The setup wizard

The setup wizard is a short series of screens that asks for the things your website needs before it can go live: your charity's name, how people reach you, your registration details, where donations go and how volunteers sign up. At the end it can add a full set of ready-made pages, a main menu, sample content and sample photos, so you start from a finished-looking website instead of blank pages.

It takes about five minutes. Everything you type can be changed later, and nothing you skip is lost: you can come back to it.

This page covers the Charity kit's wizard step by step. For the wizard in general (how the steps, Back and Skip for now work), see The setup wizard in the shared chapters.

When the wizard opens

The wizard opens by itself the first time you sign in to WordPress after you switch on the Charity kit plugin (a plugin is an add-on for WordPress) and the Charity theme. See Installing.

Until you finish it, a reminder appears at the top of the Dashboard, the Plugins and Themes screens and the Charity screen. Click Continue setup to go back to where you left off.

How to run the setup wizard again

You can open the wizard again at any time, for example to add the starter pages you skipped the first time.

1. Go to Charity → Settings.
2. Click Run setup again at the top right.

Running it again is safe. The starter content step never makes second copies of pages or samples, and it never overwrites pages you have already edited.

The steps

The bar at the top shows all eight steps. A green tick means the step is saved. You can click any step's name to jump to it.

Step 1: Welcome

The first screen lists the steps ahead and reminds you that everything is also under Charity → Settings.

1. Read the list. It is numbered the same way as the steps in the bar at the top.
2. Click Let's start.

Step 2: Your business

Your name and logo appear on the website, in emails and on the staff sign-in page.

1. In Trading name, type your charity's everyday name, for example "Westfield Community Pantry". It is also used as the website's title.

2. In Registered company name (optional), type the name exactly as registered if your charity is also a company. Leave it blank otherwise.

3. In Tagline (optional), type a short line about what you do. It shows under the logo in the footer and in search results.

4. Under the boxes, click Choose image. The media library opens.

5. Click Upload files and choose your logo from your computer (or pick one you've already uploaded in Media Library), then click Use this image.

   

6. The logo now shows in the box, with Change image and Remove next to it. You can skip this and add it later.

7. Click Save and continue.

Step 3: How people reach you

These details show in the website's header, footer and contact sections.

1. In Phone numbers, type your numbers, one per line, the main number first.
2. In WhatsApp number (optional), type a number only if it is on WhatsApp, in international format (for example +447700900123). Leave it blank to hide the WhatsApp buttons.
3. In Public email, type the address you want visitors to see.
4. In Address, type your address. Line breaks are kept.
5. In Send notifications to, type the address that should get new requests and messages from the website. For several people, put commas between the addresses.
6. Click Save and continue.

Step 4: Your charity

The law asks charities to show their registered number on their website, and companies their company number and registered office. Whatever you type here appears in the footer of every page. These details are also under Charity → Settings, on the Your charity and Business tabs.

1. In Registered with, choose your regulator:
   • Charity Commission for England and Wales
   • Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)
   • Charity Commission for Northern Ireland
   • England and Wales, and Scotland (for charities registered with both)
   • Not registered (e.g. a community group, excepted or exempt)
2. In Registered charity number (optional), type your number exactly as it appears on the regulator's register. Leave it blank if you aren't registered.
3. If your charity is also a company, fill in Registered company name (optional) and Company number (optional). The wizard checks that the company number looks right before it lets you continue.
4. Kind of company (if you are one) (optional) is filled in with "Company limited by guarantee". It shows before your company number. Change it if yours is different, or clear it. A CIO has no company number.
5. Registered office (optional) is only shown when you have a company number. Leave it empty to use the address from step 3.
6. Click Save and continue.

Step 5: Donations

Your website doesn't take card or bank details itself. Every Donate button sends people to your page on your donation provider, and the gift is made there. Each campaign can have its own donation page later.

