Nonprofit App Development: When to Build, When to Buy and What to Budget

Does your nonprofit need an app?

Usually not yet. An app is worth it when the same people will use it again and again for a task that works better on a phone: volunteers checking shifts, field staff recording visits, or members booking programs. For donors and the general public, a fast mobile-friendly website almost always does more, because nobody has to install anything.

If you are still weighing the two, our guide to mobile app vs web app explains the trade-offs in plain terms.

Start with the website, and what ours costs

The website is the base everything else links to, so fix it first. FourCents designs and builds websites for registered charities and incorporated nonprofits at no charge. You pay for hosting and an ongoing maintenance and support plan, and that figure is quoted in writing before any work begins.

The free build covers a standard informational and fundraising website. That includes core pages, a donation page connected to the giving platform or payment provider you already use, and sign-up forms for volunteers, events and your newsletter. Large custom software, such as member portals, case management systems or mobile apps, is not part of the free build and is quoted separately. The full terms are on the free website for nonprofits page. Please read that page for what is and is not included, because it is the source of truth, not this article.

Build vs buy: a decision table for common nonprofit tools

Buy when your need is common, and build when your process is what makes your program work. Donor records and email are solved problems. A referral and intake process shaped by your funder's reporting rules often is not.

A wider overview of the categories is in our guide to software for nonprofits.

What to budget for beyond the website

Plan for running costs, not only a launch. The items below are the ones nonprofits most often leave out of a budget or a grant application. Amounts vary by organisation and vendor, so ask each provider for a written quote.

• Domain name and any third-party licences, stock photography or fonts you choose.
• Hosting, maintenance and support. A site needs updates, backups, security monitoring and someone to email when a change is needed.
• Payment processing fees charged by your donation or payment provider on each gift.
• Subscriptions for donor management, email and volunteer tools. Many vendors offer nonprofit pricing, so ask.
• Content: copywriting, photography, video and translation. Good content takes staff time even when nobody invoices you for it.
• Accessibility checks, so people using screen readers or keyboards can donate and sign up.
• Training for staff and volunteers, repeated when people move on.
• Data work: cleaning and moving donor or member lists when you change tools.
• Custom software, if you need it, scoped and quoted as its own project.

A useful rule for boards: for every tool, name the person who owns it. A tool with no owner becomes the abandoned system you replace in three years.

If you do build: how to scope a custom nonprofit app

Keep the first version small and tied to one program. The cost of custom software follows the number of user roles, screens, integrations and reports, so every item you postpone lowers the first invoice.

1. 1Describe one process from start to finish, for example a client referral from first contact to closed file.
2. 2List who touches it and what each person needs to see. Privacy rules for client data start here.
3. 3List the reports your funders require. Build the data model around those reports.
4. 4Decide what must connect: your donor tool, accounting, email.
5. 5Ask for a fixed-scope quote for a first version, with later phases listed separately.
6. 6Put ownership in the contract: your organisation should own the code, the content and the data.

If you are applying for a grant to fund the build, a written scope and quote makes the application stronger. Our guide to how much a mobile app costs explains the cost drivers funders tend to ask about.

Questions to ask any developer or vendor

• Who owns the site, the code and the donor data if we leave?
• What exactly is included each month, and how are extra changes billed?
• How are backups taken, where are they stored, and have you tested a restore?
• Who can staff contact when something breaks, and how quickly do you respond?
• How do we end the agreement, and what do we receive when we do?
• Can you show how a staff member edits a page without calling you?

Next step

If your website is the weak point, start there and check whether you qualify for the free nonprofit website build. If the website is fine and a program is held back by spreadsheets, see the kinds of nonprofit software we build, or send us a short description of the process you want to fix. We will tell you if an existing product already covers it.