registered charities can use it
- Annual Information Statements must be up to date
- the charity must be meeting its other registration obligations
- the file is downloaded from the ACNC Charity Portal after accepting the terms
The ACNC encourages charities to link the Tick to their listing on the Charity Register. Do that. A linked Tick lets a donor confirm your registration in one click, and an unlinked one is only a picture. The ACNC also states the Tick isn’t an endorsement of a charity’s operations, so don’t describe it as one.
Not every not-for-profit is a registered charity. A sporting club or incorporated association that isn’t registered with the ACNC can’t use the Tick. Show your ABN and incorporation number instead.
What belongs in the footer
- Legal name and ABN
- The Registered Charity Tick, linked to your Charity Register listing
- DGR status, if you have it
- Links to your privacy policy and complaints process
What funders look for
A grant assessor uses your site to check the organisation is active and properly governed. Put these on an “About” or “Governance” page:
- current board or committee members, with roles
- the latest annual report and financial statements
- current funders and partners
- outcomes with numbers and the period they cover
- key policies, including child safety if you work with children
Date everything. An annual report from three years ago suggests the organisation has stopped operating, even if the work never paused.
Volunteer sign-up
A volunteer page works when it answers the practical questions before someone has to ask them. List each role separately and include:
- what the volunteer does
- hours per week or month, and the minimum commitment
- where the role is based
- training provided
- checks required, such as a Working With Children Check or police check, and who pays
Keep the application form short. Name, contact details, the role they want and their availability is enough for a first contact. Collect referees and ID later, once you’ve spoken to them.
Tell applicants what happens next and how long it takes. “We’ll call you within five working days” is better than a thank-you message with no timeframe.
Send form submissions to a shared inbox, such as volunteer@yourorganisation.org.au. Forms that go to one person’s email stop being answered when that person leaves the committee.
Take filled roles down. A page of positions that closed last year tells a volunteer nobody is looking after the site.
Accessibility
The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 makes disability discrimination unlawful in areas of public life, and that includes websites. In April 2025 the Australian Human Rights Commission published updated guidelines on equal access to digital goods and services. Its standards chapter says organisations should conform with WCAG 2.2 at a minimum of Level AA.
The guidelines aren’t legally binding. The Commission’s view is that following them helps an organisation act consistently with the Act. Some funding agreements name a WCAG version outright, so check yours before the build starts.
For a not-for-profit, WCAG 2.2 AA means:
- every menu, button, link and form works with a keyboard alone
- the keyboard focus is always visible
- text and background colours have enough contrast
- images have text descriptions that say what the image shows
- form fields have labels, and error messages say what to fix
- buttons and links are large enough to tap on a phone
- videos have captions
- text can be enlarged to 200% without breaking the layout
PDFs
If your annual report is a PDF, don’t rely on it alone. The Commission states that PDF files can’t be made fully accessible, especially on mobile devices. Keep the PDF for funders who want the full document, and put the main figures and outcomes on a normal web page as well.
Donation and sign-up forms
Test the forms as carefully as the pages. An embedded donation form from a third party is still part of your site to the person using it. If a screen reader user can’t complete the payment step, the donation is lost.
An accessibility toolbar plugin doesn’t change the code underneath. It won’t fix missing labels or a form that traps the keyboard.
Fundraising rules in NSW
NSW fundraising law changed on 1 April 2026. The main points from NSW Fair Trading:
- ACNC-registered charities no longer apply for or renew a separate NSW fundraising authority. They hold a “deemed authority” once they’ve told the ACNC they intend to fundraise in NSW.
- Organisations that aren’t ACNC-registered still need an authority if they raise more than $15,000 in a financial year for a charitable purpose. Some groups are exempt, including P&C associations of government schools.
- Under NSW rules, receipts are only required for donations of $2 or more.
- Every authority holder, deemed or otherwise, must follow the 16 National Fundraising Principles.
Several of those principles affect what goes on the website.
| Principle | What it means for your site |
|---|---|
| Charitable purpose disclosure | State what the organisation does and what the money raised will be used for, on the donation page itself |
| Never mislead or deceive | Keep figures and claims accurate and up to date |
| Donation transparency | Make it clear whether a gift is one-off or ongoing, and explain how to cancel an ongoing one |
| Respect decisions to refuse | Put an unsubscribe link in every email, and act on requests to reduce or stop contact |
| Complaints process | Publish how to make a complaint about fundraising and who handles it |
| Comply with privacy law | Handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles where the Privacy Act applies |
Fair Trading can suspend or cancel an authority for a breach, and that includes a deemed authority.
