A small charity or community interest company (CIC) website has two jobs. It tells the people you help that you exist and how to reach you. And it quietly answers a different set of questions from people with power over your future: grant officers, trustees, banks, local authority commissioners and the odd journalist.
Those readers are not looking for a beautiful design. They want evidence that you are who you say you are, that you are properly run, and that you do what you claim. You can show all of that on a site that costs nothing. This is the checklist.
A note before we start: this is practical guidance, not legal advice. Where a rule matters, we link the official source and suggest you check it for your own legal form.
Start with your legal form, because it changes what you must show
"Charity" and "CIC" are not the same thing, and the details your website needs depend on which you are.
- A registered charity is regulated by the Charity Commission (in England and Wales), OSCR (Scotland) or the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. In England and Wales, GOV.UK says a charity that is not a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) need not register if its annual income is under £5,000, while a CIO must register whatever its income. See the official guidance on how to register a charity.
- A CIC is a company, so it is registered at Companies House and carries the same company-law disclosure duties as any other company.
- An unincorporated group or small charity below the threshold might call itself a charity in the everyday sense without being on the register. Be careful with wording: do not say "registered charity" unless you are.
Whichever you are, say it plainly in your footer.
The checklist
1. Your exact legal name and numbers, in the footer of every page
For a registered charity, show the name exactly as it appears on the register, plus your registered charity number. For a CIC or a charitable company, show the company name, company number, the country of registration and your registered office address. Trading Standards guidance, summarised by the Business Companion, says companies must show the jurisdiction of registration, company number and registered office address on their websites, among other documents.
If you are a charity, also check the Commission's current guidance on how charity names and numbers should appear on documents and online. We have not found one single sentence that settles every case, so confirm rather than guess. Putting the number in the footer costs nothing and is what funders expect anyway.
Also useful: a link to your entry on the public register, so a funder can verify you in one click.
2. A clear "what we do" statement
Two or three sentences on your purpose, who you help and where. Write it the way you would explain it to a neighbour. Avoid phrases like "empowering communities to unlock potential"; say "we run a weekly food bank at St Anne's Hall for residents of the Millfield estate".
3. Who runs you
List your trustees (or directors, for a CIC) by name, with a line on each. You do not have to publish home addresses or personal contact details. A visible, named board tells a funder that someone is accountable. If you have a patron or key staff, add them.
4. Your governing document
Link to your constitution, articles of association or trust deed as a PDF. Funders often ask for it, and publishing it saves a round of emails.
5. Your latest accounts and annual report
Registered charities file accounts with the regulator, and most CICs file with Companies House and the CIC Regulator. Putting the latest accounts and a one-page "year in review" on your website makes it easy for a funder to see your income, spend and reserves. You do not have to be large for this to matter; a simple set of independently examined accounts is a good sign.
6. Impact, in your own words
A few concrete numbers that you can stand behind: sessions run, meals served, people supported, volunteer hours. Only use figures you can back up with your own records, and say what the period is. If you do not measure something, do not guess. One real story with the person's consent is worth more than a page of adjectives.
7. Safeguarding
If you work with children or adults at risk, publish a short safeguarding statement and name your safeguarding lead. Link the full policy. This is one of the first things many grant forms ask for.
8. Policies people ask for
A short page of PDFs: safeguarding, equality and diversity, complaints, data protection and, if relevant, a volunteer policy. They need not be fancy. They need to exist, be dated, and be reviewed.
9. A privacy notice and cookie information
You almost certainly collect personal data through a contact form, a volunteer sign-up or a mailing list. UK GDPR expects you to tell people what you collect and why. If your site uses analytics or marketing cookies, you need consent before they run. Our existing guides go through this in more detail: GDPR for small clubs and charities and UK charity website legal requirements.
10. A way to contact a real person
An email address that goes to a role, not one volunteer's personal inbox (info@ or hello@ your own domain, or a shared mailbox), and a postal address. Add opening hours or response times if you offer services.
11. How to help
Give people a way to get involved: volunteer, donate, refer someone, book a service. If you take donations, link to a donation platform or your bank details, and mention Gift Aid only if you are actually able to claim it. Do not display a donate button that goes nowhere.
12. Where your funding comes from
A line saying "Supported by" with funder names (with their permission), or a funders page. It builds credibility, and funders like to be thanked.
What a grant assessor tends to look for first
You cannot see what an individual assessor thinks, and processes vary between funders. But a sensible way to test your site is to imagine reading it cold, ten minutes before a funding panel, and ask:
- Can I tell what this organisation does in the first screen?
- Can I confirm it is a registered body, and check its number?
- Is there any sign it is still active? A news item from this year, a recent event?
- Can I find the accounts?
- Would I be happy to see this on the front of a grant application?
If the answer to any of those is no, that is your next job.
Doing it for £0: a realistic plan
You can build all of the above on a free plan, but check the limits first.
On Natterio's free plan you get a permanent three-page site (Home, About and Contact) on a Natterio web address, with no card required. A three-page limit is tight for a charity, so here is how to fit it:
- Home: what you do, impact in numbers, how to help, funders.
- About: legal status, trustees, governing document and accounts as links, policies as links.
- Contact: contact details, volunteer sign-up, privacy notice.
Documents can be linked as PDFs hosted on a free cloud drive, though be sure the links are set to public and are in a folder the charity owns, not someone's personal account. If you outgrow three pages or want your own domain, the £7 plan removes the page limit and adds a custom domain; see pricing. The platform's footer shows a Natterio credit on all but the top plan, which you may or may not want on a charity page.
The AI builder asks about your organisation and writes a first draft. Treat it as a draft: check every fact, and do not let it invent numbers. An AI cannot know how many people you helped last year.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Saying "registered charity" before the registration has gone through.
- Showing a charity number of a related body, for instance the parent organisation's.
- Leaving a former treasurer's name and email on the page.
- Out-of-date accounts with a donate button that goes to a closed account.
- Photos of identifiable children or service users with no consent.
Next step
Spend an hour writing the legal name, numbers, purpose statement and trustee list, and put them on a free three-page site. You can start free on Natterio with no card.