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Thanks for the insights, Ted. It makes me so glad to see that someone else has struggled through some of these problems and done as well you as you guys clearly

by atroche 15y ago

Thanks for the insights, Ted. It makes me so glad to see that someone else has struggled through some of these problems and done as well you as you guys clearly have. Do you really provide support for most of the clients featured in your portfolio? There are so many! How much less do you charge than a typical IT company? Do you include the cost of support in the initial fee? I totally agree with you that surviving on donations and grants alone would be too hard. For the first projects that Radical Designs did, were you able to charge? How did you convince organisations to go with you? And how long was it before you established your current business model? Sorry for asking so many questions!

clojurerocks 15y ago
Im dealing with a few social enterprises myself and the funding is definitely one of the biggest challenges. Grants are certainly one way however relying on them can be problematic because they are hard ot get initially but at the same time its easier to get them once you get them the first time. Also usually they dont cover the total costs involved. Donations can be tricky because you have to get people to know about the product and to want to give money. Some are trying other ways such as developing mobile apps and selling them. My thoughts also is to talk to foundations and very wealthy people who might be open to investing in high technology products that will help people.
tedsuo 15y ago
Don't mind the questions at all. So, to be clear we don't offer general IT services, we only do individual projects for clients (usually websites and custom applications). Most clients don't need too much support, just an occasional training. We offer a standard support package as part of the host fee ($50/month, free 1/2 hour of support via the help desk). Usually the support contract is separate from the initial project. For projects, we used to do a flat rate bid, but that sucked because it was hard to define "done" or account for changing requirements once the project was under way. So we now give an estimate with a number of line items, and bill by the hour. This works out well because you let the client decide when to stop. We are cheaper because we don't pay ourselves industry standard wages (shitty, but that's the main cost), and we don't bilk the client for non-productive hours. In contracting, that's where the real money is: you charge by the week or month, not by the hour. We charge by the hour and are transparent about costs. Small nonprofits have very tight budgets so this is attractive to them. RD got started really as an extension of the activism people were doing at the time. David Taylor, who started it, was working on a number of campaigns and eventually needed help, so he brought some friends in. Projects got big enough that they needed real support, so money got involved. David didn't charge much at first, and the projects were small, but as we were around longer things started to gel up and eventually we started working with larger clients. It took us a while to sort out our business model, there were a lot of bumps along the way. Also, we never did any advertising, it's all been referrals so far. I don't recommend that! If you want to jump start the process, the best thing to do is talk at nonprofit tech conferences and get out in front of potential clients. You can also find potential clients who look like they may need your services, and email them. If you get in enough rolodexes, have a reassuring web presence, and do good work, you will start getting a steady stream of calls.

by atroche 15y ago

clojurerocks 15y ago

Im dealing with a few social enterprises myself and the funding is definitely one of the biggest challenges. Grants are certainly one way however relying on them can be problematic because they are hard ot get initially but at the same time its easier to get them once you get them the first time. Also usually they dont cover the total costs involved. Donations can be tricky because you have to get people to know about the product and to want to give money. Some are trying other ways such as developing mobile apps and selling them. My thoughts also is to talk to foundations and very wealthy people who might be open to investing in high technology products that will help people.

tedsuo 15y ago

Don't mind the questions at all. So, to be clear we don't offer general IT services, we only do individual projects for clients (usually websites and custom applications). Most clients don't need too much support, just an occasional training. We offer a standard support package as part of the host fee ($50/month, free 1/2 hour of support via the help desk). Usually the support contract is separate from the initial project. For projects, we used to do a flat rate bid, but that sucked because it was hard to define "done" or account for changing requirements once the project was under way. So we now give an estimate with a number of line items, and bill by the hour. This works out well because you let the client decide when to stop. We are cheaper because we don't pay ourselves industry standard wages (shitty, but that's the main cost), and we don't bilk the client for non-productive hours. In contracting, that's where the real money is: you charge by the week or month, not by the hour. We charge by the hour and are transparent about costs. Small nonprofits have very tight budgets so this is attractive to them. RD got started really as an extension of the activism people were doing at the time. David Taylor, who started it, was working on a number of campaigns and eventually needed help, so he brought some friends in. Projects got big enough that they needed real support, so money got involved. David didn't charge much at first, and the projects were small, but as we were around longer things started to gel up and eventually we started working with larger clients. It took us a while to sort out our business model, there were a lot of bumps along the way. Also, we never did any advertising, it's all been referrals so far. I don't recommend that! If you want to jump start the process, the best thing to do is talk at nonprofit tech conferences and get out in front of potential clients. You can also find potential clients who look like they may need your services, and email them. If you get in enough rolodexes, have a reassuring web presence, and do good work, you will start getting a steady stream of calls.