Most local charities and community groups run on a handful of volunteers, a shared email address and a website someone set up years ago. Nobody is paid to look after the technology, so it tends to be looked at only when something stops working. That’s a reasonable choice when every hour goes to the people you’re there to help, but it leaves gaps that are easy to miss until they cause trouble.
We want to be useful to the groups that make our area work, so we’re offering local charities and community groups one of two things for free: a monthly security scan, or a small website hosted for free on our own secure platform.
Option one: a monthly security scan
Once a month we check three things from the outside, the same way anyone on the internet could see them. We don’t install any software and we never ask for your passwords.
- Your email: could someone send emails that look as if they came from you? Fake emails from a charity asking for donations or payment details are a common scam, and a few settings stop most of them.
- Your website: is it properly protected? We check its security certificate and settings, whether its software is out of date or has known weaknesses, whether it’s protected against attacks designed to knock it offline and whether it has been flagged as unsafe or had spam links planted on it.
- Your office internet: have any doors been left open to the internet? We only run this check where you have a fixed internet address, and only once you’ve given us a one-line written permission.
Each month you get a short report with every check rated green, amber or red and explained in plain English. Fixing anything it finds is up to you, or we can quote for the work separately. It is an early warning rather than a guarantee, but it means problems get spotted by us instead of by someone with worse intentions.
Option two: a small website, hosted for free
If your group has no website, or one that has fallen out of date, we’ll build you a small website that says who you are, what you do and how to get in touch. It’s hosted for free on our own secure platform, which is fast and looked after, so there’s nothing for you to keep updated.
Your web address stays registered in your group’s name. You keep paying its yearly renewal to the company you bought it from, just as you do now, which is usually around £10 to £15 a year. If you don’t have a web address yet, we’ll help you register one in your group’s name. We agree up front which changes are included, and the site carries a small “Website by StratITech” credit at the bottom.
What’s not included
Neither option includes ongoing IT support. If you’d like help beyond the scan or the website, we’re happy to talk about it, and charities and community groups get a heavy discount on our published prices. We’ll always agree a fixed quote with you before any work starts.
Who it’s for
The offer is open to registered charities and not-for-profit community groups. If you’re a social enterprise or a community interest company, get in touch anyway and we’ll talk it through.
How to ask
Send us a message or message our Facebook page with your group’s name and which option you’d like. We’ll reply the same day, Monday to Friday, and explain the next steps. You can also see the offer alongside our prices on our pricing page.