Most boards do not say no to a new website. They say "not yet", because the request came in as a price with no plan behind it. This guide shows you what a board needs to see, gives you a one-page memo you can copy, and ends with a section for board members who have been asked to vote.
It is written for Canadian nonprofits. Prices are in Canadian dollars.
Why boards say no
Board members are careful with money because that is their job. A website request usually fails for one of five reasons:
- It sounds like a nice-to-have. "Our site looks dated" is an opinion, not a problem.
- The cost is one big number. $8,000 with no breakdown feels like a guess.
- Nobody has said what happens if you wait. If waiting looks free, the board will choose to wait.
- There is only one quote. The board cannot tell if the price is fair.
- Someone remembers the last one. A past project ran late or over budget, and nobody has said how this one will be different.
A good proposal answers all five before anyone asks.
What boards want to know
Strip it down and a board has six questions:
- What is wrong now, and how do we know?
- What will the new site do that the old one cannot?
- What does it cost, this year and every year after?
- Who will do the work, and why them?
- What could go wrong, and what is the plan if it does?
- How will we know it worked?
Your memo should answer each of these in a few lines.
Proof to gather first
Spend two hours on this before you write anything. Evidence moves a board. Adjectives do not.
- Numbers from your current site. How many people visit each month? How many start a donation and how many finish? If you do not have this data, that is itself a finding.
- Screenshots on a phone. Take pictures of the pages that break. For most charities, most visitors are on phones. Check your own numbers.
- Staff time. How long does it take to post an event or change a phone number? Who has to be called?
- Questions that should not need a phone call. Ask the front desk what people phone about that the website should answer.
- Anything a funder has said. A grant officer who could not find your annual report is a strong example.
- Rules you may not meet. Accessibility, privacy and French. Note where the current site falls short. Ask a lawyer about your legal duties. Do not guess.
The cost per year, not just the price
A website is not a one-year expense. A well-built site lasts about four years. Show the board the cost per year, and show the running costs with it.
Here is an example for a small charity:
| Expense | Year one | Years two to four, each |
|---|---|---|
| Build | $6,000 | |
| French version | $1,500 | |
| Domain, hosting and upkeep | $700 | $1,300 |
| Total | $8,200 | $1,300 |
This is an illustrative budget with limited upkeep, separate from our optional $400/month care plan. See the cost guide and request a quote for actual costs.
Over four years, that is $12,100, or about $3,000 a year.
Then put it next to what the site is expected to do. If your average online gift is $75, the site needs to bring in about 40 extra gifts a year to cover its cost. That is fewer than four a month. Use your own numbers. If you cannot make the math work, that is worth knowing before the meeting.
Payment is due in two instalments: 50% to start and 50% before launch. Include both dates in the proposal.
Bring three quotes to the board. Make one of them a free or low-cost option. It shows you looked, and you can explain why it does or does not fit.
The one-page memo
Copy this, replace the text in brackets, and keep it to one page. Attach the quotes and your screenshots behind it.
To: Board of Directors From: [Name, role] Date: [Date] Re: Approval to replace our website
The request. Approve up to $[amount] in fiscal [year] to replace our website, with work to start in [month] and finish by [month].
The problem. Our current site was built in [year]. [Two or three facts. Example: 68% of visitors are on phones, and the donation page does not work on a phone. Staff cannot update the site without calling a volunteer. A funder told us in [month] they could not find our annual report.]
What the new site will do. [Three outcomes. Example: let donors give from a phone in under a minute. Let staff post events and news themselves. Serve clients in English and French. Meet the Google Ad Grant website rules, so we can apply for up to US$10,000 a month in free search ads.]
Cost. $[build] to build. About $[amount] a year after that for hosting and upkeep. Over four years, about $[amount] a year. We received three quotes, from $[low] to $[high]. They are attached.
Who we recommend, and why. [Vendor]. [Two reasons tied to the outcomes above. Not "they seemed nice".]
Risks and how we will handle them. [Example: content delays are the most common cause of late projects. [Name] will own content, with four hours a week set aside for it. The contract has a fixed price and a fixed scope.]
How we will know it worked. We will report to the board 30, 60 and 90 days after launch on: [online gifts completed, newsletter sign-ups, calls to the front desk about basic information, time for staff to post an update].
Decision needed. Approve the budget and authorize [name] to sign the agreement.
If you are the board member: what to ask before you vote
Some readers are on the other side of the table. You have been handed a website proposal and asked to vote yes or no. You do not need to understand the technology. Ask these eight questions.
- Who owns the site when it is done? The organization should own the domain, the design, the content and the logins.
- What exactly is included? Look for a number of pages and a list of features. "A new website" is not a scope.
- What is not included? Writing, photos, French and moving old content are the usual gaps.
- What does it cost every year after launch? Ask for it in writing.
- Can staff update it without the vendor? Ask to see how.
- What happens if we are late with content? Most delays come from the client side. The contract should say what happens.
- What if we want to leave this vendor later? You should be able to take your site and content with you.
- How will we measure success? If the proposal does not say, ask staff to add it.
If the answers are clear, the proposal is probably sound, even if the price is higher than you expected. If the answers are vague, a lower price will not fix that.
Hard questions, answered
"Can't a volunteer do this for free?" Sometimes, yes. Ask who will maintain it when the volunteer moves on, and who owns the logins. If there is a good answer, a volunteer build can be the right call for a small site.
"Why not just use Wix or Squarespace?" For a small site run by one person, a builder is a fair choice. It becomes a poor fit when you need two languages, a strong donation path, or a site several staff update.
"We redid the site a few years ago. Why again?" Most sites last about four years before phones, browsers and your own programs outgrow them. If the last build was cheap and quick, it may have aged faster.
"How long will it take?" A custom build usually takes six to eight weeks once content is ready. Getting content ready is the part to plan for.
"Who should present this?" The person who will own the project, backed by one board member who has seen the memo in advance. A proposal with an ally on the board rarely fails.
Want help building your case?
We give every nonprofit we quote a version of this memo filled in with their numbers. Book a 15-minute call and we will tell you what your site would cost and what your board is likely to ask.