Who it's for
Websites for charities and community organisations
Short version: the North of Tyne and Sunderland business grants need mostly commercial income, so most charities won't qualify for those specific funds. That doesn't rule Brandbadger out. Charity-specific funding sometimes covers a website instead, the site still gets built to the same accessible standard either way, and the full-cost route is always available if no funding fits.
Why accessibility matters more here, not less
Charity and community-group websites are often used by people who are stressed, unfamiliar with the organisation, or less confident online than average, sometimes all three at once. That's not a nice-to-have audience to design for. It's the actual job. A site that's hard to read on a phone, or unusable with a screen reader, isn't a design flaw here, it's a barrier between someone and the help they came looking for.
How the funding is different
The North of Tyne and Sunderland Business Support Funds require mostly commercial income, which rules out most donation and grant-funded charities. That's a genuine limit on those two specific funds, not a judgement on the organisation.
Charity-specific website funding does exist elsewhere, digital funds run by bodies like Fat Beehive and local community foundations are worth checking, along with wider digital-skills or infrastructure grants some funders offer alongside core grants. Rates, eligibility and open status change often, so I check what's actually live before anyone relies on it, the same rule that applies to the business funds.
If nothing funded fits, the full-cost route is always there, and the build is identical either way. The funding changes how it's paid for, not what gets built.
What gets built
- Plain-language pages that explain who you help and how someone gets in touch or self-refers.
- Layouts that work properly on a phone, since most visitors arrive on one.
- Accessible by default: proper HTML, keyboard support, readable content, forms that work.
- An impact or evidence section written for funders and trustees, not just service users.
- A donate or referral link to whichever third-party tool you already use, not a custom system.
What this looks like in practice
There's no finished case study to point to yet, so here's the honest version: More than Grandparents, a Sunderland kinship care charity, is a real project in the pipeline, not a delivered one. The plan is a plain-language rebuild aimed at kinship carers who've never heard of the charity before, built to be usable by people who are stressed and often not confident online, with an impact section for the funders who decide whether the charity gets its next grant. Worth seeing how it's being approached, even before it's live.
Tell me about your organisationSee who else this work is for, or read about the North East business grants if you're checking whether your organisation might actually meet the commercial-income test.