Cloudflare basics for small organisations
A plain English run through of what Cloudflare is, which settings small organisations actually need, and how to avoid breaking your own site or email with well meant changes.
Cloudflare and edge protection for small organisations
Cloudflare can be a real asset for small organisations, or a quiet source of problems if it is set up in a rush. This hub explains what it actually does, which controls matter, and how it fits with logging, bot traffic, and governance.
The aim is not to turn you into a Cloudflare engineer. It is to give you enough understanding to keep your site stable, protect staff time, and answer questions with evidence when things are challenged.
DNS and SSL
Firewall rules
Caching choices
Evidence grade logs
Start here
If Cloudflare already sits in front of your site, or you are thinking about turning it on, these two pieces will get you most of the benefit without the usual drama.
How evidence grade logs change the outcome of a dispute
How Cloudflare logs, hosting logs, and email records fit together when you need to show what really happened during a complaint, audit, or regulator investigation.
What this Cloudflare hub focuses on
The goal is not to use every feature Cloudflare offers. The goal is to pick the parts that match your size and risk, and to avoid the ones that only add noise.
- Getting DNS, SSL mode, and basic security levels into a healthy state.
- Using caching in a way that speeds up pages without confusing staff or visitors.
- Adding a small number of firewall and bot rules that reduce pointless traffic.
- Turning raw request logs into an evidence trail that supports real world disputes.
The same patterns are used in live work on The Reasonable Adjustment, where Cloudflare settings and logs are part of how public interest cases are protected and documented.
Articles in this Cloudflare hub
Each article is written so you can act on it in isolation. If you only have time for one change this month, that is fine. The important thing is that changes are deliberate, written down, and tested.
Core setup and stability
Logging and accountability
Cloudflare also sits alongside topics in the bot traffic and crawling hub and the security and encryption hub, which look at bots, PGP contact routes, and wider governance patterns.
Who this is for
People who maintain sites as part of another job
Staff in charities, SMEs, and community projects who have custody of domains and Cloudflare because they are the most technical person in the room, not because it is their only role.
Leaders who sign off risk
Directors, trustees, and managers who want a realistic picture of what Cloudflare is doing at the edge, how it affects availability and data protection, and whether the current setup would stand up in a serious complaint.
If you want more than articles
Sometimes the fastest way forward is a short, focused piece of work that maps your current Cloudflare setup, fixes the basics, and leaves you with clear notes you can show to a board, funder, or regulator.
Ki-Ki can include Cloudflare as part of a wider foundations review that covers domains, DNS, robots.txt, analytics, and secure contact routes in one joined up picture. You keep control of the accounts. I do the digging and write things down clearly.
If capacity is tight I will say so and give a realistic start window. No scare sell, no pressure.