Edit Your Charity's Website
FFC built your site — here's how to make changes yourself, no coding required
You founded a charity, FFC built you a website, and now you just want to keep it up to date. You don't need to be technical and you don't need to learn to code. You describe the change you want in plain English, an AI assistant makes it, you read it and approve, and your site updates on its own.
You can ignore the technical stuff.If you only want to edit your one charity site, you never need VS Code, Google Antigravity, Playwright, or anything you install and run on your computer. Those are for full-time developers. Everything on this page happens in a friendly chat window. The longer developer setup pages are optional — come back to them only if you ever want to go deeper.
Your complete path, in order
Brand new? Do these in sequence. Each one links to a spell-it-all-out guide.
- 1
Create your GitHub account
A free account in your own name — this is the login that owns your access.
Open the GitHub account guide → - 2
Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA)
A second step at login so a stolen password alone can’t get in. Required.
Open the MFA guide → - 3
Send FFC your GitHub username
Text Clarke your username + charity name so we can invite you. (Copy-paste message in step 2 below.)
See the message to send → - 4
Accept your repository invitation
The step most people get stuck on — what the email looks like, who it’s from, and three ways to accept.
Open the accept-invitation walkthrough → - 5
Install your AI assistant & connect it once
Download Claude, sign in, and connect it to GitHub a single time.
Jump to setup → - 6
Make your first edit
Describe a small change in plain English, read it, approve it — it’s live.
Jump to your first edit →
What to expect
How this works between you and FFC
- ✓FFC builds and hosts your site for free.You keep the content current — that's your part.
- ✓You're always the approver. Nothing reaches your live site until you read the change and say yes.
- ✓After you request access(you'll text FFC in step 2 below), expect your repository invitation within a day or so.
- ✓Want to see what a finished site looks like? This very site (ffcadmin.org) is an example built the same way, and you can browse more on the Sites List.
The whole thing in four steps
This is the entire process — the rest of the page just walks you through it
Get access
Text FFC to be added to your repo as a writer, then accept the GitHub invite.
Install your AI assistant
Download Claude Desktop, sign in, and connect it to GitHub once.
Describe your change
Type what you want in plain English, e.g. “update our phone number.”
Approve — it’s live
Read what the assistant changed, click approve, and your site updates in minutes.
On this page
1. How this works
Your website lives in a repository— a folder of files that FFC set up for your charity from our standard template. You don't edit those files by hand. You tell an AI assistant what you want changed, in ordinary words, and it makes the edit for you. Then it shows you exactly what it did and waits for your approval before anything goes live.
You describe
“Change our phone number to 555-1234.” That's the whole skill you need.
The assistant does it
It finds the right spot, makes the change, and runs the safety checks for you.
You approve
Read what changed, click approve, and your site updates a few minutes later.
You are always in control.Nothing reaches your live website until you've seen the change and said yes.
2. Before you start
A one-time setup — about 15 minutes, done once
- 1
Make a free GitHub account
GitHub is the service that stores your website's files. If you don't have an account yet, create a free one at github.com/signup. Use an email you check — your repository invitation comes here. Make a note of your GitHub username; you'll share it in the next step.
- 2
Request access to your repository
FFC has to grant you access before you can edit anything. Text Clarke Moyer at (520) 222-8104 (or message github.com/clarkemoyer) and ask to be added to your charity's repository as a writer (write access). Include your charity's name, your GitHub usernamefrom step 1, and that you're the site owner who'll be editing the site.
Copy & send:“Hi Clarke — this is <your name> from <charity name>. Please add my GitHub username <username> as a writer on our website repository so I can edit our site. Thank you!” - 3
Accept the invitation to your repository
Once FFC adds you, you become a collaboratoron your charity's repository — just your one repo, nothing else. The invitation arrives as an email from GitHub andin your GitHub notifications. This is the step people get stuck on, so we wrote a separate, every-click walkthrough — what the email looks like, who it's from, where to find it if it's not in your inbox, and the direct link to accept.
Open the “Accept your invitation” walkthrough →Didn't get an invite within a day, or the link expired? Text Clarke again at (520) 222-8104 and ask to re-send the writer invitation to your GitHub username. - 4
Install your AI assistant
We recommend Claude Desktop on your computer and Claude Mobileon your phone — it's the gentlest starting point. Download it from claude.ai/download and sign in. Already pay for ChatGPT or another AI? You can use that instead — see the full list of options.
- 5
Connect your assistant to GitHub (once)
Your assistant needs a one-time connection to GitHub so it can see your repository. The Claude Desktop guide walks you through it — or just paste this and let the assistant set itself up:
Paste this into your AI assistant“I want to edit my charity's website, which lives in a GitHub repository I was just added to. Set yourself up to work with GitHub: connect to it and walk me through any sign-in. When you're ready, confirm you can see my repository <paste your repository address here, e.g. github.com/FreeForCharity/ your-charity> and tell me what website is inside it.”
