A nonprofit may spend considerable effort making one website, annual report or campaign accessible. Then a new employee arrives, an outside designer is hired or a different department creates the next document—and the same accessibility problems return.
Images lack alternative text. Videos have no captions. PDFs cannot be read properly by assistive technology. Headings are formatted visually instead of structurally. Links use vague phrases such as “click here.” Important information is communicated by color alone.
Accessibility cannot depend on one employee remembering every rule.
Turn Accessibility Into an Approved Process
The nonprofit should document practical standards for the materials it regularly creates, including:
- Websites and online forms
- Word documents and PDFs
- Email newsletters
- Social-media graphics
- Videos and recorded meetings
- Presentations
- Event registration materials
- Donor communications
- Program applications
- Internal policies and training
The World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines provide an internationally recognized framework for making digital content more perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. (W3C)
The U.S. Department of Justice also explains that inaccessible websites can prevent people with disabilities from obtaining information, completing forms or participating in services. Its web accessibility guidance applies ADA principles to websites operated by organizations serving the public. (ADA.gov)
Legal requirements vary according to the organization, its activities, funding and jurisdiction. Qualified legal or accessibility professionals should review specific compliance questions.
Create Reusable Instructions and Templates
Employees should not have to research accessibility from scratch whenever they create a document.
SharePoint should contain approved:
- Accessible Word and PowerPoint templates
- Heading and document-structure instructions
- Alternative-text guidance
- Caption and transcript procedures
- Color-contrast requirements
- Link-writing standards
- Accessible table instructions
- PDF conversion and testing steps
- Website publishing checklists
- Vendor accessibility requirements
- Escalation contacts
Section508.gov provides detailed guidance for creating accessible electronic documents, including Microsoft Word files. It emphasizes using built-in document structures rather than relying only on visual formatting. (Section508.gov)
These resources can serve as authoritative external references, while the nonprofit’s internal guidance should explain which standards, tools and approval steps its employees must follow.
Make Accessibility Knowledge Easy to Retrieve
Copilot Studio provides the conversational layer. Through Maisy, authorized employees could ask:
- How should I write alternative text for this image?
- Which template should I use for a public report?
- Does this video require captions?
- How should headings be organized in Word?
- Who reviews a public PDF before publication?
- What accessibility requirements belong in a vendor contract?
Maisy can help the nonprofit retain institutional knowledge by retrieving approved instructions, templates and review procedures.
It should not automatically certify that a website or document complies with every applicable requirement. Automated testing can identify some problems, but human testing—including testing by people who use assistive technologies—remains important.
Keep Source Materials and Final Records in the Right Places
SharePoint should serve as the organized knowledge source for accessibility policies, templates, checklists and training materials. The website content-management system remains authoritative for published web content. Communications platforms remain authoritative for distributed messages. Signed contracts remain authoritative for vendor obligations.
Completed participant forms, accommodation requests and disability-related records may contain sensitive information and should remain in appropriately secured systems. General accessibility guidance belongs in the Knowledge Hub; private individual records usually do not.
How Maisy Helps
Pixeldust begins by identifying repeated accessibility questions, common document types, existing templates, publishing workflows and areas where guidance depends on one employee.
Pixeldust then resolves conflicting instructions, assigns content owners, reviews permissions and organizes approved accessibility resources in SharePoint. Maisy is configured through Copilot Studio and tested with realistic questions from communications, development, program and administrative employees.
This helps the nonprofit retain institutional knowledge about accessible communication while keeping legal interpretation, technical testing and accommodation decisions with qualified human professionals.
