What a charity website costs in New Zealand, and which parts should be cheap

If you are the treasurer, coordinator or committee member who has been asked to find out what a website costs, you are probably trying to put one number into a budget or a grant application. The difficulty is that a website is not one cost. It is four, and they behave differently.

Below is each of them, where a charity discount makes sense, and a checklist for the committee.

The four things you actually pay for

1. The build. A one-off cost to design the site, set it up and put your content in.
2. Hosting and security. A monthly cost for as long as the site is online.
3. Changes and care. Optional, ongoing help when programmes, people or appeals change.
4. Payment processing. A cost on each donation or ticket, taken by whoever handles the card payment.

A quote that only shows the first one is not wrong, but it is not the whole budget. Ask for all four in writing.

1. The build

This is where most of the money goes. What drives it is scope, not the word “charity”. A few pages explaining who you are, what you run and how to get in touch is a small job. Add event sign-ups, online donations with receipts and a newsletter list, and it becomes a larger one, because each of those is a small system with its own rules.

A fair build quote lists what is included, says whether you supply finished text and photos, and includes a handover so the people who will update the site know how. Have your content ready before the build starts: content still being written is the most common reason a website project runs late.

2. Hosting and security, every month

Someone has to keep the site online, back it up, renew its security certificate and apply security updates to the software underneath. That is a real cost, every month, whoever bills it.

A very low hosting figure can mean nobody is applying updates, which is how small sites get hacked. A build quoted with no monthly figure leaves you unsure who fixes things when they break. Look for a stated monthly amount and a plain list of what it covers.

3. Changes and care, if you want them

Some groups want to update everything themselves; others would rather email someone when the winter programme changes. Ongoing care should be optional, separate from hosting, and priced so you know what a month of small changes costs. If you plan to do it yourselves, ask to see the editing screen before you sign. Updating a programme page should feel about as hard as writing an email.

4. Payment processing on donations and tickets

When a donor pays by card, the card processor charges a fee on each transaction. This is not the web developer’s fee; it is the same kind of cost any organisation that takes cards pays. Check the processor’s current New Zealand pricing, including whether it offers a different rate for registered charities, rather than a figure quoted from memory.

Bank transfer usually costs less to receive, but it creates a different cost: someone has to match each deposit to a donor, and a gift with no reference is hard to receipt.

Where a charity discount makes sense, and where it does not

It is reasonable to ask for a community rate. It helps to know which parts of the price can bend.

Labour can be discounted. The build and the care hours are someone’s time, and a provider can choose to charge less for time spent on work they believe in.

Hosting usually cannot. Servers, backups and security updates cost the same for a charity as for a shop. A provider who discounts hosting heavily has to pay for it from somewhere, and the risk is that the somewhere is the security updates.

Hidden costs to ask about

• Who owns the domain? Your web address should be registered in the organisation’s name, with login details the committee holds. If a volunteer or a developer registered it personally, sort that out while everyone is still in touch.
• Can you leave with your content? Ask whether you can export your pages, donor records and lists in a common format such as a spreadsheet, and what happens to the site if you stop paying.
• Is there a platform percentage on top of card fees? Some donation and ticketing services take a percentage of each gift in addition to the card processor’s fee. That can be a fair trade for a free tool, but on a large appeal it adds up, so work it out against last year’s giving.
• How much volunteer time will it take? A site that needs an hour of fiddling to post an event will stop being updated. Volunteer time is not free; it is just not on the invoice.

Donation receipts matter more than they look

In New Zealand, people who give to an approved donee organisation can claim a tax credit on their donations, and they need a receipt to do it. A clear receipt makes the claim easy, which makes it easier to give again.

A good receipt usually carries the organisation’s name, its charity registration number and IRD number, the donor’s name, the amount, the date and a unique receipt number. Inland Revenue sets the actual requirements, so check IRD’s current guidance on what a receipt must show and what counts as a donation. Two points often catch groups out:

• Being a registered charity and being an approved donee organisation are separate things. Confirm your status with IRD before you tell donors they can claim.
• A payment where the giver gets something back, such as a dinner ticket, is generally not treated as a donation. Ask IRD how to handle mixed cases.

When a free or DIY option is the right answer

Not every group needs a paid website. If you are a small group with a few regular meetings, no online donations and a volunteer who enjoys the work, a free site builder or a well-kept community directory listing can do the job well. Pay for a build when the admin it removes (paper sign-up sheets, unlabelled transfers, handwritten receipts) is costing more volunteer hours than the site would.

A checklist to take to the committee

1. The one-off build price, with a list of what it includes.
2. The monthly hosting and security figure, and what it covers.
3. Whether ongoing care is optional, and what it costs.
4. The card processor’s current fees, and any platform percentage on top.
5. Whether prices include GST, or whether the provider is not GST-registered.
6. Who owns the domain, confirmed in writing.
7. How you export your content and records if you leave.
8. Whether donation receipts are automatic and carry your charity’s details.
9. Who will update the site, and roughly how many hours a month that takes.
10. A realistic go-live date, worked back from any grant or event deadline.

One worked example: Salix’s own prices

Here is how Salix, a one-person software company in Auckland, prices charity work. These are Salix’s prices, not a market rate, so compare any quote on the four parts above rather than the headline number.

• The build. The Noticeboard, an organisation site volunteers can edit, starts from $2,800 NZD. The Gathering adds event sign-ups, online donations with receipts and newsletters, from $5,500 NZD. Both are indicative floors, with a final quote after scoping.
• Hosting and security. $95 NZD a month, required while the site is hosted with Salix, covering hosting, nightly off-site backups, certificate renewals and security patching.
• Care. Optional, at a community rate from $150 NZD a month.
• Payment processing. Paid tickets go through Stripe, and donations by card or bank transfer go straight to the charity’s own account, with no platform fee on top. The card processor’s own fees still apply.

The community rate is on labour, not on the $95 platform fee, for the reason given above. There is no GST on these prices because Salix Limited is not GST-registered. Each gift gets a numbered receipt by email with the charity number and IRD number on it. A Noticeboard site can be live in two to three weeks when the content is ready.

Salix built the site for the Pearl of the Islands Foundation, a national interfaith and community foundation. For the packages in full, see websites and tools for NZ nonprofits.