A website is the main information platform that works for the reputation of a civil society organization 24/7. It helps build trust, attract new partners, donors, and volunteers. Without an online presence, it’s difficult to be visible in today’s world, where most decisions are made after a brief online research.

Even a simple website with basic information about the mission, goals, team, and contacts already opens new opportunities for fundraising or establishing partnerships. It can also become a platform for reporting — demonstrating transparency of activities, sharing implemented projects and successes. Having a blog allows you to share knowledge, expand your audience, and strengthen expertise.

Overview of free platforms and services for website creation

For CSOs without a budget, there are several platforms that allow you to create a website for free or at minimal cost, without having deep technical knowledge:

• WordPress.com — one of the most popular free platforms. It offers a wide selection of templates, a convenient editor, and basic SEO tools. Possibility of scaling: the site can be improved gradually by switching to paid packages.
• Google Sites — a simple service for creating basic websites. It easily integrates with other Google services (Drive, Calendar, Forms). Suitable for quickly launching a landing page or information portal.
• Carrd — a service for creating one-page websites. Ideal for small initiatives, campaigns, or promo pages. It has a limited number of elements but launches quickly.
• Wix — offers an intuitive drag-and-drop editor and basic capabilities for creating a free website. It has a wide variety of templates, but the free version includes Wix branding.
• Webflow Free Plan — more suitable for designers, but even without experience, you can create a modern landing page. The platform allows you to customize animations and adaptability for different devices.

The choice depends on the needs of the CSO: for a quick start and minimal support, Google Sites or Carrd will do; for more flexible design — WordPress.com or Wix.

Step-by-step instructions for launching a website

Step 1. Register an account on the platform Choose a platform (for example, WordPress.com) and create an account. Usually, you only need to enter an email and create a password.

Step 2. Choose a website template Dozens of ready-made templates are available on free platforms. Choose the one that best suits your activities (for example, categories “Non-profit organizations” or “Charity”).

Step 3. Set up the website structure Basic pages worth creating: Home — briefly about the mission and main areas of work About Us — history of the organization, team Projects — description of initiatives, implemented programs Blog — section for articles and news Contacts — address, phone, feedback form, social networks.

Step 4. Fill with content Write clear and concise texts that explain what the organization does and what achievements it has. Use simple photos from free libraries (such as Unsplash or Pexels) if you don’t have your own yet.

Step 5. Set up a contact form It’s important that people can contact you through the website. Add a feedback form to the contact page or in the footer.

Step 6. Connect a domain (optional) At the beginning, you can use a free address like yourorganization.wordpress.com. But if it’s possible to allocate a small budget, buy your own domain (for example, yourorganization.org.ua) — this will increase trust in you.

Step 7. Publish the website After filling it with basic information, click “Publish” — and the site will become available to everyone.

Step 8. Share the website on your social networks The first traffic can be obtained simply by sharing the new website on Facebook, LinkedIn pages, or through email newsletters.

Tools for basic design and content

For a website to look professional even without a budget, it’s important to have quality images, a simple logo, and pleasant visuals. Free online tools that are easy to master without special skills are suitable for this.

• Where to find free images: Unsplash (unsplash.com) — a large database of high-quality photos without copyright. Ideal for blog illustrations or website pages. Pexels (pexels.com) — another great platform for finding photos and videos. You can find thematic images for NGOs, social initiatives, ecology, and education. Pixabay (pixabay.com) — offers not only photos but also vector graphics, illustrations, and videos.
• How to create a logo: Canva (canva.com) — the simplest option for creating a logo. Canva has ready-made templates for NGOs that can be adjusted to your colors and name. The process is very simple: select a template → change the text → adapt the colors to your organization. Hatchful by Shopify (hatchful.shopify.com) — a logo generator in minutes. Just enter the name of the organization, choose a style — and you’ll get several options for editing.
• How to process photos: Canva — in addition to creating designs, it allows you to quickly crop, change brightness, contrast, or apply filters to photos. Photopea (photopea.com) — a free online analogue of Photoshop, convenient for basic image processing (for example, when you need to remove the background).
• How to make simple infographics: Again, Canva. It has separate templates for infographics. Just choose the structure and fill it with your data. Visme (visme.co) — a free tool for creating infographics, presentations, and simple diagrams.

Tip: Always maintain a consistent style on your website — the same colors, fonts, and types of images. This helps look professional even with minimal resources.

Website maintenance and basic SEO: how to keep attention and grow

Creating a website is just the first step. It’s important that it works without failures, is filled with new content, and appears in search engines. Here are basic tips for maintenance:

1. Regularly update content Publish news, articles, cases, or stories of beneficiaries at least 1-2 times a month. Update old pages (for example, information about projects or teams).
2. Check the technical condition Regularly test whether all buttons, forms, links work. Monitor the page loading speed (Google PageSpeed Insights will help check this).
3. SEO basics for the website: Keywords. Determine what queries your audience is searching for, for example, “digital literacy courses,” “IT support for NGOs.” Titles and descriptions. Add meta tags to each page — headers for search engines. Alt texts for images. These are descriptions of photos for Google. They help your site appear in image search. Links between pages. For example, in an article about IT trends, add a link to your consulting page.
4. Use Google Search Console A free tool from Google for CSOs that will help track how your site is seen by the search engine: which pages are indexed, which have errors.
5. Analyze traffic with Google Analytics Even basic data will help understand who visits your site, which pages they read, and where users come from.

Small steps to a strong online presence

Creating a website for an NGO without a budget is absolutely realistic. Services like WordPress and Wix help you launch quickly, and free design tools provide a professional look even without special skills. Regular content updates, basic SEO settings, and attention to technical conditions — this is your minimum for keeping the site alive and effective.

The main thing is to start! The site doesn’t have to be perfect from day one; it develops along with your organization. Confidently try on your own, but if you feel that it takes too much time or effort, you can always turn to professionals. INOXOFT INFO will help find a solution that suits you.