Setting Up a Website and Email

Last updated May 10, 2023

CEA can support your group to get a website domain, website builder subscription, and custom email addresses for your group at no cost to the organisers. Read the guide below on how we can help you get a domain, have a website and get it connected to your domain, and set up custom email addresses.

Should you get a website and custom email?

Choosing a domain

If you decide to get a website and/or custom email, the first step is to get CEA to register a domain for you. We generally prefer for CEA to own the domain because this makes it easier to revive the website and email addresses if a group goes dormant and the logins are lost. We can usually buy the domain for you within 2-3 working days. To have us buy a domain for you:

Getting custom email addresses

Once you have a domain, there are two options for getting email addresses under your domain (i.e. [yourname]@easomewhere.org):

You can sign up for Google Workspace and apply for group support funding from CEA to pay for it. (Read the next few paragraphs about Google Workspace first and our guide to doing so before you sign up for it.) 

This will allow you to create GMail accounts under your domain. Google Workspace has a free plan for registered non-profit organisations, but most groups are not registered as non-profits, and therefore are charged. CEA is happy to give EA groups funding to get the Business Starter plan, which costs about $6/user/month.

If you would like more functionality, such as being able to record meetings, have more storage, or use shared drives, which could be useful if you are going to have members who don't use Google Workspace emails to create files (so that files are owned by the group, not by the individual), CEA can give you funding to get the Business Standard plan instead, which is usually $12/user/month.

The cost can become large if your group wants a lot of email addresses (though you can create aliases for free). Most groups can get up to 20 Google emails under the Business Starter plan and up to 10 on the Business Standard plan, though we may make this lower or higher depending on your group's size and track record

To get Google Workspace for your group, you can read this guide we made.

Alternatively, CEA can create multiple email addresses for free for your domain through the mail server Migadu. Migadu is very low cost, but it isn’t set up for bulk emailing - you'd have to use a service like Mailchimp or MailMeteor instead. You also can't use Google Docs with your Migadu email, while a custom GMail lets you use Google Docs.

Some groups have decided to change from Migadu to Google Workspace due to some issues they've had with Migadu. Migadu might be good for some groups that want a large number of email addresses, or groups that don’t use email much. But generally we now recommend groups to use Google Workspace over Migadu.

If you'd still like to use Migadu for your group, you can contact us at groups@centreforeffectivealtruism.org. You can use your existing email client (e.g. Gmail) to send and receive from these email addresses. Here are instructions on setting that up after you've gotten in contact with us.

Switching from Migadu to Google

If your group is already using Migadu and you want to switch to using Google Workspace, you can read this guide to learn how to do that. Learning and doing the process can take you 2-4 hours, depending also on how many emails and email addresses you have to migrate.

Building a website

Using our EA Group Squarespace Template

If you'd like to duplicate the EA Group Website Squarespace Template, you can follow these instructions on how to have us duplicate the website for you, and how you can personalize the template for your group.

If instead you'd like to build a website on your own, then you can follow these steps:

Steps to make your own website via a website builder

1. Choose a website builder and buy an account.

You can use a Groups Support Grant from CEA to pay for the website builder.

Website Builder Options

Even if you have web development experience in your group, we recommend groups use website builders that only require a low level of skill to maintain content and security. This is so that the website stays up to date and stable over many years. The options we recommend are:

2. Build your website!

Some tips:

3. Contact CEA's Groups Team.

Once your website is ready, and CEA owns your domain, contact groups@centreforeffectivealtruism.org so we can help you connect your webpage to the domain for your group.