Charity websites, donations and volunteering
ROISynth builds charities a website that explains the cause clearly, takes donations and volunteer sign-ups online, and thanks and updates every supporter without a member of staff writing each message — so a small team can look after a large community.
A winter appeal. Three hundred people gave online, most for the first time, and the two part-time staff spent January processing the money and writing thank-you letters by hand.
By the spring appeal, almost none of those new donors had heard another word. Most of them didn’t give again.
A small charity runs on goodwill and a few people’s time, and the supporter who gave once last winter usually hasn’t heard from it since.
Who this page is for
Small and medium-sized charities, community groups and not-for-profit organisations: teams of a few staff and many volunteers who raise money from individuals and events, recruit and organise volunteers, report to funders and trustees, and need to show supporters what their help made possible.
What does ROISynth build for a charity?
A website that says what the charity does and why it matters, in plain words, with one-off and regular donations taken online and a receipt sent with each. A volunteer sign-up that asks availability, skills and interests, so new volunteers can be matched to what is needed.
Every donor is thanked, and then kept up to date with what their gift did, on a schedule the team sets once rather than writes each time.
What goes wrong for a charity that doesn’t for a business?
The team is tiny and the community is large. A business can hire when sales grow; a charity that raises more money often has the same two people dealing with more supporters, and the thanking and updating are the first things to slip.
And the value of a supporter comes from the second gift, not the first. A donor who hears nothing after giving rarely gives again, and a volunteer who signs up and isn’t contacted for a month rarely turns up.
How do supporters and volunteers reach a charity?
Through appeals, events, word of mouth and searches for causes and volunteering near them. Many arrive at a moment of feeling — after a news story, a personal experience, an event — and act while that feeling lasts.
A donation page that works in a few taps, and a volunteer form that doesn’t feel like a job application, catch people while they still want to help.
How does it fit around a small team?
Donations, regular gifts and volunteer sign-ups land in one place, receipts and thank-yous go out without anyone sending them, and the Monday report shows what came in, from whom and what is waiting.
Updates to supporters are drafted with the team and sent on the dates chosen; nothing goes out in the charity’s name until someone has approved it.
What does a charity own at the end?
The website, the supporter and volunteer records and the donation history, in the charity’s own accounts, along with the code.
Supporter details are stored where only the charity can open them, and anyone who asks to be removed is removed properly — which matters as much to a charity’s reputation as the cause itself.
What actually changes, in the order it matters to you.
- Money's collected, receipts go out, and nothing gets chased.
- Every customer hears from you at the right moment, and nobody sends one by hand.
- The follow-up that always gets forgotten, never gets forgotten.
- Reports arrive on a Monday without you asking.
- Nothing goes out with your name on it until you've said yes.
- Only you can open your files. Anyone else asking is refused by the lock itself, not by a rule we wrote.
- People who need bigger text or more contrast can still read it.
The audit will show you how your donation page behaves on a phone — the place most people decide, quickly and on impulse, whether to give.
Questions people ask
- Can donations be taken online with receipts?
- Yes — one-off and regular donations taken online and a receipt sent with each.
- How are new volunteers matched to what is needed?
- A volunteer sign-up asks availability, skills and interests, so new volunteers can be matched to what is needed.
- How do donors hear what their gift did?
- Every donor is thanked, and then kept up to date with what their gift did, on a schedule the team sets once rather than writes each time.
- Why does following up with first-time donors matter?
- Because the value of a supporter comes from the second gift, not the first. A donor who hears nothing after giving rarely gives again.
Want to talk through how this would fit your business? Message on WhatsApp, or send a message and it reaches the person who would do the work.