Churches Conservation Trust

The Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) is the national charity that cares for over 350 English churches, each of exceptional historical and cultural importance. Managing an estate of this scale and significance, that together welcomes almost two million visitors a year, brings unique challenges.

With a growing portfolio of churches, events, and vital giving campaigns, CCT needed a digital platform that could serve visitors, supporters and staff equally well. The new website would need to tell the story of every church in its care, as well as help people plan visits, understand what’s open, and find meaningful ways to support the organisation.

An end-of-life CRM was putting data integrity and income streams (donations, memberships, events) at risk, so seamless integration with the newly procured Access Charity CRM was vital. Compounding the challenge, a content team of 30+ people spread as far and wide as the churches themselves needed the confidence and tools to manage the system with minimal technical know-how. 

For CCT, the project represented a significant operational and financial challenge. Ten4 stepped in to create a platform that could handle the complexity of CCT’s physical and digital estate while feeling simple and welcoming to the people using it.

We worked closely with CCT to design a platform built around clarity, accessibility and sustainability, focussing on how it could actively support visit planning, on-site engagement and encourage new members and vital donations.

The platform was delivered in phases to meet a fixed CRM migration deadline, prioritising continuity of income and data reliability while creating a flexible foundation for future enhancements. The new website brings together thousands of pages of content in a clear, consistent structure, making it easier for visitors to explore churches and events, and easier for staff to manage information across the estate.

Each of the 350+ churches in CCT’s care required a dedicated, information-rich page that was easy to navigate for first-time visitors and regular supporters alike. With so many churches to cater for, we were careful to design for the edge-cases — those pages that are either maxed out (making great use of each and every available feature) or under-utilised (where little information is available).

For the vast majority, visiting information, location details, accessibility guidance and upcoming events are included in a consistent, easy-to-scan format. Clear calls to action encourage visitors to attend events, plan visits and explore nearby churches, helping turn online discovery into real-world engagement.

Integrated mapping and location data make it easier for visitors to understand where churches are, what’s open, and how sites relate to one another geographically. This supports day-trip planning and encourages deeper exploration across regions, rather than single-site visits.

Improved information architecture allows visitors to quickly find what they need, whether they’re planning a visit, researching history or looking for events.

Accessibility as a core requirement

The CCT takes great effort to mitigate the physical accessibility challenges presented by the churches in its care. The platform continues this dedication to inclusion, and was designed and built to be usable by the widest possible audience, with clear navigation, logical layouts and support for assistive technologies. At each step we checked our work against the defined standards in the WCAG, Level AA.

These efforts ensure that CCT’s message of inclusivity is manifested online, welcoming to all visitors with a calm, clear experience for a wide and diverse audience.

Like many charities, CCT relies on a mix of income streams to support its work. The new platform supports donations, memberships and Gift Aid, either one-off by card payment or monthly via Direct Debit.

Supporters can choose to give where the need is greatest or contribute to specific churches and campaigns, as well as sharing their motivations for giving. Capturing motivation helps CCT understand why people give, so it can refine its messaging over time and focus appeals on what resonates most with its supporters.

These clear, accessible donation journeys reduce friction and help supporters understand the impact of each contribution. In turn they support CCT’s financial sustainability without detracting from the cultural and historic experience.

Behind the scenes, the platform was designed to reduce operational burden and improve data consistency. Built on a robust multisite CMS and deeply integrated with Access Charity CRM, there is a single, reliable flow of information between the website and internal systems.

This CRM integration supports the full lifecycle of supporter engagement, including memberships, donations, Gift Aid and events, to ensure data is captured accurately and consistently. This removes the need for manual reconciliation, reduces errors and duplication, and gives staff confidence that the CRM remains a single source of truth.

Alongside this, role-based access and reusable content blocks allow different teams across the organisation to manage content confidently, while maintaining consistency and quality.

Training and documentation were built into the project, giving staff the confidence to update content, publish events and manage supporter journeys without relying on specialist technical support. This shift has helped move digital management from a bottleneck to a shared, sustainable responsibility.

For an organisation with dozens of contributors, multiple income streams and hundreds of sites, this combination of clear governance and clean, connected data is key to long-term success.

Since launch, the new platform has delivered clear improvements in engagement and usability. Together, these improvements point to a clearer, more usable platform that better supports visit planning, on-site engagement and long-term supporter relationships.

For organisations managing complex estates, diverse audiences and mission-critical income streams, this project demonstrates how thoughtful digital design can make complexity manageable.

By focusing on clarity, accessibility and operational sustainability, the new website provides a model for how large visitor attractions can improve visitor experience, support staff teams and strengthen financial resilience, all while remaining true to their purpose and heritage.