Federal web accessibility deadlines start April 26, 2027, and some nonprofits that take government money may be covered. Here is who should check now.
Some nonprofits will soon have to make their websites usable for people with disabilities, or risk falling out of step with federal rules. The first deadline is April 26, 2027, with more in May 2027 and April to May 2028. Which date applies depends on the organization, its funding and the services it provides.
In 2024, the Department of Justice set a rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It requires covered state and local governments to make their websites and mobile apps meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. In April 2026, the department pushed its original deadlines back one year.
WCAG is a widely used set of rules for accessible websites. In practice, it means people can navigate without a mouse, read content with a screen reader, and see and hear the information on the page. Older adults and people on phones tend to benefit too.
Nonprofits that receive funding from the Department of Health and Human Services may be directly covered under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. HHS also moved its deadlines back one year, in May 2026. Community health centers, hospitals and other HHS-funded providers are examples.
The rules can also reach digital services that governments offer through contractors. A nonprofit that runs an online program for a local government may need to address accessibility as part of that partnership.
Having a government grant does not automatically put a nonprofit under the same deadline. Still, other nonprofits may have duties under the ADA, Section 504, state laws or their funding agreements. The safe move is to ask, not assume.
A site can look fine to staff and still shut people out. Picture a family applying for local help on a form whose fields are not labeled correctly. A screen reader user may give up, and the organization may never know they tried. Common problems include:
Automated scans catch some of these, but not all. A passing score alone does not establish WCAG compliance. Manual checks, such as using only the keyboard, are part of a real review.
The steps in the alert box above cover where to start. TechSoup also offers a free Website Wellness Assessment through its partnership with Tapp Network. It gives an initial look at website health and possible WCAG 2.1 AA problems.
The article does not say which deadline applies to which type of organization, so that is the first question for a funder or legal advisor. Accessibility is also ongoing. New pages, forms and documents will need the same care as the old ones.
If your nonprofit uses government money, ask your funder which accessibility rules apply to you, then start fixing the forms people rely on.
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