3. Make your first edit
Let's change one small thing, start to finish
The best first edit is something small and safe — like fixing a typo or updating your phone number. Paste the prompt below into your assistant, filling in the blanks. It will make the change on a safe scratch copy and show you the result; behind the scenes it handles all the technical steps so you don't have to.
“In my charity's website repository <your repository address>, please <describe the change, e.g. update the phone number on the home page to (555) 123-4567>. Follow the conventions in the repository's AGENTS.md file, and use FreeForCharity/FFC-IN-ffcadmin.orgas an example of a finished FFC site if you need one. Make the change on a new branch (don't publish to the live site yet), then show me exactly what you changed in plain language before we go further.”
Then: read what it changed
Your assistant will summarize the edit and can show you a before-and-after. If something looks off, just say so in plain English (“actually, make it bold too”) and it will adjust.
Then: approve it
When you're happy, tell the assistant to open it for review and approve it. On GitHub this appears as a pull request — but you can think of it simply as a “here's the change, okay to publish?” page. You read it and click approve.
“That looks good. Open this change for review (a pull request) with a clear title, then once the automatic checks pass, go ahead and publish it. Tell me when it's live.”
That's the whole loop. Describe → read → approve. You did not open a code editor, type a command, or learn what a “branch” is — the assistant took care of all of it.
4. See your change and publish it
“Did it work, and when will people see it?”
Automatic checks run first
When your change is ready to publish, a few automatic checks run for a minute or two to make sure the site still builds correctly. You'll see them turn into a green check when all is well — that means your change is safe to go live.
Want to preview before it's live?
Just ask your assistant to show you what the change will look like before you approve — it can describe the result or walk you through it. (Your site publishes straight from approval, so the surest “preview” is to have the assistant show you the before-and-after first.)
After you approve
Once you approve and the checks are green, your change publishes automatically and your live site updates in a few minutes. Refresh your website in your browser to see it. (If it doesn't show right away, wait a couple of minutes and refresh again — browsers sometimes hold an old copy.)
If a check fails
Don't worry — nothing went live. Your assistant can read the failure and fix it. Just say:
“One of the checks failed. Please read the error, fix the problem, and let me know what it was in plain language.”
5. Common edits cookbook
Ready-to-paste prompts for the changes you'll make most
Once you've done your first edit, the cookbook is your quick reference for everyday updates — contact info, hours, photos, the donate button, and recurring posts like a blog, a newsletter, or board-meeting minutes. Each one is a friendly prompt you copy, fill in, and hand to your assistant.
Open the Common Edits Cookbook6. Plain-language glossary
The few GitHub words you might see — in one friendly sentence each
- Repository (“repo”)
- The folder that holds your website’s files. FFC created one just for your charity — think of it as your site’s home.
- Branch
- A safe scratch copy of your site where a change is drafted before it goes live. Your assistant makes one for you; you don’t have to think about it.
- Pull request (“PR”)
- The “here’s what I changed — okay to publish?” page. It shows the change side-by-side so you can read it and approve.
- Merge
- Clicking “yes, publish this.” Once merged, your change goes out to your live site.
- Checks
- Quick automatic tests that confirm your site still builds correctly. A green check means it’s safe.
7. Good habits and getting help
- ✓Always read the change before approving.You're the human in the loop — a quick read is all it takes.
- ✓Make one change at a timewhen you're learning. It keeps each approval simple.
- ✕Never paste passwords or secret keys into the chat, your site, or GitHub. Your assistant never needs them in a message.
- ✓Stuck? Ask your assistant to explain in simpler terms, or text your FFC contact (Clarke Moyer, (520) 222-8104) — we're happy to help.
Quick answers
- I think I broke something — help!
- Don't worry: nothing is live until you approve it, and every past version is saved. Ask your assistant to “undo the last change” or revert to how the site looked before, then tell FFC if you're unsure.
- How do I get a photo to my assistant?
- Save the photo on your computer or phone, then attach or upload it in the chat with your assistant and say where it should go on the site.
- The assistant did something I didn't want.
- Just tell it in plain English — “that's not what I meant, please change it back” — and review again. You only approve when it's right.
- Who do I contact at FFC?
- Text Clarke Moyer at (520) 222-8104 or message github.com/clarkemoyer.
Where to next
- Accept your repository invitation — the every-click walkthrough for the step people get stuck on
- Account & tool setup guides — GitHub, MFA, charity email, password manager & more
- Site Owner Training — everything you're responsible for (domain, email, security & more)
- Common Edits Cookbook — prompts for everyday updates
- Claude Desktop setup guide — the connection details, step by step
- Want to help FFC more broadly? — the volunteer tracks