Web developer in Berkeley, with your governance and funding on the record
With me as your web developer in Berkeley, a nonprofit's first build is a facts page beside its mission statement. It's where you say who decides and where the money goes, in plain figures. A donor can hold each one up against your annual report. Every account behind the site is opened in your name.
Overview
Where is the donate button?
The donate or join button goes on the first screen of every page, and it does one thing. On a phone, it shows before any scrolling.
The mission statement still matters. It sits just below the button, for the supporter who wants to know why before giving.
Berkeley also has shops and services selling to a dense university city. They want a much smaller site than a campaign, with no facts page or donor portal, and I'd scope it that way.
Side by side
Turning a value into something a donor can check
A careful donor checks before giving. So for each value you hold, I'd publish the fact behind it.
Community-led
- The fact a donor can check
- Who sits on the board, and how they were chosen
Open about funding
- The fact a donor can check
- Where the money comes from and where it goes, as figures
Fair pay
- The fact a donor can check
- The pay itself, stated plainly
Careful about partners
- The fact a donor can check
- Who you have said no to, and why
Before the call
Think of one figure you'd hesitate to publish before we talk. We'll decide on the call whether it belongs on the site, and it won't go up unless you say yes.
What a scope from me looks like
A sample first build for a nonprofit
Included
- A written scope: every page and feature as its own line, agreed before work starts
- Design to build, reviewed on a staging URL that stays open the whole project
- Mobile first — checked on a real phone
- Domain, hosting and every account created in your name from day one
- A facts page covering governance, funding and pay
- A donate, join or volunteer button on the first screen of every page
- Basic on-page SEO: titles, descriptions, headings, sitemap, Search Console connected
- A runbook at handover: how to edit it, what renews and when
Phase two
- A member or donor portal
- An annual report page
- Ongoing SEO once the site has traffic to read
- A maintenance plan once the site is live
- Logo and brand design, quoted separately from the build
Not doing
- Guaranteed rankings
- Publishing a figure you have not confirmed
What moves the number
What changes the size of a mission site?
These decide the scope more than the page count does.
- How many sections the facts page needs — each one is written from your own records
- Whether the donate or join button connects to a payment or membership system — that link is tested end to end before launch
- Whether a donor portal comes now or later — logins and donor records need their own build and testing
- A second, smaller site for a shop or service you also run — it's planned as its own build
Where this comes from
The US record
The projects page carries reviews from the clients who gave their names, written in their own words. Behind them sit 600+ projects for US clients, delivered by my team.
The figures on your site come from your records, not from me. I lay them out so they read clearly, and the person who answers for each one confirms it in writing before it goes live.
Nearby
University cities to the east
Boston's clinics and labs need an approver for every claim, and Ann Arbor's shops sell to students who arrive each term.
FAQ
Worries before publishing figures
Your board has the final say on each of these.
Is a values page enough on its own?
- A values page works best with a facts page linked beside it. I'd keep yours and add the second page, so a supporter can read the two side by side. Governance, funding and pay go on the facts page, each one stated once.
Is it risky to publish numbers?
- Publishing numbers carries some risk, so the first version holds only the ones you're comfortable defending in public. A figure you're unsure about can wait for a later version. The scope names each fact before any copy is written.
Can supporters and customers share one site?
- Supporters and customers can share a site when the shop is small. When the trade side has its own regular customers, I'd build it as a second small site, so donors and shoppers each find their own way in.
How small can the first version be?
- A first version can be a single page. It opens with the mission and two facts you're sure of. The annual report and the donor portal can come later, once you know what supporters ask for. A single page still gets the same written scope and staging link as a larger build.
Should a nonprofit publish what it pays people?
- Publishing pay is your board's decision, not mine. If you do, I'd state the figures plainly on the facts page with the date they apply from, so nobody mistakes an old number for the current one.
Who should sign off the figures?
- The person who would answer for a figure if a supporter asked about it should sign it off. I send each one back for a written yes before launch, and anything without that yes stays off the site.
Next step
Start from the papers you already have
If your last annual report or budget is to hand, keep it open on the call. It doesn't matter if it's a spreadsheet or a PDF. The facts page's first sections come out of it.
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