How to Evaluate a Web Design Agency’s Track Record: A Guide for Charities, CICs and Faith-Based Organisations

When a charity, CIC or faith-based organisation sets out to commission a new website, the conversation with prospective agencies tends to follow the same pattern. Every agency says it delivers on time, understands your sector, and gets great results. For a trustee board or management committee trying to spend donor or grant money responsibly, “trust us” is not evidence — and it is not something you can put in board minutes to show due diligence was done.

The good news is that a web agency’s actual track record is usually easy to check, if you know what to look for and which questions to ask before you sign anything.

Live sites tell you more than a portfolio page

A polished case study on an agency’s own website is marketing copy. What matters is the real, working result. Ask for a list of live websites the agency has built or currently maintains, then go and look at them yourself:

• Do they load quickly and work properly on a phone, not just a desktop screen?
• Can you find a donate button, contact form or booking page within a couple of clicks?
• Does the content read as if it was written for the organisation, or does it feel generic and templated?
• Is there any obvious sign of accessibility thought — readable text contrast, sensible heading structure, alt text on images?

If an agency is reluctant to share a list of live client sites, or the examples they do offer are unusually old, that is worth noting.

Ask who owns what happens after launch

This is the question that catches out the most charities, and it rarely comes up until after the contract is signed. Before you commit, ask plainly:

• Who owns the domain name, and is it registered in the organisation’s name rather than the agency’s?
• Do you get full admin access to the content management system, or only limited editing rights?
• If you moved to a different agency in future, could you take the website with you, or would you effectively have to start again?
• What happens to the site, and your data, if the agency closes down or you simply want to leave?

A track record of good practice includes being straightforward about ownership. An agency that hesitates to answer these questions clearly is telling you something about how they operate.

Support after delivery is part of the track record

Launching a website is a one-off event; keeping it secure, updated and working is ongoing. Ask what support looks like once the initial project ends: is there a plan-holder relationship, a pay-as-you-go arrangement, or nothing at all beyond handover? Ask what typically goes wrong on similar sites after launch, and how quickly issues get fixed. An agency with a genuine track record of long-term relationships should be able to answer this without hesitation, because they will already have organisations they have supported for years.

Look for relevant, not just impressive, experience

A large corporate portfolio does not automatically translate into understanding the constraints a small charity or CIC actually works under: limited budgets, volunteer admin time, trustee sign-off processes, and the need to demonstrate impact to funders. When you talk to an agency, ask directly whether they have worked with organisations of a similar size and sector to yours, and what they learned from it. You are looking for evidence of relevant experience, not simply the biggest logo wall.

A word on cost and value

Website costs vary enormously depending on scope, and any agency that quotes a fixed figure before understanding what you actually need should prompt a follow-up question rather than an instant yes. A more useful approach for trustees is to get a small number of comparable quotes, ask each agency to break down what is included, and check whether ongoing hosting, support and any third-party costs are itemised separately or bundled in. Cheapest is not the same as best value, and neither is most expensive — the proof is in what is actually delivered and supported afterwards, not the headline number on a quote.

Why this scrutiny matters more for charities

Charities and CICs often face a layer of accountability that commercial businesses do not: trustees have a duty of care over how funds are spent, funders increasingly expect digital accessibility as a condition of grants, and procurement processes for public sector or grant-funded contracts may formally require evidence of due diligence. A website that is inaccessible, or built on a platform your organisation does not actually control, can become a real liability further down the line. Asking these questions up front, and keeping a short written record of the answers, is a simple way to demonstrate that due diligence was genuinely done.

Turning this into a shortlist

In practice, most of this can be handled in a single conversation or written questionnaire sent to each agency you are considering: request live examples, ask about ownership and access, ask about post-launch support, ask about relevant sector experience, and get an itemised quote. The organisations that answer clearly and without hedging are the ones worth taking to the next stage.

Livicode Tech Solutions works with charities, CICs and faith-based organisations across Bexley, Bromley, Dartford, Greenwich and Lewisham. If you are drawing up a shortlist and want a second opinion on what to ask, or want to see examples of what we have built and who we support, get in touch — no obligation, and no assumption that a website has to blow the budget to be done properly.

Livicode Tech Solutions — Your Local Digital Solutions Partner
www.livicode.com · info@livicode.com · WhatsApp: +44 7708 803980