1. In Provider, choose the service you use: JustGiving, Enthuse, CAF Donate, PayPal Giving Fund, Stripe Payment Links or Another provider.
2. In Your donation page (optional), paste the web address of your page on the provider's website. It must start with https.
3. In Amounts to offer (£), type the amounts to suggest, separated by commas. It starts as "10, 25, 50". People can always choose their own amount.
4. Leave Offer monthly giving on if your provider takes regular gifts. Switch it off if it doesn't.
5. Click Save and continue.

Step 6: Volunteering

This sets up the volunteer sign-up form. Sign-ups are private records that you review. Nothing about a volunteer is published.

1. Leave Take volunteer sign-ups online on to show the form. Off: the form tells people to get in touch instead.
2. In Youngest age to sign up online, set the minimum age (it starts at 16). A role can ask for an older age. Younger volunteers sign up with a parent, not on the website.
3. In Who gets in touch (a first name) (optional), type the first name of the person who calls new volunteers, for example "Amira". The form then says "Amira will ring you within three days". Leave it empty and it says "We'll ring you…".
4. In Review volunteers after (months since they left or last did anything), set how long to keep a volunteer's record before it is listed under Volunteers → Due for review (it starts at 12).
5. Click Save and continue.

Step 7: Starter content

This is where the wizard builds your website. Each switch adds one kind of ready-made content. Switch on the ones you want, then click Save and continue. Running this step again never makes copies.

While the starter content is added

When you click Save and continue, a box appears under the switches: Adding your starter content… Please keep this page open. Each part you switched on gets a line that says working… and then done. The sample photos are added a few at a time, so their line counts up, for example Sample photos: 11 of 26.

Keep the page open. It takes a minute or two, mostly for the photos. When everything is done, the next step opens by itself. If the box turns red and says This didn't finish, click Save and continue again: the wizard carries on where it stopped and never adds anything twice.

Step 8: All done

The last screen lists what this run of the wizard did (anything an earlier run added isn't listed again), then gives you four links: See the website, Open Charity → Today, Review all settings and Add staff and choose what they can do.

Click Finish. The wizard closes and you land on Charity → Today, your daily overview.

What you have at the end

With every switch on, the wizard leaves you with:

• Pages: Home (the front page), Campaigns, Donate, Get help, Volunteer, My shifts, Events, Stories, Annual report, About us, Contact and Photo credits, all published. Terms and conditions, Privacy Policy and Cookie policy are drafts.
• Main menu: Get help, Campaigns, Volunteer, Events, Stories, About us and Donate.
• Sample content, each item named "Sample …":
  • three services (food support, advice, befriending)
  • three volunteer roles (helper, café host, befriending caller) and three shifts in the coming days
  • a place, "Sample community hall"
  • a campaign, "Sample appeal", with a £5,000 target and no total yet
  • an event, "Sample open day"
  • a draft story, which stays a draft until a real person's consent is recorded
  • a draft annual report
• Photos: 26 sample photos in the media library. Each one's description names the photographer and its Pexels page, and the Photo credits page lists them all.

This is the home page a visitor sees straight after the wizard:

How to remove the sample content

There's no single "remove samples" button. Every sample is named "Sample …" (and its web address starts with "sample-"), so it's easy to find.

1. In the Charity menu, open each list that has samples: Campaigns, Volunteer roles, Shifts, Events, Impact stories, Services, Places and Annual reports.
2. Type "Sample" in the search box and click search.
3. Tick the box at the top of the list to select them all.
4. Choose Move to Trash from Bulk actions and click Apply.

To remove the sample photos, go to Media, search for "Pexels", select the photos and delete them permanently. Do this after you've put your own photos on the pages, or those places will be empty. When the photos are gone, delete or update the Photo credits page too.

Next steps

• Designs: see the designs and colour palettes for the Charity kit and switch between them.
• Quick start: the checklist from here to your first real campaign.
• Your look: your logo, colours, menus and footer.