We've changed how we’re supporting local good causes

When we launched Midlands Digital back in the autumn of 2024, I made a commitment from day one that for every ten websites we built, we'd provide one completely free for a local charity, good cause, not-for-profit community organisation or someone that just really needed a helping hand.

It wasn't a marketing play. It was something I was genuinely proud to bake into the business.

We had the skills, the tools, and the passion — and these organisations were doing brilliant work across Herefordshire and Worcestershire without the budget to invest in a proper digital presence. So we rolled up our sleeves and stepped in.

And we didn't cut corners. Every charity project got the same treatment as a paying client.

We’d sit down to understand the organisation inside out, attending meetings, researching their audience, developing branding and graphic design from scratch.

Then we’d build a fully optimised website. Connecting domains. Testing. Refining. Launching. Hours and hours of considered, professional work — because these causes deserve the same quality as any commercial project.

To cap it off on top of the website build itself we also covered all associated costs for the first year. Hosting fees, professional email setup, and any third-party platform subscriptions needed to keep things running — tools like Calendly for bookings, Google Workspace, Mailchimp for newsletters, and whatever else the organisation needed to operate effectively online.

We also provided a full local SEO setup including Google Business Profile optimisation, Search Console submission, analytics configuration, and call tracking.

Everything handed over ready to go, at no cost whatsoever.

Well, almost no cost…!

We did ask just one thing in return.

Tag us in a single social media post when you announce your new website is live. That's it. Nothing more. Not a retainer. Not a referral fee. Not ongoing credit. Just one tag, one time, when the site goes live.

And I'll be honest about why that mattered to us. Charities have incredible communities behind them — supporters, volunteers, local business owners who care about the same causes.

A simple tag would introduce us to that audience and, hopefully, spread the word that we're a local business genuinely committed to doing good work for good causes. That exposure could lead to more opportunities with other local businesses and we’d then be able to help other good causes in the future.

We hoped it would cause a snowball effect of mutually beneficial good-will, where one project naturally led to the next.

That was the whole point but unfortunately - and here’s the reality check time - that never quite happened.

Despite delivering every project to the same standard we'd expect from a fully paid brief, when I looked back none of the organisations we supported followed through on that one tiny request.

And while I completely understand that charities are busy, stretched, and focused on far more important things than social media — it did make me take a step back and rethink whether this model was really working the way we'd hoped.

Because while the work was always free, it still represented a real investment of time, expertise, and money from our side. I was always happy to make that commitment — but over time, it became clear that a different approach would be fairer for everyone involved.

So I've rethought it…

What happens now for 2026

Rather than stepping away from supporting good causes altogether, my pledge is that Midlands Digital will now donate 5% of all profits from website builds to a nominated local charity each year.

That’s real money, going to a good cause doing real work in the local community. Alongside this we will offer a 10% reduction in cost to any local good causes who want to use our services.

I think it's consistent, sustainable and balanced. And honestly, I think it'll make a bigger difference in the long run than the occasional free website ever could.

I still believe passionately in giving back locally. That hasn't changed one bit but I think we've just found a better way to do it.

Thanks for reading,
Ollie

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