Crisis transforms digital services to help more people find support and take action on homelessness

New website will make it easier for people to access support, donate, fundraise and take action to help end homelessness.

National homelessness charity Crisis has appointed Nexer Digital to transform its website, creating a clearer and more accessible experience for more than one million people who visit it each year.

The Macclesfield-based human-centred design agency will create simpler online journeys for people experiencing homelessness, donors, fundraisers, campaigners, volunteers and community partners.

The new website will make it easier for members to find support and community resources, and for supporters to donate, fundraise, campaign and take part in events. It will also help Crisis demonstrate the impact of its work more effectively.

Nexer Digital will involve the people who use Crisis’s website in its design and testing, including members with lived experience of homelessness and people with accessibility needs.

The project will support Crisis’s ambition to increase its impact, engage more supporters and generate vital income. It will also make the website easier for Crisis’s teams to manage, while ensuring accessibility and lived experience remain central to its online services.

Hilary Stephenson, Managing Director of Nexer Digital, said:

“Crisis’s website has an essential role to play. It must help people access support while giving supporters clear and simple ways to take action and see the difference their support makes.”

“We’ll begin with the people who use the website and what they need from it, including members with accessibility needs and lived experience of homelessness. By embedding inclusion from the outset, we can create an online experience that works better for everyone.”

“We’re incredibly proud to be working with such a pivotal national charity. With ending homelessness also a key priority for the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, this project feels especially significant to us as a North West-based agency. It is an exciting opportunity to combine our digital expertise with Crisis’s ambition to help end homelessness for good.”

Every year Crisis supports thousands of people experiencing the worst forms of homelessness through its network of Skylight centres across Great Britain, including people sleeping rough, in cars or vans or sofa surfing. More than 6,150 people also give their time each year to support the charity’s work.

The new website will be built using Umbraco 17 and will provide Crisis with a more stable and sustainable platform for the future. Nexer Digital will improve how information is organised and make the website easier for people to navigate.

Nexer Digital is providing specialists across research, content, design, development, accessibility, data and testing. The website is expected to launch in early 2027, after which the agency will provide Crisis with ongoing digital support.

Lucy Noble, Digital Product/User Experience Lead at Crisis, said:

“Our website is an important way for people to find vital information and get involved. We want every visitor to be able to find what they need quickly and easily, whatever their circumstances or access needs.”

“This project will help us reach and support more people, strengthen our fundraising and campaigning, and communicate the impact of our work more clearly. It will also give our teams a website that is easier to manage and develop as our organisation and services evolve.”

“Nexer Digital’s charity and public-sector experience, collaborative approach and commitment to inclusion made them the right partner for us. Its team combines a strong understanding of accessibility and lived experience with the technical and security expertise needed to deliver a project of this scale.”