Make the organisation and its work easy to verify

An NGO website can help a prospective donor assess the organisation when it clearly explains who is accountable, what programmes do, which evidence supports published results and how to make contact. Design supports that process; it cannot substitute for reliable records or guarantee funding.

This guide focuses on the content and approval decisions behind credibility. Use the companion NGO website feature checklist to turn those decisions into publishing requirements.

Answer a prospective donor’s first questions

Who is responsible?
Explain the organisation’s identity, leadership and governance using approved, current information. Give visitors a practical way to contact the responsible team.
What do you do, and where?
Describe programme objectives, intended participants, geography and dates. Separate active work from completed projects and proposed activities.
What changed?
Distinguish activities and outputs from outcomes. State the period and scope of a reported result, and identify the underlying report where it can be shared.
How can the claim be checked?
Link to approved reports or describe the process for requesting further evidence. Explain material limitations rather than filling gaps with promotional statements.

Prepare an evidence register before page design

For every result, testimonial, partnership or funding claim, record the exact wording, source, reporting period, approval owner and permission to publish. Identify the next review date and whether the source can be public or must be supplied through an authorised enquiry.

Illustrative wording example: “The programme delivered the training sessions recorded in its approved quarterly report” describes an activity. “The programme increased household income” describes an outcome and needs evidence that supports that different claim. A photograph or attendance list alone does not establish the second statement.

Do not present a planned dashboard, prototype or sample report as a delivered project. Label demonstrations and synthetic data clearly wherever they appear.

Organise programme pages and reports for checking

Give each programme page a consistent set of useful fields: purpose, location, dates, responsible contact, approved activities, relevant results and related reports. Readers should not have to assemble the programme’s basic story from unrelated news posts.

For each report, show a meaningful title, publication date, reporting period, language and a brief summary. Keep downloads labelled and usable on smaller screens. Where a large PDF is necessary, provide an HTML introduction so visitors can judge relevance before opening it.

An archive should preserve useful older material while distinguishing it from the latest version. Assign an owner to correct outdated contact details and superseded programme information.

Protect people in published stories

Make permission, safeguarding and confidentiality part of the editorial process. Before publishing a name, photograph, location or personal story, the responsible team should confirm that public use is appropriate and authorised. Avoid publishing unnecessary identifiers or combining details that expose a person unintentionally.

Agree who can approve sensitive content, how a correction or removal request is handled and how the team records those decisions. A website rebuild is a useful point to review existing material; moving an old image does not create new permission to use it.

Design a clear next step for each audience

A donor, programme partner, journalist and community member may need different contacts. Label the routes clearly and collect only the information needed for the enquiry. If donations are in scope, explain the approved payment route and who handles questions or failed payments.

Test whether a reader can find a programme, understand the supporting evidence and reach the right team. Review actual enquiries and recurring questions to learn which information is missing. Page views alone do not demonstrate donor confidence.

Brief an NGO website project

Prepare your programme list, report inventory, content owners, language needs, approval workflow and contact routes. Identify integrations and any content that requires restricted access. These decisions make it easier to compare a website proposal and agree acceptance checks.

Explore digital solutions for NGOs and our website development service. If the priority is reconciling programme data before publication, review reporting and dashboard services. You can then request a scoped project discussion.