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Ipswich Minster
Ipswich Minster relied on a patchwork of digital services, domains and communications platforms, with no dedicated digital infrastructure oversight. Over two years, we took on the role of digital infrastructure steward for the Minster.
Ipswich Minster relied on a patchwork of digital services, domains and communications platforms, with no dedicated digital infrastructure oversight. The organisation was also transitioning to a new identity, requiring a move from stmaryletower.org to ipswichminster.org, a migration from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365, and a complete rethink of its website and digital presence.
Over two years, we took ownership of the Minster's core digital infrastructure, delivering the zero-downtime transition from stmaryletower.org to ipswichminster.org, migrating Google Workspace data to Microsoft 365 and saving £800 per year in licensing costs. We completely redesigned the website around the Minster's new branding using modern web design principles, while also managing domains and DNS, implementing SPF, DKIM, DMARC and DNSSEC, strengthening Microsoft 365 security, and building a governed internal intranet.
The Minster emerged with a modern, accessible and search-optimised digital presence alongside a significantly stronger and better-documented digital infrastructure. The redesigned website achieved 98/100 for accessibility and 92/100 for SEO on Google Lighthouse, while Microsoft Secure Score reached 84.53%, compared with a 48.22% industry average. The organisation also achieved £800 in annual licensing savings, with the entire platform and domain transition completed with zero downtime.
Ipswich Minster is one of Suffolk's most significant religious and community institutions, serving a large congregation alongside an active parish administration, a public website, and regular communication with its community through print and digital channels. Like many charities and non-profits, the Minster relied on a small number of staff and volunteers to keep its digital presence running, with no dedicated IT function and no formal oversight of the infrastructure underpinning its email, website and communications.
Over two years, William James Creative Digital took on the role of digital infrastructure steward for the Minster, working to secure, document and strengthen the systems that most organisations never think about until something goes wrong. Alongside this infrastructure work, we delivered a significant digital transformation, including the transition from stmaryletower.org to ipswichminster.org, the migration of Google Workspace data to Microsoft 365, and a complete redesign of the Minster's website around its new brand identity.
Every organisation with a website and an email domain depends on a layer of infrastructure that is almost entirely invisible when it works, and highly disruptive when it doesn't. For Ipswich Minster, this meant:
Four separate domains (.org, .org.uk, .com and .co.uk) with no consolidated oversight of renewal, security or configuration
Microsoft 365 email with no email authentication in place, meaning the Minster's domain was vulnerable to spoofing and impersonation
Newsletters and congregation communications sent via Mailchimp that were increasingly landing in spam folders rather than the inboxes of the people they were meant to reach
A large, multi-page Squarespace website with no dedicated technical oversight of its search performance or accessibility
No internal intranet or centralised system for staff and volunteers to access shared documents, policies and information, leaving sensitive material, including safeguarding records, without a clearly governed, access-controlled home
No documented understanding of how these systems connected to and depended on one another, making the organisation vulnerable to a single point of failure with no clear owner
An outdated digital identity that needed to transition from stmaryletower.org to the new ipswichminster.org domain and align the website with the Minster's new branding
For a non-profit relying on volunteers, this is an extremely common position to be in. Digital infrastructure is rarely anyone's job until it breaks.
We took a methodical, infrastructure-first approach, focusing on the foundational layer that every other digital service depends on, while simultaneously delivering the digital transformation required to give the Minster a modern, coherent online presence.
Domain and DNS Management
We consolidated management of all four Minster domains under a single point of oversight, ensuring renewals were never missed and DNS records were configured correctly and consistently across every service the Minster relied on, from the public website to email delivery.
As part of this work, we delivered the transition from stmaryletower.org to ipswichminster.org, managing the underlying domain and DNS changes required to move the Minster to its new digital identity.
Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 Migration
We migrated the Minster's existing Google Workspace data into Microsoft 365, consolidating its digital environment and ensuring the transition could take place without disrupting day-to-day operations.
The migration was completed with zero downtime, allowing staff and the organisation's communications to continue uninterrupted throughout the switch. By moving away from the previous licensing arrangement, the project also delivered a direct financial saving of £800 per year in licensing costs.
Email Authentication: SPF, DKIM and DMARC
This was the most technically significant, and most immediately impactful, part of the work. We implemented and correctly configured SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) records across the Minster's domains.
The result was immediate and measurable. Congregation newsletters sent through Mailchimp, which for years had been landing in spam and junk folders, began arriving directly in recipients' main inboxes. For a communications channel entirely dependent on being read, this was a transformative and highly visible improvement, achieved through entirely invisible technical work.
Alongside this, we established ongoing DMARC monitoring, giving the Minster real visibility into who was sending email on behalf of its domain, and the ability to catch spoofing attempts or authentication failures before they caused harm.
DNSSEC and Domain Security
We enabled DNSSEC across the Minster's domains, cryptographically signing DNS records to protect against tampering and ensure the integrity of the domain's routing information.
Complete Website Redesign
Alongside the infrastructure and platform migration, we completely redesigned the Minster's website around its new branding.
