01 — Why it exists
Because useful work should not always depend on who can pay.
Most of what Alchemy does is commercial. It needs to be. Paying work keeps the company healthy, develops the capability and creates the capacity that makes giving anything away possible.
10:37 is where Alchemy can deliberately point some of that capability somewhere else: at a person, project or organisation where useful digital work could remove a real barrier, even when a normal commercial build is not realistic.
It is not built around pretending the work has no value. The work still has value. Alchemy is simply choosing, in selected cases, not to charge the project fee for it.
- Capability
- Choice
- Action
- Handover
02 — What 10:37 is
What 10:37 is
10:37 is an Alchemy programme through which selected digital work can be given rather than sold when doing so could create genuine benefit.
It begins with Community Builds: primarily websites and appropriate digital projects that Alchemy has the real capability and capacity to deliver properly.
What 10:37 may eventually grow into is deliberately left open. The public promise is only what Alchemy can actually provide now.
It is not
- A grant or cash-funding programme
- A way to request unlimited free work
- A promise that every application will be accepted
- Conditional on sharing any religion or political view
- A substitute for the recipient taking part in their own project
03 — Who it might be for
Examples, not categories.
These examples show the kinds of useful work 10:37 may encounter. They are not a checklist and they do not create automatic eligibility. The label above the door is not what decides it.
Charities and nonprofits
Doing useful work on budgets that may not stretch to a proper digital build.
Community projects
Local efforts bringing people together that have outgrown improvised digital tools.
Social enterprises
Organisations combining commercial activity with a genuine social or community purpose.
Education
Teachers, researchers and learning projects trying to make useful knowledge easier to reach.
Environment
People working to protect places, habitats, wildlife or the environment around them.
Individuals
One person doing something genuinely useful where the cost of proper digital help is a real barrier.
04 — How selection works
Read by a person. Decided by a person.
Applying is not the same as being accepted. 10:37 can only promise work when real capacity exists to do that work properly.
No public delivery window is invented before the project is understood. If a build is accepted, its real scope and timing can be agreed from the work actually in front of Alchemy.
You ask
Tell us what you are doing, who it helps, and what is getting in the way. Plain words are enough.
A person reads it
Every submission is reviewed by a person. No model accepts or declines anybody.
A decision is made
A question, a yes (eligible) or a no with the reason. Eligible is not a start date: capacity still matters.
Scope comes first
You hear from us monthly while you wait. When it is ready to build you are told the date, and what Alchemy is giving is written down before work begins.
05 — What free means
What free means
For an accepted Community Build, the Alchemy project fee can be £0. That is the part being given.
It does not make every external cost disappear. Domains, licences, payment providers, specialist services or other third-party costs can still exist.
Anything you would need to pay must be identified before you accept the work — not discovered after the build has begun.
Hosting for a Community Build is free, with no end date. It is built static-first, so it stays cheap to keep online. If that ever has to change, you get 90 days’ written notice and a free handover — or Care, if you choose it.
Ownership, handover and standards
The aim is independence rather than lock-in: receiving something through 10:37 should not create a hidden obligation to keep buying from Alchemy.
A Community Build is a build under Alchemy’s Terms of Service at a £0 project fee, and the code built for you is yours at handover, as on a paid build. Alchemy’s own reusable components come with the same perpetual licence every client receives.
Free does not mean deliberately worse work. Community Builds are intended to follow the same Build Standard as commercial work wherever that standard applies.
A Community Build can have a smaller agreed scope without becoming a lower-standard build. Scope and engineering quality are different things.
06 — Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
Straight answers where the rule exists. An explicit unknown where it does not.
How do I know if I am eligible?
The final eligibility rules are still being written. What is already settled is that a label alone will not decide it: being a charity, club, business, faith organisation or individual is not an automatic yes or no. The criteria will be stated clearly before applications are treated as final.
Can I apply from outside Jersey or the Channel Islands?
That has not been settled yet. Alchemy is based in Jersey, and expanding 10:37 beyond its initial geographic scope affects contracts, support and how the programme can be operated responsibly. If applications are opened more widely, this page will say so plainly.
What happens after I apply?
You get an email with your reference and a copy of what you sent. A person reads it — no model makes the decision — and you hear back with one of three things: a question if something is missing, a yes (your request is eligible), or a no with the reason. Eligible is not a build starting. While it waits you hear from Alchemy about once a month, so you know it has not been forgotten, and when it is ready to build you are told the start date. The scope and any real costs are written down before anything is built.
Are there any ongoing costs?
An accepted Community Build can carry a £0 project fee, but that does not make every external or ongoing cost disappear. Domains, specialist services, licences or other third-party costs can still exist. Hosting for a Community Build is free, with no end date. It is built static-first, so it stays cheap to keep online. If that ever has to change, you get 90 days’ written notice and a free handover — or Care, if you choose it. Anything you would need to pay must be made clear before you accept the work.
Can I apply more than once?
That rule has not been finalised yet. Repeat applications need a clear policy so the programme stays fair and does not accidentally reward repeated submissions. The answer will be published before that rule is relied on.
07 — And it should travel
The gift ends. The principle does not.
If 10:37 helps you, you owe Alchemy nothing back. There is no debt hidden inside the gift and no future favour waiting to be collected.
But if it helps you move forward, and one day you have something useful — time, knowledge, money, equipment, influence or capability — and somebody else genuinely needs it, use what you have when you can.
Go and do likewise.
