Why accessibility can’t be an afterthought

Every nonprofit leader says their work is for everyone who needs it. But if your digital services aren’t accessible, they’re not.

In 2025, roughly one in four adults in the United States lives with a disability, and that number is even higher in many of the communities nonprofits serve. But despite decades of progress, far too many websites, donation forms, service portals, and educational tools still lock people out.

Sometimes it’s a missing label on a button. Sometimes it’s a form that doesn’t work with screen readers. Sometimes it’s an entire interaction designed without keyboard navigation or color contrast in mind. None of it feels urgent, until it is. Until someone complains. Until a user leaves in frustration. Until you realize you’re leaving people behind.

The truth is, accessibility isn’t a technical feature. It’s a reflection of your values. And in today’s landscape, where digital channels are often the only way supporters or service users engage, it’s also a strategic risk.

Too often, accessibility gets reduced to a checklist or legal box-tick. And yes, compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA or Section 508 matters, both to reduce legal exposure and meet funder requirements. But organizations that treat accessibility only as a legal concern miss the real opportunity.

Because accessibility, done well, improves more than compliance. It strengthens trust. It increases reach. It leads to better UX for everyone. And it sends a message to users, donors and partners that your organization is serious about inclusion.

We’ve seen this firsthand in our work where accessibility audits weren’t just about spotting problems. They were about redesigning systems to better reflect the mission. From reworking navigation patterns to prioritizing alt text and semantic structure, these upgrades made digital services more usable, more scalable, and more mission-aligned.

One example is our work with the Internet Society, a global nonprofit advocating for an open, secure, and accessible internet. Their multilingual, content-rich site needed to meet high accessibility standards for a wide international audience. We began with an in-depth audit, using both automated testing and real-world user journeys to uncover issues affecting screen reader users, keyboard navigation, and visual clarity.

But we didn’t stop at identifying the problems. We worked closely with their team to implement solutions. That included fixing heading structure, improving colour contrast, and replacing image-based text with properly marked-up HTML. We also provided training to help their team build accessibility into future content workflows. For the Internet Society, accessibility wasn’t just a technical requirement. It was core to their values. And our partnership helped ensure their digital presence lived up to that mission.

It’s easy to think of accessibility as a “dev thing” or something that happens at the end of a project. But that’s often where accessibility goes wrong, when it’s retrofitted instead of baked in.

The most impactful work we’ve seen happens when accessibility is treated as a design principle from day one. That means building user journeys that work with assistive tech. Writing content in clear, plain language. Choosing typefaces, layouts, and color palettes that reduce cognitive load. Testing with real users, not just automated tools, to uncover what’s really working.

The good news is that most organizations don’t need a complete rebuild to improve accessibility. In fact, many of the highest-impact fixes are simple:

• Rewriting form labels and buttons so screen reader users can understand them.
• Ensuring videos include captions — not just for deaf users, but for anyone watching without sound.
• Adjusting contrast and font sizes to reduce eye strain and cognitive effort.
• Reordering HTML so the visual flow and screen reader flow match.

If your digital content isn’t accessible, then your impact isn’t equitable. It’s that simple.

Accessibility isn’t just for people with disabilities. It helps mobile users, older adults, multilingual audiences, people experiencing stress or trauma, and anyone using technology in suboptimal conditions. It’s not niche. It’s universal.

The organizations leading on accessibility in 2025 are the ones treating inclusion as a core part of their approach. They build it into their design process, their content, and their culture.