Other states and territories have their own fundraising rules. An online donation form takes money from anywhere in Australia, so check the rules in each state you actively fundraise in.
Privacy
Publish a privacy policy and link to it from every form. It should say what you collect, why you collect it, which platforms store it, and how someone can ask for their details to be removed. Name your donation and email platforms, because that’s where donor data ends up.
This section is general information, not legal advice. Fundraising and tax rules depend on your structure, so confirm the details with the ACNC, the ATO, NSW Fair Trading or your own adviser.
Budget and ownership
What to budget for
A website has a build cost and running costs. Budget for both.
- Build: our not-for-profit projects usually land between about $2,500 and $8,000, depending on size and functions. Most launch in four to six weeks. Registered charities and incorporated not-for-profits get a reduced rate.
- Domain and hosting: paid yearly.
- Maintenance: software updates and backups, with security monitoring on top.
- Donation platform: most charge a platform fee on top of card processing. Work out what you keep from a $50 gift before you choose one.
- Email platform: usually priced by the number of contacts.
Grant funding
Many community grants will pay for a website if it’s part of the project. Assessors expect an itemised quote showing scope, staging, costs and timeline. We write those quotes for free, and we’ve done them for Community Building Partnership, council community grants, ClubGRANTS and philanthropic trust applications.
Who owns what
Committee turnover is how many not-for-profits lose access to their own website. Set these up before launch:
- Register the domain in the organisation’s legal name.
- Open hosting and admin accounts with a role address such as admin@yourorganisation.org.au. Never use a volunteer’s personal email.
- Give at least two current committee or staff members admin access.
- Keep a handover document listing where the domain is registered, where the site is hosted, how to update the common pages and who to call when something breaks.
- Store logins in a shared password manager.
Editing the site yourself
Staff and volunteers should be able to update pages and post news without a developer. We build on WordPress for that reason, and every site comes with written instructions and a recorded walkthrough.
Getting found
Local search
People look for community services by need and location, with searches like “food relief Wyong” or “men’s shed Gosford”. Google matches those searches against your website and your Google Business Profile.
- Give each service its own page. Include who it’s for, the suburbs covered, opening hours and how to access it.
- Claim your Google Business Profile and keep the hours and phone number current.
- Use the same name, address and phone number everywhere they appear online.
- Name the suburbs you serve on your contact and service pages.
Our guide to small business SEO on the Central Coast covers local search in more detail. The same steps apply to community organisations.
Google Ad Grants
Google Ad Grants gives each qualifying nonprofit access to up to AU$13,000 a month in search ads on Google. You apply through Google for Nonprofits.
The ads are text ads that appear in search results. They work best when each ad points to a page that matches the search. Send “volunteer near me” to the volunteer page and “donate to [cause]” to the donation page. An ad that lands on the home page wastes the click.
You don’t have to use the full amount. A few focused campaigns for your main services will do more than dozens of loose ones.
Checklist
- “Get help”, “Donate” and “Volunteer” are in the main menu
- A donate button sits in the header of every page
- The donation form can be completed on a phone, with Apple Pay and Google Pay
- One-off and monthly gifts are clearly separated, and cancelling is explained
- “Tax deductible” appears only if you hold DGR status, and the old $2 minimum wording is gone
- Receipts show your name, your ABN and that the payment is a gift
- The Registered Charity Tick is in the footer and links to your Charity Register listing
- A current annual report, board list and outcomes are on the site
- Each volunteer role lists hours, location and checks required
- Pages and forms meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA
- Annual report figures are on a web page as well as in a PDF
- The privacy policy and complaints process are linked from the footer
- The domain and admin accounts are in the organisation’s name
- Two or more people have admin access, and there’s a written handover document
- Your Google Business Profile is claimed and current
Next steps
Most of these can be fixed on an existing site. The right menu items, a donate button in the header, a better donation form and a governance page will deal with the biggest gaps. A rebuild makes more sense when the people running the organisation can’t edit the site, or when the accessibility problems sit in the theme itself.
We build and repair sites for charities and community groups as part of our not-for-profit web design work at our Central Coast web design studio. If you’d like your site checked against this list, or you need a quote for a grant application, get in touch.
