How to make sure your charity website is accessible

9 November 2026  |  Stuart Palmer

While many charities understand why having an accessible website matters, knowing where to start can be challenging. Website accessibility is important for people with a range of needs, including those with visual or hearing impairments, physical disabilities, cognitive or learning difficulties, and people who rely on assistive technologies such as screen readers.

Reassuringly, you don’t need to be a technical expert to make a difference. From checking colour contrast and font sizes to improving navigation and making forms easier to use, there are practical steps you can take to make your website more accessible and inclusive. In this guide, we’ll explore the key things to look out for, explain the accessibility guidelines worth knowing and introduce free tools to help you identify areas for improvement.

Get to know the guidelines

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a widely recognised set of guidelines for making websites more accessible. They provide recommendations to help ensure people can find, understand and interact with your content.
WCAG has three levels:

• Level A: Essential accessibility requirements
• Level AA: A broader set of requirements and a widely used target for accessible websites
• Level AAA: More demanding requirements that can provide additional benefits where practical

For most charity websites, WCAG Level AA is a sensible target. You don’t need to understand every technical detail to get started, but the guidelines can help you identify barriers and prioritise improvements.

Need to make some changes? Start with the areas that can make the biggest difference to your visitors. This might look like:

1. Is your content easy to read?

Think about how your website looks and feels to someone who may struggle with small text, low contrast or large blocks of information.

Here are a few things to check:

• Font size: WCAG doesn’t specify a minimum font size for ordinary text, but 16px is a useful practical starting point for body text
• Colour contrast: Make sure text is easy to read against its background. For example, pale grey text on a white background can be difficult to see. WCAG Level AA sets minimum contrast ratios of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. You can check your colours for free using WebAIM’s Contrast Checker by entering your text and background colours.
• Text resizing: Visitors should be able to enlarge text to 200% without losing content or functionality.
• Images: Add descriptive alternative text (alt text) to images so people using screen readers can understand what the image shows.
• Page structure: Use clear headings, short paragraphs and descriptive links. Plain language helps people find and understand information more easily.

2. Can everyone navigate your website?

Visitors should be able to find what they need and use your website without unnecessary barriers, whether they’re using a mouse, keyboard or assistive technology.

Try these checks:

• Keyboard navigation: Press Tab to move through your website. You should be able to reach interactive elements and clearly see which link or button is selected.
• Buttons and links: Make buttons and links easy to identify and click or tap. Ensure they’re large enough and spaced far enough apart for people to select them easily, particularly those using touchscreens or who have difficulty with precise movements.
• Forms: Give each field a clear label, explain what’s required and provide helpful error messages when something goes wrong.
• Donation and booking journeys: Check that visitors can complete important tasks without encountering confusing instructions or inaccessible features.
  These checks are particularly important for essential journeys, such as contacting your team, accessing support or making a donation.

3. Have you checked your videos and documents?

Accessibility applies to more than the main pages of your website.

Provide captions for prerecorded videos that contain meaningful audio, so people who have difficulty hearing can follow along. Check that PDFs are accessible to people using screen readers. Make sure text can be selected (rather than being saved as an image), headings are properly structured, images have descriptive alternative text and content follows a logical reading order. If you have Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can use its built-in accessibility checker to help identify potential problems.

Where possible, offer important information directly on a webpage rather than relying solely on downloadable documents.

It’s also worth checking any third-party donation, booking or payment platforms you use. An accessible website can still create barriers if an external service is difficult to use.

Check your site

Not sure how to spot accessibility problems? There are free tools that can help.

One useful option is WAVE, a free online accessibility checker. Enter the address of a webpage and it will highlight potential issues, including insufficient colour contrast, missing image descriptions and problems with page structure.

Start with your homepage, then check important pages such as your services, contact page and donation journey. You can use the results to identify areas that need further investigation.

It’s also worth carrying out a few simple checks yourself:

• Navigate your website using only a keyboard.
• Increase your browser zoom to 200% and check that content remains usable.
• Try completing a contact form or making a donation.
• Ask people with different access needs who use your website to share their experiences with you.
• Automated tools won’t identify every problem, so treat WAVE as a starting point rather than a guarantee that your website is accessible. If you uncover more complex issues, consider seeking help from a website developer or accessibility specialist.

What are your charity’s legal responsibilities?

Website accessibility isn’t just good practice; it’s also a legal responsibility.

In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 requires service providers, including charities, to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. This means charities should consider whether their websites create barriers and take reasonable steps to help everyone access their services.

Some charities are also covered by the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018. These regulations require organisations within their scope to meet accessibility standards and publish an accessibility statement explaining how accessible their website is.

Not sure whether the regulations apply to your charity? The government’s guidance on accessibility requirements explains which organisations are covered.

If your charity needs to publish an accessibility statement, GOV.UK also provides a model accessibility statement to help you get started.

Requirements can vary depending on your organisation and circumstances, so seek appropriate advice if you’re unsure of your legal obligations.

Start today

Making your charity website more accessible doesn’t have to mean fixing everything at once.

Start by checking your key pages, use free tools such as WAVE and WebAIM’s Contrast Checker to identify potential issues, and prioritise changes that will make the biggest difference to your visitors. Keep accessibility in mind as you add new content and features, and seek feedback from the people who use your website.

We’d love to talk to you about creating a more accessible charity website that removes barriers, reaches more people and helps you make a bigger impact. Book a call with Stuart.