Service
Nonprofit Technology Consulting
Nonprofit technology consulting is vendor-neutral help deciding what to buy, build, or stop paying for. Lifehouse Development provides it from Grand Rapids, Michigan: technology assessments, roadmaps, software selection, and fractional CTO support for nonprofits and churches. Pricing is published, the first 30-minute call is free, and we sell no software and take no referral commissions.
Most nonprofits do not have a technology problem. They have a technology-decision problem: five disconnected tools nobody chose on purpose, a website only a former staffer could edit, a board asking about AI, and every “expert” in the room selling the thing they recommend.
Nonprofit technology consulting fixes the decision problem first. Lifehouse Development is a vendor-neutral consultancy in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We sell no software, take no referral commissions, and the person you talk to on the first call is the person who does the work.
If you are still working out which kind of help you need, start with technology help for nonprofits, which maps the most common problems to the right fix.
Who It’s For
For the person technology landed on
Executive Directors
You became the IT department by default. Every renewal quote, every vendor pitch, and every board question about AI or security lands on your desk, and you have no one technical to sanity-check any of it.
Operations and admin leads
You inherited the stack. The CRM, the donor platform, the shared drive, the twelve subscriptions on the card: you keep them running, but nobody ever decided whether they should exist in the first place.
Church administrators with no IT staff
Volunteers built the systems, volunteers left, and the passwords went with them. You need file storage that can survive a leadership change and email that does not depend on one person's personal account.
If you have an IT department and a CIO, you probably do not need us. If technology decisions land on someone whose actual job is something else, you do. Most of the organizations we work with have between two and forty staff, a budget where every dollar already has a job, and a stack that grew up by accident.
What It Includes
What nonprofit technology consulting covers
Technology assessment
A structured, fixed-scope review of the systems you run, the subscriptions you pay for, how data actually moves between them, and where staff time is being lost. You get written findings ranked by mission impact, not by what is easiest to sell.
Technology roadmap
What to fix this quarter, what to fix this year, and what to deliberately leave alone. Sequenced against your real budget and your grant cycles, so it survives contact with a board meeting.
Vendor-neutral software selection
CRM, donor management, case management, email, file storage, accounting integrations. We compare on fit and total cost of ownership. We sell no licenses and take no referral commissions, so the recommendation is only ever the one that fits you.
Google and Microsoft nonprofit grants
Most eligible organizations are paying for tools they could receive free through Google for Nonprofits or Microsoft's nonprofit programs. We check eligibility, handle the applications, and set the tools up properly once they are approved.
Implementation oversight
When you do buy or build something, you need someone on your side of the table: reading the contract, holding the vendor to the scope, checking the data migration, and refusing to sign off until it actually works.
Fractional CTO leadership
For organizations that need a standing technology owner rather than a one-time project, the same work continues on a month-to-month retainer as a fractional CTO for nonprofits.
The grants piece alone often pays for the engagement. Our guide to free email and Workspace for nonprofits walks through what is available, and the nonprofit tech stack at $0, $100, and $500 a month shows what a sane stack looks like at each budget. The ongoing version of this work is described on the fractional CTO for nonprofits page.
Consulting vs. Managed IT
This is not a help desk, and a help desk is not this
A managed service provider, or MSP, keeps the laptops running, resets passwords, patches machines, and monitors the network. It usually charges per seat, and it very often resells the licenses it recommends. That is a legitimate and necessary service. It is also not strategy.
IT consulting for nonprofits answers a different question: which systems should you be running at all, what should they cost, and how do they serve the mission? An MSP will happily migrate you to the donor platform you picked. A consultant tells you whether you should have picked it, and what it will cost you in staff time three years from now.
The two roles work together. We regularly sit alongside an organization’s existing MSP, handing them a clear plan to execute instead of a vague request to “fix the systems.” And if what you actually need is someone to fix printers and reset passwords, we will tell you that on the free call and point you toward a managed IT provider instead. That conversation costs nothing.
What an Engagement Looks Like
Four steps, one written scope, no surprises
Discovery call
A free 30-minute call, then a short written scope. We agree on the questions the engagement has to answer and the price before any work starts.
Feasibility workshop
Interviews with the people who use the systems daily, an inventory of tools and subscriptions, and a look at how data flows, breaks, and gets re-typed by hand.
Project blueprint
A prioritized roadmap and, where a decision is needed, a shortlist with a clear recommendation. Written for a non-technical board, with the trade-offs stated plainly.
