Charity Consultant vs In-House Tech Team: Decision Framework
Should your charity hire a tech consultant or build an in-house team? Cost comparison, pros and cons, and when each option makes sense.
You need technology. You don't have a tech team. Do you hire one or bring in a consultant? The answer depends on what you actually need.
Cost Comparison
| Option | Annual Cost | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
| Junior developer (in-house) | £30,000-45,000 + on-costs | 1 person, limited experience, needs management |
| Senior developer (in-house) | £55,000-80,000 + on-costs | 1 experienced person, still limited to their stack |
| General IT consultancy | £600-1,500/day | Expertise on demand, but expensive for ongoing work |
| Specialist partner (QuikCue model) | £5,000-50,000 per project | Full system built, deployed, handed over. Ongoing support available. |
When to Hire In-House
- You have ongoing, daily technology needs
- Technology is core to your service delivery
- You have 50+ staff who need daily support
- You have budget for competitive salaries
- You can provide career development (or you'll lose them in 12-18 months)
When to Use a Consultant/Partner
- You need a specific system built (one-off project)
- You need expertise you don't have and can't hire for
- You want to move fast (hiring takes 3-6 months)
- Your technology needs are periodic, not continuous
- You want someone who's done this before (reduced risk)
The Hidden Costs of In-House
- Recruitment — 3-6 months to hire, £5,000-15,000 in recruitment costs
- Training — ongoing professional development
- Management overhead — someone needs to manage the tech person
- Single point of failure — when they leave (and they will), knowledge walks out the door
- Technology debt — junior developers make architectural decisions that cost more to fix later
The QuikCue Model
We offer a third option: specialist partnership.
- Discovery — we understand your needs, workflows, and constraints
- Build — we design and build the solution (typically 2-8 weeks)
- Deploy — we deploy to infrastructure we help you set up and control
- Handover — full documentation, training, and support plan
- Ongoing support — available when needed, not a retainer you pay whether you need it or not
The Specialist Partner Approach
QuikCue builds systems that run themselves. We don't sell retainers — we build, deploy, and hand over. Your systems, your data, your control.
We build autonomous systems for charities.
Pledge collection, payment processing, WhatsApp automation, analytics dashboards, and the infrastructure that lets a small team do the work of fifty. Free tools. Fractional technology leadership. No fluff.
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