The new website was designed according to modern web design principles, with a focus on accessibility, usability, performance, search visibility and a clear, contemporary visual identity. Rather than simply applying the new branding to the existing site, the website was entirely redesigned to create a digital presence that properly reflected the Minster's renewed identity.
The result was a website that combined a modern visual experience with strong technical foundations, reflected in the site's Lighthouse scores: 98/100 for accessibility and 92/100 for SEO.
Documented Digital Architecture
Recognising that institutional knowledge is often the first thing lost when a volunteer or provider moves on, we produced full architecture documentation covering the Minster's entire digital ecosystem: domains, DNS, website, email, identity management and communications platforms, and how each depended on the others. This ensures the organisation, and any future provider, can understand and safely manage its own infrastructure going forward.
Microsoft 365 Security
We worked to raise the Minster's Microsoft Secure Score, a measure of an organisation's overall security posture within Microsoft 365, significantly above the industry average for comparable organisations.
SharePoint Administration and an Internal Intranet
Working within the Minster's Microsoft 365 environment, we managed SharePoint access administration and built a dedicated internal intranet, giving staff and volunteers a single, properly governed space to access shared documents, policies and internal communications, rather than information being scattered across email threads and personal devices.
Securing Safeguarding Data
Safeguarding records are among the most sensitive information any charity or non-profit holds, and require careful, access-controlled handling in line with data protection obligations. As part of the wider Microsoft 365 and SharePoint work, we ensured safeguarding data was stored securely, with access properly restricted to those who needed it, reducing the risk of accidental exposure and bringing the Minster's handling of this material in line with good practice for a data-sensitive organisation.
The impact of this work is not anecdotal. It is measurable, verifiable, and ongoing.
Microsoft Secure Score: 84.53%, compared to an industry average of 48.22% for similar organisations, a security posture nearly double the typical benchmark for a non-profit of this size.
Google Lighthouse Accessibility Score: 98/100. For a large, multi-page Squarespace website maintained by volunteers with no dedicated development team, this is an exceptional result, reflecting careful, ongoing attention to how accessible the site is for every visitor, including those using assistive technology.
Google Lighthouse SEO Score: 92/100. Again, an outstanding result for a large non-profit website built on a page builder platform rather than custom code, demonstrating that strong technical SEO foundations do not require abandoning accessible, low-maintenance platforms.
£800 annual licensing saving. The migration of Google Workspace data to Microsoft 365 reduced the Minster's ongoing licensing costs by £800 per year, delivering a tangible financial benefit alongside the wider infrastructure improvements.
Zero-downtime migration. The transition from stmaryletower.org to ipswichminster.org, including the migration of Google Workspace data to Microsoft 365, was completed without downtime, ensuring continuity throughout the change.
A completely redesigned digital presence. The website was entirely redesigned around the Minster's new branding, applying modern web design principles to create a more accessible, effective and contemporary online experience.
Newsletter deliverability transformed. Following the correct configuration of SPF and DKIM records, congregation newsletters began landing in primary inboxes for the first time in years, directly improving how many people actually saw and read communications from the Minster.
A secure internal intranet, built and governed. Staff and volunteers gained a single, properly access-controlled space for shared documents and policies, with safeguarding data specifically secured in line with good data protection practice.
AI search visibility confirmed. Using our own internal site health and SEO platform, Foresight, we verified that AI crawlers, including those used by AI answer engines such as ChatGPT and Perplexity, are able to access, read and reference the Minster's website. As AI-powered search becomes a growing part of how people find information online, this confirms the Minster's digital presence is not just optimised for traditional search engines, but genuinely ready for the next generation of how people search.
Full technical handover delivered. As the engagement came to a natural close, a complete architecture and infrastructure handover document was provided, ensuring continuity and a smooth transition for the Minster's next digital provider.
Ipswich Minster's story is a common one. Many charities, churches and community organisations run entirely on the goodwill of volunteers, with digital infrastructure treated as an afterthought rather than a core operational concern. Yet the consequences of neglected DNS, missing email authentication or unmonitored security settings are exactly the same for a small non-profit as they are for a large commercial organisation: lost communications, reputational risk, and vulnerability to impersonation and spoofing.
What this project demonstrates is that meaningful, measurable improvement does not require replacing existing platforms or introducing complex new systems. Working within the Minster's Microsoft 365 environment and Mailchimp newsletter platform, while completely redesigning its website around its new brand and successfully transitioning its domain and workspace data, focused technical work delivered security improvements, accessibility gains, financial savings, and a direct, visible improvement in how effectively the organisation could communicate with the people it serves.
For organisations that hold sensitive information, safeguarding records in particular, proper access control is not optional. A well governed intranet and correctly configured SharePoint permissions mean the right people can access what they need, while sensitive material stays protected, something every charity working with children or vulnerable adults should be able to demonstrate with confidence.
If your organisation's website, email or domain security has never had proper technical oversight, we would love to help. Get in touch to find out what a free Foresight health check could reveal about your own digital foundations.
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