The beautiful tip of the iceberg
Most of what we build you'll never see. This is the part you can.
- Below the surfaceSaaS platforms, cloud systems and the engineering businesses run on.
- Above itA small glimpse of our UI/UX craft — ten real product interfaces.
- Home
- Industries
- Charity, education & public sector
Public money, public trust: software that has to justify every pound
A greenfield course enrolment portal for a county council, a donations platform for an endangered-species charity, and voice and video recording for emergency services: systems built for organisations that answer to the public.
Software for charity, education & public sector: what we have learned
Charities, education providers and public bodies buy software differently. Budgets are scrutinised, procurement asks for evidence before conversation, and the people who use the system are often volunteers, learners or members of the public who did not choose it. The software has to be simple to use, cheap to run and easy to justify.
We built the greenfield enrolment portal that transformed adult education course enrolment for the Workers' Educational Association working with a UK county council; delivered charity software with online donations for the Cat Survival Trust on Orchard Core; and developed voice and video recording over IP for NICE Systems in support of 911 emergency services in New York.
Everything we do is published: a rate card, a Master Services Agreement, a Data Processing Agreement, Cyber Essentials Plus and the security policies a procurement team needs. Most of a supplier questionnaire is answered before you send it.
What makes charity, education & public sector software hard
The problems we are usually called about. If two of these sound familiar, the conversation is worth having.
Every pound has to be justified
Budgets are fixed, benefits must be evidenced, and running costs matter as much as build costs.
Accessible to everyone
Learners, donors and the public include people who use assistive technology, older devices and slow connections. Accessibility is a requirement, not a preference.
Procurement and due diligence first
Supplier questionnaires, data protection assessments and continuity evidence have to exist before a contract can be signed.
Small teams, big responsibilities
A single administrator often runs a system used by thousands. It has to be simple to operate and supported when they are away.
Our answer, in charity, education & public sector
Built on .NET, Blazor and Azure by a UK team with Microsoft-certified engineers, and supported under a written SLA once it is live.
Enrolment, case and application portals
Greenfield portals on ASP.NET Core and Blazor that take a learner or applicant from search to enrolment with payment, confirmation and reporting for the administrator.
Donation and supporter platforms
Content-managed sites on Orchard Core or Umbraco with integrated online donations, Gift Aid capture and supporter journeys, built to be run by a small team.
Public-safety and mission-critical systems
Engineering for systems where availability is measured in lives: recording, communications and workflow software built and tested to demanding standards.
Procurement-ready from day one
Published MSA, DPA, rate card, Cyber Essentials Plus and Trust Centre evidence, plus escrow and everything in your name, so the paperwork is the easy part.
Charity, education & public sector work we can show you
Systems we have built, taken over and moved forward for organisations like yours. Full write-ups on each page, and reference conversations on request.
Technology we use for charity, education & public sector
One Microsoft stack, end to end, so there is one team to call and no hand-off gap in an incident.
Further reading
Security, compliance and continuity
We are Cyber Essentials Plus certified, publish our Master Services Agreement and UK GDPR Article 28 Data Processing Agreement, and keep code, cloud subscriptions and documentation in your name from the first day. Source code escrow is available for continuity, and our Trust Centre answers the common due-diligence questions procurement teams ask.
Charity, education & public sector software: frequently asked questions
Do you respond to formal tenders and supplier questionnaires?
Yes. We participate in formal tenders, and most supplier questionnaires are largely answered by our published Trust Centre, MSA, DPA and Cyber Essentials Plus certification. The remainder comes back under NDA.
How do you keep running costs low for a charity or public body?
Right-sized Azure with cost monitoring in the monthly report, automation that removes manual administration, and a support plan sized to the SLA tier you actually need. Our rate card is published so budgeting is straightforward.
Is accessibility built in?
Yes. We build to WCAG guidelines, test with assistive technology and design for older devices and slower connections, because learners, donors and the public do not get to choose the system they are given.
Can you integrate online donations, Gift Aid and payment providers?
Yes. Donation platforms integrate with payment providers so card data never touches your systems, capture Gift Aid declarations, and feed supporter data to your CRM or finance system.
What happens if we need to leave?
Thirty days' notice in the MSA, and because everything is already in your accounts and defined as code, leaving is a handover, not a rescue.
Industries we also work in
Talk to us about your portal or supporter platform
Tell us what you run and what keeps you up at night. A short conversation, under NDA if you prefer, is enough to tell you honestly whether we are the right partner and what the first step would cost.
Book an initial discussion Watch how we partnerCyber Essentials Plus · UK-based team · Microsoft Partner · Published rate card and Trust Centre
Start a meaningful conversation with us today.
Assemblysoft are Your Safe Pair of Hands
Azure
Azure DevOps
