1. Low Cost Software for Non Profits
The costs for software development can be pretty extreme, especially mobile app development where a small app with only a few screens can easily run $50,000 through an agency. Newer (junior level) developers can often be hired at reduced costs, but without guidance and mentorship these developers often struggle, and in the end hiring a junior developer for 3-6 months to create even a small product is still very expensive.
Through our group we give non-profits with a problem to solve entire teams of developers to create their solutions. These developers volunteer their time because they believe in the cause they are serving, they want to help, they want To Do Good.
By having a volunteer team we are able to execute small solutions for small non-profits for a near negligible investment. Larger apps and larger non-profits can still use our services at drastically reduced costs because their apps will also be worked on by volunteers.
(pricing information available below)
For information on what the money we collect will be spent on please see our Mission Statement & Guiding Principles page.
We believe every human on this planet should be treated with dignity and respect and should be extended the same basic rights as each other no matter their race, nationality, sexual orientation, gender, ability/disability, or cognitive level. We reserve the right to limit the organizations we work with for any reason but especially if they are involved in any actions, projects or promotion of values and beliefs we deem anti-humanitarian, regressive, or harmful to the environment. We will additionally not provide services for political or religious based projects and reserve the right to not work with a political or religious group even for non-political and non-religious projects.
To be eligible to work with our non-profit arm your organization must:
- Be a registered non-profit organization in your area (ie a registered not-for-profit organization in Canada as defined by the Canada Revenue Agency, etc)
- Either: *
a. Have an operating budget of $100,000 or less for cost-exempt projects **
b. Have an operating budget of $100,001 to $250,000 for cost-reduced projects ** c. Have an operating budget of $250,001 to $750,000 for custom-priced projects ** - Not be involved in political partisanship or religious proselytising
* If your organization does not fall into either category 2.a. 2.b. or 2.c. please contact us to learn more about our for-profit arm.
** Costs also depend on additional criteria listed below. If your specific project does not meet the criteria we also offer a custom-priced status where we will work with you and the scope of your project to determine costs. Custom-priced projects are still a significant reduction in costs due to the project being staffed by as many volunteers as possible.
We understand the pricing guidelines below may be a bit complicated to follow. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us!
Projects will by default be open-source as this is one of our guiding principles. This means that the code for the project will be freely available to anyone who wants to use it, it will essentially be "in the public domain." Private information for the organization and its users will always be kept private. (Currently we have not decided upon which OSS licence type we will be using)
Project code will be owned by CodeDoesGood with permission granted to organizations to use as they please. Organizations are welcome to continue development of their projects on their own when our services are completed or use a project in the state we provided it. Additional work created by the client organization or affiliates of theirs will not be owned by us.
Both open-source and closed-source project code may be shown by a developer that worked on it to potential employers and recruiters. If closed-source it may not be posted publicly unless it is a non-identifying short snippet (for example used to explain a concept or to answer a question on SO).
If the organization desires their project to not be open source there will be additional charges, no closed-source project will be granted cost-exempt status. Depending on varying factors the project may be granted cost-reduced status however in most cases closed-sourced projects will be considered custom-priced.
Each project has a nominal administrative fee which is currently set at $1000.
There are three cost levels which a project may belong to:
- Cost-Exempt
- Cost-Reduced
- Custom-Priced
In addition to the administrative fee all organizations will be responsible for costs incurred directly by their project. Examples include but are not limited to:
- Domain registration and hosting
- Subscription fees for services they want to incorporate in their software solution (upon their approval)
- Costs for purchasing third-party software required for their software solution (upon their approval)
- Database costs
Additional costs vary according to the three cost levels listed above.
Cost-exempt status may only be applied to organizations with operating budgets of $100,000 or less.
Additionally limitations exist based on the scope of the project. This means a project that is too large, involves a lot of complexity, or involves a really huge team will not be eligible for cost-exempt status. As we want to solve as many problems as possible most projects we take on tend to be small enough for cost-exempt status as long as the organization meets eligibility guidelines.
Cost-exempt does not mean free. A cost-exempt project will be exempt from labour costs. But an organization will still be responsible for the administrative fee and the costs incurred by their cost-exempt project (listed in the "Costs" section above).
Cost-exempt projects must be open-sourced.
Administrative Fee $ 1000 + Costs Incurred $ 100-$300
- estimated costs do not include specialized costs like paying for artwork from people outside CDG
A project will be classified as cost-reduced if:
- The organization has an operating budget of $100,000 or less but the project is either deemed too complex/large to be cost-exempt or it is not open-sourced; or
- The organization has an operating budget between $100,001 and $250,000 and it is a small project.
Additionally limitations exist based on the scope of the project. This means an organization with an operating budget between $100,001 and $250,000 with a project that is too large, involves a lot of complexity, or involves a really huge team will not be eligible for cost-reduced status. As we want to solve as many problems as possible most projects we take on tend to be small enough for these organizations to qualify for cost-reduced status as long as the organization meets eligibility guidelines.
Cost-reduced projects are charged an additional labour fee of $2500.
Administrative Fee $1000 + Labour Fee $2500 + Costs Incurred $100-300 .
- estimated costs do not include specialized costs like paying for artwork from people outside CDG
A project will be subject to custom pricing if:
- The organization has an operating budget between $100,001 and $250,000 but the project is either deemed too complex/large to be cost-reduced or it is not open-sourced.
- The organization has an operating budget of $250,001 to $750,000 but the project is either deemed too complex/large to be cost-reduced.
- The organization has an operating budget over $750,000.
Depending on the size of the organization and other factors which are fluid and can not be outlined custom-priced projects may be staffed by volunteer developers which would incur a lower cost or may incur labour costs and be handled by a for-profit venture.
An ESTIMATED pricing schedule for a volunteer staffed project could be:
- Design $2500
- Architecture $2500
- Labour $1500/developer per week of estimated full time development
Note: Our developers do not work full time but the price would be determined based on the estimate IF our developers were working full time. While juniors will work on the project we estimate only the time that would be spent on the project by an experienced developer.
A small project built for both Android and iOS could cost:
Administrative Fee $1000 + $1500*4weeks*2platforms + Design $2500 + Architecture $2500 + Costs Incurred $100-$300
for a total of approximately $18,000