Llanyrafon, Wales
Tasty Not Wasty
Three clear paths for support, volunteering and donations, plus live fridge status.
166K+ meals served
Read the case study
Charities and community groups
Charity websites,
Charity websites,
built properly.
Most charity sites are asked to do three jobs on half a budget: raise money, recruit volunteers, and explain what the charity actually does. We build sites that do all three, on infrastructure you own, with no licence fee quietly eating the grant.
The work so far
4
charity and community builds
166K+
meals tracked
427
bookings taken
28
approved listings
Who this is for
We work with organisations where the website is doing real work, not decoration.
Registered charities
Of any size, from a two-person trustee board upwards.
CICs and social enterprises
Doing community work without charitable status.
Community groups
Where a volunteer is holding the digital side together.
Based in Wakefield, working UK-wide. Remote delivery is normal. If you're local, we'll meet you.
The bit most charity sites miss
The five questions every charity website should answer
While building a directory of support services, we read a lot of charity websites. The pattern was consistent, and it had nothing to do with design.
Most of them explained the charity's mission beautifully. Very few explained how to actually use it.
01
How do I get support?
Is it open to anyone, or referral only? Do I need to live in a certain postcode? Do I need ID, a letter, or an appointment? Most sites leave this to be inferred, and the people who most need the service are the least likely to ring up and ask.
02
Where are you, and can I get there?
A full address, a map, and the things that actually stop people: bus routes, parking, step-free access, which entrance to use. "Wakefield" is not a location if you don't know the town.
03
When are you open?
Opening hours, including bank holidays. The difference between open for donations and open for support. Drop-in or appointment only. If the answer is "phone first", that needs to be the first line, not a footnote.
04
What happens when I turn up?
Will I queue? Will I be asked to prove anything? How long will it take? What should I bring? People avoid services they can't predict, especially when asking for help already costs them something.
05
How do I donate items?
What you accept, what you can't, when to bring it, and whether to call first. Half the charity shops in the country have a "no duvets" rule that exists only on a laminated sign inside the door.
None of this is designer work. It is the difference between a website that describes a charity and one that lets somebody use it. It is also how most people find a service: they search for what they need, not for the charity's name.
The channel that took over
Why the Facebook page wins
We understand how it happens. Facebook is one login, no hosting bill, no one to call when the site breaks, and an audience that answers back. A website needs a domain, a host, someone who knows the CMS, and decisions about structure.
When the volunteer who built it moves on, the Facebook page is the only thing still working.
What it can't do
- It isn't reliably found. Some public posts get indexed. Most don't, and anything behind a login never will.
- It isn't accessible in any way you can evidence. No heading structure, no skip link, no control over contrast or keyboard order.
- It isn't yours. The reach is rented, the format changes without warning, and the archive goes with the account.
- It can't hold a stable answer. The opening hours are in a post from March and the pinned post is about a fundraiser.
A Facebook page is a noticeboard.
A website is the front door.
Charities need both, and most have the priority the wrong way round.
What a charity website has to do
Not a list of features. The jobs the site is judged on every day.
Be usable by the people who need it
Your audience includes disabled people, older people, people in crisis, and people reading on a cracked phone with 12% battery. We build to WCAG 2.2 AA as the working standard, with semantic HTML, keyboard access, real contrast, and forms that tell you what went wrong.
Take money without friction
A donation route that takes four clicks and a login is a donation you didn't get. We build clear giving paths, explain Gift Aid in plain English, and put the impact numbers where a first-time visitor can see them.
Recruit volunteers without a form graveyard
Volunteering pages usually ask for everything at once and convert nobody. We build a route in that starts with one question and collects the rest later.
Give funders something to look at
Trustees, funders and grant officers check the website before they sign. Live impact figures, annual reports, safeguarding information and a named contact, all where they expect to find them.
Be runnable by one person
The comms person is often the whole digital team. You get documentation, a handover session, and a site you can update without a page builder, a licence, or a call to us.
The discount is real
20%
off development and automation projects for registered charities.
Small charities with limited funding sometimes get the whole build free. That is a judgement call, not a formula. We can't say yes to everyone, and we won't pretend otherwise.
What it costs, without the dance
- No VAT. We're not VAT-registered, so it isn't added to your invoice.
- You own the code. No licence, no subscription, no lock-in.
- Payment in two stages, or spread over up to two years on larger projects.
- Published starting points. Landing pages from £500, applications from £5,000. Every project is scoped individually.
If the 20% is the difference between a website and no website, say so at the start. We would rather have that conversation early than after a quote.
