When a custom app is justified
Off-the-shelf software is often the right choice: cheaper, proven and updated by someone else. A custom app is more likely to be justified in the following situations:
- Your way of working is specific to your mission or programs, and no tool on the market respects it without costly compromises.
- You juggle several tools and files that don't communicate, and the same information is entered three times.
- Your funders require reports that take days to prepare every year.
- You handle sensitive information and want to decide yourself where it lives and who can access it.
- The tool will be used every day by employees or volunteers who are not IT specialists.
Examples of apps for a nonprofit
Here is the kind of app an organization may benefit from having built. These are examples of uses, not a list of products:
- managing members, volunteers and their availability;
- registrations for activities and attendance tracking;
- tracking files or service requests, with strict control over who sees what;
- tracking grants, deadlines and reporting to funders;
- internal requests and approvals, on the same principle as Neo-Frais for expenses;
- a portal for participants or partners.
How we work together
- Scoping. We clarify the need, the people who will use the tool, the constraints (budget, funders, sensitive information) and what success would look like.
- Design. I prepare user journeys and mockups that you validate before anything is built, and we decide together what comes first.
- Step-by-step build. The app is built in usable parts, with regular demos so you can steer the project.
- Launch and follow-up. Team training, simple documentation and support to help the tool evolve with the organization.
I use artificial intelligence as a tool to move faster. Design choices and important decisions remain mine, discussed with you.
Your data and Law 25
Before building anything, we establish which personal information the app will handle, who will have access, where it will be hosted and how the organization will be able to get it back. My principle: your data stays yours, in a format you can export, and essential accounts are opened in the organization's name rather than a person's.
Québec's Law 25 provides no exemption for nonprofits: as soon as you collect information about your members, donors, volunteers or employees, obligations apply (a designated and published person in charge, a privacy policy, an incident register, an assessment before communicating information outside Québec). They are summarized with their official sources on Cap Commun's page on Law 25 (in French). This is not legal advice.
How much does it cost?
No price is shown because it depends on scope: how many people will use the tool, how complex the rules are, which integrations are needed and what security requirements apply. Cost is discussed after a first conversation, once your need is well understood. An app can also be built in stages, starting with the part that saves you the most time.