Web design for ngos & nonprofits in Kenya

The core job is to show the work clearly (what you do, where, with whom, and what has changed as a result) and to make it easy to fund, partner or get involved. That means programme pages that are specific rather than aspirational, an accessible library of reports and publications, honest impact data, and a donations path that works for Kenyan givers (M-Pesa) as well as international ones (card). It also means the communications team being able to publish stories and updates without a developer in the loop.

Online donations should be low-friction: an M-Pesa STK Push and a card option, a suggested-amount grid, and a thank-you that confirms the gift. Storytelling (a strong photo, a named person, a specific change) does more for funding than a wall of statistics, so we design the templates around that. Because NGO budgets are grant-funded and scrutinised, we scope tightly, keep the running cost low with a lean hand-coded build, and make the site easy to maintain in-house so you are not paying an agency retainer out of programme funds.

An NGO website is read by two groups who want opposite things. A donor, a grant officer or a partner organisation is looking for evidence: governance, registration, audited accounts, results against targets, and who is accountable. A community member, a participant or a potential applicant is looking for something practical: whether they qualify, where to go, what to bring, when the next intake is, and who to call.

Writing one page for both usually fails both. We separate the navigation early: programme pages that speak plainly to participants, and an evidence layer (annual reports, evaluations, financial summaries, board and policy documents) that a funder can reach in two clicks. The second group is small but decides the budget, and they judge an organisation partly on how easy that evidence was to find.

Images of participants carry both an ethical and a legal obligation. The Kenya Data Protection Act treats a recognisable photograph as personal data, and most funders now have their own safeguarding requirements on top of it. We set the site up so consent is recorded at the point the photograph is taken, images of children are handled with particular care, and any image can be removed quickly and permanently when consent is withdrawn.

The editorial standard matters too. Photographs that show people with agency, named where they have agreed to be named, describing what they did rather than what was done to them, read as more credible to donors than the crisis imagery that used to be standard. It is also simply the respectful way to represent the communities an organisation works with.

Most donation pages built for Kenyan organisations are copied from international templates and ask for a card. Locally, the money arrives by M-Pesa. A giving page that works leads with a paybill or till number large enough to read on a phone, with the account reference spelled out, and offers the card route for diaspora and institutional donors alongside it. Bank details for standing orders and larger gifts belong on the same page rather than on request.

Give people something concrete to give to. A figure tied to a real unit of delivery, a term of school fees, a month of therapy sessions, a water point serving a number of households, converts better than an open amount box, provided the figure is honest and the organisation can report against it. Recurring giving deserves its own prompt, because monthly givers are worth several times a one-off donor over time.

What happens after the gift matters as much as the page. An automatic acknowledgement, a receipt suitable for a donor’s own records, and a clear statement of how the organisation will and will not use their contact details are the minimum. Corporate partners and foundations need a different route entirely: a partnership page naming who to contact, what kinds of collaboration the organisation takes on, and the due diligence pack they will ask for.

We start with your programmes and your funding pipeline, structure the site so evidence is easy to reach, then design templates the comms team can run. The build is web design and development with digital marketing where a campaign or appeal needs reach. Tell us your thematic areas, your donation channels and who will maintain the site, and we will scope it to your grant cycle.