See full pricing
The CMS question
Most charity websites don't need a CMS
A CMS is usually sold as freedom. In practice it is an ongoing bill, a login to secure, and an open invitation for a well-meaning volunteer to paste 900 words into a page that needed 90.
If your site changes a handful of times a year, an 11ty static site is the cheaper and safer answer. There is no admin panel, no database, and nothing to patch. When something needs changing, you send it to us. We do it within 48 hours, images included, and charge £35 an hour. Most requests take a fraction of that hour.
Lower cost
No CMS to build, host or maintain. No licence, no database, no platform fee.
Less risk
No admin login means one less way in, and no plugin to update at 11pm on a Friday.
No design drift
Every change goes through someone who knows why the page is built the way it is. A wall of text can damage a good page and its search ranking in one edit.
If you publish several times a week, a CMS may be the right call. We'll tell you which one you are.
The work
Three organisations, three different problems. Each one built around how the organisation actually works.
Pontefract, Yorkshire
D.E.S.T Football Coaching
A parent portal and booking platform replacing a paper diary and a WhatsApp inbox.
427 bookings taken
Read the case study
Wakefield, Yorkshire
Play, Grow, Belong
A verified activity directory with provider self-service and admin moderation.
28 approved listings
Read the case studyMore of the thinking behind these is on the Penguins with Purpose page.
Accessibility, specifically
We aim for WCAG 2.2 AA on every build
We test with automated audits plus manual keyboard and screen reader passes. We have not commissioned an external accessibility audit and we don't claim certification. If something doesn't work, we fix it.
Read our accessibility statement- Proper heading structure and landmark regions
- Every control reachable by keyboard
- Visible focus states on all interactive elements
- Contrast at 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text
- Text resizes to 200% without breaking the layout
- Forms with real labels and real error messages
- Skip link and consistent navigation
- No flashing content
How it works
No pitch deck. No account manager. You talk to the person building it.
01
A conversation
What the charity does, who it serves, what the website needs to achieve.
02
Scope and quote
Fixed scope, fixed price, written down. The 20% is applied here if it applies.
03
Build
You see progress on a test URL. One page at a time, reviewed as we go.
04
Handover
Testing, accessibility pass, documentation, training.
Most charity builds run four to eight weeks depending on content readiness. If your content isn't ready, we'd rather wait than fill the site with filler.
What you get at handover
- The full source code and repository
- A written handover document covering structure, deployment and updates
- A walkthrough session with whoever will run the site
- No dependency on us for routine changes
- The Blue Penguin Guarantee: if something we built doesn't do what we agreed, we fix it free for as long as the site is live. No retainer, no time limit.
The guarantee applies whether you paid full price, took the 20% charity discount, or we built it for nothing. Same terms. A guarantee that only covers the paid work isn't a guarantee.
You can leave whenever you like. We hand over the keys, no questions asked.
Read the Blue Penguin GuaranteeQuestions charities ask
Do you only work with registered charities?
No. We work with CICs, social enterprises and community groups too. The 20% discount applies to registered charities. For everyone else, talk to us and we'll be straight about what's possible.
We're a small charity. Are we too small?
No. Some of our best work has been for organisations with no paid digital staff. What matters is that the website has a job to do.
What does a charity website cost?
Every project is scoped individually. Published starting points are £500 for a landing page and £5,000 for an application, with 20% off for registered charities. A typical multi-page charity site sits somewhere between the two. We'll give you a fixed price before anything starts.
Can we keep our current site and improve it?
Sometimes. If the foundation is sound, a focused rebuild of the weak parts is cheaper and faster. If it's a page builder holding you back, patching it usually costs more over three years than replacing it.
Can you take donations?
We build donation routes that fit how you already take money, and we'll tell you honestly if a payment integration is outside what we do.
We're referral-only. Should that be on the website?
First line of the homepage, not the small print. If someone can't self-refer, they need to know before they call, and the referrer needs to know what you accept and how to send it.
Do you provide WCAG certification?
No. We build and test to WCAG 2.2 AA and document what we've done. Certification requires an external audit, which we can help you commission if a funder demands it.
Do we need a CMS?
Probably not. If the site changes a handful of times a year, a static site is cheaper and safer, and we handle updates within 48 hours at £35 an hour including images. If you publish several times a week, a CMS is worth the overhead.
Who owns the website?
You do. Code, content and domain. No licence, no subscription, no exit fee.
If your website is holding the charity back, tell us what's wrong with it.
We'll tell you whether it's a rebuild, a repair, or nothing at all. If we're not the right fit, we'll say so.