Funding proposal: the CIC

A small Community Interest Company, run by engineers, that builds software for public bodies and community organisations. The client owns the software, and we support it for as long as the client needs us. We are seeking seed funding to set up the organisation and to hold reserves so that we can meet those support commitments.

What we are

The CIC is a Community Interest Company limited by guarantee. It has no shareholders and pays no dividends, and a statutory asset lock prevents its assets being taken out of the organisation. It has three founding directors: two senior software engineers and one senior client manager with security and compliance experience. We engage associates, who are independent specialists, for individual projects as needed.

We use agentic development tools: software that writes and tests code under the direction of an engineer. These tools reduce the time, and therefore the cost, of building software. For well-defined problems, a small team of experienced engineers using them can deliver work that would previously have needed a larger team. Our engineers decide what is built, check what the tools produce, and are responsible for the security, compliance and design decisions.

What public bodies get

• Working software. We build systems for staff to use in their daily work. Timescales depend on the size of the system and are agreed at the start of each project.
• Ownership and hosting. The client owns the software, its documentation and the record of every change made to it, and pays no licence fees. We arrange hosting for what we build, so the client does not have to set it up. Depending on the client, a system runs on our own servers, with a hosting partner or on the client’s own servers. Because the client owns the software, it can be moved to another host.
• Support. We support every system we build for as long as the client needs us. During the project we document the system and train the client’s staff, so that over time they can handle more of the day-to-day support themselves, which reduces the client’s costs. The client decides how quickly that happens. Handover is the point at which a named person on the client’s side can run the system day to day; our support continues after it. For larger clients we can help recruit and set up an internal team.
• Review. Design decisions and code are reviewed by a second experienced engineer before a client sees them. Security and compliance requirements are identified at the start of each project.

What funders get

• Public benefit. Each completed project gives a public body or community organisation a working system that it owns and can maintain. Some projects replace licensed software; others add to it.
• Self-sustaining operation. The seed pays for setting up the organisation. From late 2028, fees for project work are intended to cover operating costs. Funders are not asked for recurring annual funding.
• Asset lock. Money given to the CIC cannot be paid out to directors or anyone else. If the CIC closes, its remaining assets must be transferred to another community-interest body.
• Reporting. We publish an annual CIC report and a list of completed projects, with their beneficiaries, costs and outcomes.

Read more

Funding timeline

This is an internal funder-facing document. The public-facing CIC site is at the website root. The supporting strategy and engineering planning is in the planning area.