Charities are the sector where our price matters most, because it is the difference between a project happening and not happening.
For a commercial client, £3,000 versus £30,000 is a budgeting decision. For a community organisation it decides whether the thing exists at all. Most agency pricing puts custom software permanently out of reach for organisations this size, which is why so many end up running on a spreadsheet and one volunteer who knows how it works.
What actually goes wrong in this sector
Not a shortage of software. A shortage of software that fits.
Coordination becomes the work. Someone spends four hours a week copying names between a sign-up form, a mailing list, and a rota. That is a paid or volunteered person doing data entry instead of the mission.
Records live in three places. Donor details in one system, beneficiary records in another, volunteer contacts in a WhatsApp group. Nobody can answer a simple question without asking three people.
Reporting to funders takes weeks. The data exists, but not in a shape anyone can report from, so every grant report becomes a manual reconstruction.
Single points of failure. One volunteer built the spreadsheet. When they leave, the organisation loses a capability.
Off-the-shelf charity software is priced per seat. Which punishes exactly the thing you want, which is more volunteers.
What we build for charities
- Volunteer coordinationSign-up, availability, rotas, and a directory that does not live in someone's phone.
- Membership appsDirectory, communications outward, and an admin view a non-technical trustee can operate.
- Beneficiary and case recordsStructured, permissioned, and exportable, rather than a shared drive.
- Donation and supporter toolsTaking money and keeping the relationship, without per-seat fees.
- Impact reportingCapturing the numbers as the work happens so grant reports stop being archaeology.
The constraints that actually matter here
Restricted funding. Grant money often cannot be moved between headings, and it has a spend-by date. A fixed price that does not move is worth more to you than to a commercial client, because a 20% overrun is not something you can absorb.
Trustee scrutiny. Someone will have to justify this spend in a meeting. That is easier with a published price and a written scope than with a quote range.
Volunteers, not staff. Anything that requires training will not be used. The same constraint applies to schools and training providers, where the people using the software change every year. This is the single most common reason charity software fails, and it is a design problem rather than a budget problem.
Data protection with vulnerable people. Beneficiary data often carries more risk than commercial customer data. It needs to be handled properly and you need to be able to say how. Our approach to data and security.
Sustainability after the grant. Funders increasingly ask what happens in year two. Owning the code outright is the strongest answer available.
When an app is the wrong answer
Why we take this work seriously
We publish a list of the work we refuse regardless of budget: gambling, adult content, predatory lending, projects that promote discrimination. The full list is here.
That is the same instinct that makes this sector matter to us. We have built civic technology used at ward level and described by a sitting minister as the start of something in the civic space. If you are doing work that is genuinely for public good, say so on the call. It changes how interested we are.
Case studyEnte Ward: civic technology at ward levelReporting local issues where residents actually are.Common questions
Can a small charity afford custom software?
At our price, usually yes. A sprint sits inside what a single modest grant covers, which is unusual in this market. Most agency pricing puts custom software permanently out of reach for organisations this size.
Can we fund an app from a grant?
Frequently, yes. Digital and capacity-building funds regularly cover it. What matters is the spend-by date: sprint capacity is limited and slots need booking ahead of a deadline.
What happens when the grant runs out?
You own the code, the accounts, and the database outright. There is no licence to renew and nothing that stops a volunteer developer or another studio picking it up. That answer satisfies most funders.
Is beneficiary data safe?
Data lives in your own cloud account in a region you choose, and you are the controller. We can sign a data processing agreement covering the build period. We hold no copy afterwards.