Build, launch & ongoing alignment
You execute the plan with your own team, with us overseeing implementation, or with us building the pieces that need building. Either way, you own every account and every line of code at the end.
Every engagement, consulting or build, runs on the same rails. The full version, including what happens when you want to add scope or stop after the plan, is on how we work.
Pricing
Fixed scope, quoted before you commit
A Technology Assessment is a fixed-scope engagement. After the free 30-minute call you receive a short written scope and a single price, so the number is known before anything starts and it does not move unless the scope does.
When the roadmap leads to a build, the prices are published rather than negotiated. Nonprofit websites typically run $5,000 to $15,000 and take four to eight weeks, including training so your own staff can update them. Custom software starts at $5,000. Ongoing support retainers start at $3,500 per month, month to month, with no long-term contract. The full breakdown is on the pricing page.
Capacity-building grants routinely fund this kind of work, and the written scope is designed to be attached directly to an application. If you are trying to work out what to set aside for next year, our guide to building a nonprofit technology budget is the place to start.
What You Leave With
Deliverables you can use without us
- A written technology assessment your leadership team can read in one sitting
- A prioritized roadmap, sequenced against your budget and grant calendar
- A tool and subscription inventory with a plain list of what to cancel, claim free, or keep
- A vendor shortlist and recommendation memo whenever a purchase decision is on the table
- A board-ready summary of the technology questions your funders and directors are asking
- Documentation and ownership of every account, so nothing depends on one person's memory
Everything is written so your team can act on it with us or without us. We have no incentive to keep you dependent: there are no licenses to renew through us and no retainer you are quietly steered into.
About the Consultant
The same person, start to finish
Lifehouse Development is run by Nathan VandenHoek, a software engineer based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There is no sales team and no handoff to junior staff: the person who scopes your engagement is the person who does the assessment, writes the roadmap, and, if it comes to that, builds the software. The practice holds a 5.0 rating on Google, sells no licenses, and serves nonprofits and churches across the United States remotely.
West Michigan organizations can meet in person. If that is you, the Grand Rapids page covers how local engagements work.
Common Questions
Nonprofit technology consulting, answered
What does nonprofit technology consulting actually include?
An assessment of your current systems, a prioritized roadmap, vendor-neutral help choosing software, applications for Google and Microsoft nonprofit programs, oversight of implementations, and, for organizations that want an ongoing partner, fractional CTO leadership. The focus is on deciding what you should be running and why, then making sure it gets put in place properly.
How is IT consulting for nonprofits different from a managed IT provider?
A managed service provider keeps the laptops running, resets passwords, and monitors the network, usually on a per-seat contract and often while reselling the licenses it recommends. IT consulting for nonprofits decides which systems you should be running in the first place, what they should cost, and how they fit your mission. The two roles complement each other, and we regularly work alongside an existing MSP.
How much does nonprofit technology consulting cost?
A Technology Assessment is a fixed-scope engagement quoted up front after a free 30-minute call, so you know the number before committing. When the roadmap leads to a build, our pricing is published: websites typically run $5,000 to $15,000 over four to eight weeks, custom software starts at $5,000, and ongoing support retainers start at $3,500 per month.
Are you tied to specific software vendors?
No. Many consultants are implementation partners for a particular platform, which means every problem starts to look like a reason to buy that platform. We sell no licenses and take no referral commissions. If the honest answer is a free tool or 'do not buy anything,' that is the answer you get.
Do you work with churches and faith-based organizations?
Yes. Churches are a significant part of the practice. The recurring needs are Google Workspace administration, file storage volunteers cannot accidentally break, email that does not run through someone's personal account, and technology decisions that survive a change in leadership.
Do you only work with organizations in Michigan?
No. Lifehouse Development is based in Grand Rapids and meets West Michigan organizations in person, but assessments, roadmaps, and fractional CTO partnerships all work over video, and we serve nonprofits across the United States remotely.
Can a grant pay for this?
Often, yes. Capacity-building grants routinely fund technology assessments, system implementations, and websites. Because every engagement is scoped in writing with a fixed price, the scope document can be attached directly to a grant application.
What if we only have one question?
Ask it on the free call. If it can be answered in thirty minutes, it will be, and you keep the answer whether or not we ever work together. Not every organization needs an engagement, and we would rather say so than stretch a small question into a project.
Start with a conversation, not a contract
Thirty minutes with the person who does the work. Bring the question that has been sitting on your desk; you keep the answer either way.