How to Start a Charity Website for Free
A charity website gives credence to your organization. It gives people a way to find out more about what you do, and a convenient way to donate. There are ways to set up a free website if you don't have the funds to spend to pay for one.
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Instructions
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1
Satisfy government requirements for a nonprofit organization. If you do not already have official Non Profit or 501c3 status, fulfill the requirements for this before starting your website. It's possible to set up a free website without this step, but doing it first will give you options you would not have otherwise.
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2
Gather information and content for your website. If you haven't already done so, write a short summary of the mission of your organization. Find or take photos of people who are being helped by your work. Write several sentences listing problems your charity is working to solve or alleviate, or specific goals you are working toward. If you are in the middle of a drive to raise funds for a target project, include the monetary goal and what the funds will accomplish.
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3
Assess your resources for web design and hosting. Is there someone in your group who has experience in website design? Do you know anyone who would be willing to donate web hosting? To start a website, you need to buy a domain name, sign up for web hosting, and find someone to design it. Your choices are to find solutions that are offered free to everyone, or arrange for professionals to donate their services. It may be well worth your time to find someone who knows what they are doing and will do it for free.
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Choose a host and a domain name. Many hosts will register a domain name for those who pay them for a hosting plan. It is less common to find free hosts that do this. Domain names are very inexpensive, often less than $10 for a year, so consider purchasing the domain name if the host you choose doesn't offer it. Read the information on your host's website to make sure it supports using a full domain name.
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Decide who will design the website. If you are unable to find someone who can design your website, you have a couple of options. The best one is to find a host that offers site templates, or to find free templates you can use for your site. This is one reason it's important to shop around for web hosting, even if you are comparing different free sites. If you plan to design it yourself, do some reading first. Read both about search engine optimization and about web design, as they go hand in hand. There are excellent tutorials online that can help you learn how to design and build a website, and some free software applications that can help you with the coding.
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Choose a cohesive design that incorporates the information and photos you gathered in step 2 above. Provide a link in a prominent place that gives visitors a way to donate. Consider giving people a way to subscribe to an email newsletter that you send out regularly. List ways the public can help besides giving money. Make sure each page has a link to the home page and, ideally, to the other main pages of the website. These should be placed in the same place on each page and in the same color and font, so your visitors can find their way around easily.
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Tips & Warnings
Free hosts sometimes will give you a user name with a web address that is something like "www.hostcompany.com/charityname" or "hostcompany.charityname.com." It may be harder for people to find your site using web searches if you have such an address. Decide whether such an address would be a problem for your group.
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Comments
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The Rob Shop has a new blend of pow for louisiana coming out Tuesday! There will be a contest to win the new blend of pow on my website.
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I will be start a charity for A+ppsn (Private Public Security Network) on my new website in a week or two, and I will take donations for old web cams.
