When prioritizing your projects and planning your budget for the year, web accessibility must be one of your top priorities and an area where you direct overhead funding. Courts have ruled that nonprofit websites must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as they are increasingly considered public accommodations.
But beyond legal requirements, making your website accessible to all audiences lets you open your mission to anyone who wants to be part of your cause, increasing the number of donors, volunteers, and advocates who help you achieve your goals. Web accessibility offers the ultimate form of inclusivity, telling all supporters, “You belong here.”
For nonprofits, planning a realistic budget is the first step toward turning good intentions into measurable impact. This guide explores the key information and tips you need to prepare an effective web accessibility budget, starting with evaluating the ROI of web accessibility.
The cost of inclusion vs. inaction
While the upfront costs of web accessibility might seem daunting, the financial risk of a lawsuit is significantly higher. Settlements and legal fees for non-compliant websites often start at $15,000 and can quickly climb to $40,000 or more.
More importantly, the return on investment for accessibility is substantial. Accessible sites often see higher organic search traffic and better conversion rates on donation pages. For example, one Semrush study found that, when compared to non-accessible websites, accessible sites:
- See 23% more traffic.
- Rank for 27% more organic keywords.
- Have a 19% boost in authority.
By removing barriers, you are not just avoiding a fine; you are actively expanding your donor base and strengthening community trust.
Tips for planning your nonprofit web accessibility budget
Now that you know the key role web accessibility plays in enhancing your online engagement and fundraising efforts, let’s explore tips your organization can use to develop a healthy nonprofit accessibility budget.
1. Audit your current accessibility strategy.
Begin the budgeting process with a clear understanding of your starting point. Using a free automated scanner, such as AccessibilityChecker, is a helpful first step, but these tools typically identify only 30-40% of potential accessibility barriers. A professional manual audit is essential to help your nonprofit identify complex issues, such as keyboard navigation traps or confusing screen reader paths.
For example, a healthcare nonprofit website auditor might test whether a patient can successfully navigate a find-a-care-provider tool using only a keyboard. An auditor testing an animal rescue nonprofit website may investigate whether all visuals and infographics have helpful, descriptive alt text that provides complete and necessary context for users with visual impairments.
A comprehensive audit for a standard nonprofit site costs between $1,500 and $3,500. However, you’ll see a higher website ROI in the long run by conducting an audit, as it will provide a roadmap to ensure you’re directing funds only to the most significant problem areas.
2. Estimate costs for technical remediation and design.
After the auditing process, you must allocate funds for website repairs. Remediation costs will vary based on your site’s age and the complexity of its features, but most mid-size organizations should set aside $2,500-$15,000 for initial technical fixes.
Tactical remediation activities often include:
- Correcting heading hierarchies and semantic HTML structures.
- Updating color palettes to meet 4.5:1 contrast ratios for readability.
- Converting existing PDF resources to accessible web pages.
- Fixing non-descriptive buttons (e.g., changing “Click Here” to “Donate to the Hunger Relief Fund”).
You may work with the same accessibility consultant who conducted your audit to implement fixes, but you may also want to explore other options if you just need a few targeted fixes. No matter which option you choose, be sure to get quotes from prospective service providers to determine which offers the best combination of expertise and affordability.
3. Leverage the built-in accessibility tools in your CMS.
You can significantly reduce external developer costs by leveraging the native accessibility features of your content management system (CMS). Popular CMS platforms that many nonprofits use, like WordPress and Drupal, have made massive strides in supporting inclusive design out of the box.
If you use WordPress, prioritize accessibility-ready themes and use plugins like WP Accessibility to address common accessibility issues without custom code. For Drupal users, the A11y Project and built-in core accessibility modules help enforce standards for content editors.
By choosing a CMS that prioritizes accessibility standards, you can reduce the long-term financial burden of custom remediation and automatically support all types of users.
One thing not to do? Rely on so-called overlays as a shortcut. Accessibility overlays are tools that enable users to adjust accessibility settings themselves, such as a slider for increasing text size. However, these tools can often slow down your website, introduce security risks, and even decrease accessibility. It’s better to maintain accessibility through working with an expert and maximizing the high-quality tools in your CMS.
4. Plan for ongoing maintenance and team training.
Accessibility is not a one-time project; it is a continuous operational standard. Every new blog post, video, or online fundraising campaign can introduce new barriers if your team is not prepared.
Regular accessibility fixes are so essential that Kanopi Studios’ guide to nonprofit web maintenance recommends integrating them into your cadence for other site updates, such as security fixes and conversion optimizations.
Allocate time for an annual accessibility training workshop or professional development. These sessions ensure that your marketing team knows how to write descriptive alt text, that your program staff understands how to structure digital documents, and that your fundraising team knows how to create accessible donation forms.
Your budget should also factor in ongoing accessibility maintenance costs. If you conduct routine maintenance in-house, you’ll have to consider how much time one of your staff members will need to spend on accessibility updates. If you choose to work with a third-party web developer to support ongoing accessibility updates, you’ll have to factor those costs into your budget. Most organizations offer customized pricing packages based on your needs.
Planning a web accessibility budget is an investment in your nonprofit’s resilience and reach. By following a structured path of auditing, remediation, and ongoing training, your organization can build a digital presence that is both legally sound and deeply welcoming.
About the Author:
Miles Bilka, CNP is the Marketing Manager at the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, where he leads digital marketing and content strategy for one of the nation’s leading nonprofit leadership and workforce development organizations.