Make every software dollar count for your students.
Education nonprofits are subsidizing software companies with hundreds of millions of dollars a year without knowing it. I'm on a mission to change that.
It starts with accepting that nonprofits are structurally designed to let this money quietly leak. IT keeps the systems running. Finance closes the books. No one owns the space in between.
And when the gap is pointed out, no team steps forward to fill it. No performance review asks how much the organization didn't overpay.
redirected away from vendors and back to the mission, at a $40M nonprofit.
of overlooked spending returned to the mission at an $18M nonprofit.
recovered in under 10 hours by a charter management organization.
SaaS stewardship is the ongoing practice of ensuring every technology dollar is the best possible value for your mission.
We get there through 4 components:
Inventory
You know every platform your organization uses, what you pay, and when each contract renews. Nothing is on autopilot.
Fit
You've assessed whether each platform's features match how your organization actually operates today — not when you signed the contract.
Optimization
License counts reflect who actually uses each platform, and you regularly benchmark price and features against alternatives. The SaaS market moves constantly — new tiers, nonprofit discounts, new entrants — so what was the best fit a year ago may not be today.
Leverage
You manage vendor relationships proactively, know what peer organizations pay, and have a credible exit strategy for every platform. You're never negotiating from dependency.
Does your nonprofit practice SaaS stewardship?
Does anyone in your organization track every SaaS vendor, contract, and renewal date in one place?
When did you last verify that your license counts reflect the people who actually use each platform?
When did you last know what peer organizations pay for the same tools — and negotiate with that knowledge in hand?
For most leaders, the honest answer is: I'm not sure.
That uncertainty has a price. Roughly half a percent to one percent of your operating budget is leaving for vendors every year with nothing to show for it. For a $20M organization, that's up to $200,000. Recurring. Every year. And unlike a missed grant or a budget shortfall, it raises no alarm. You just continue silently bleeding.
The vision
Every education nonprofit deserves to have this handled.
Not as a one-time audit but as an ongoing practice — as assumed as having a financial auditor, as fundamental as closing the books.
I started Relational Tech Partners because I watched mission-driven organizations send money to vendors that wasn't earning anything for students. I've been a nonprofit CTO. I've built technology at Meta, CZI, and Summit Public Schools. I know what great stewardship looks like — and I know how far most organizations are from it.
The goal is to make SaaS stewardship so assumed in this sector that every education nonprofit either practices it themselves or has someone doing it for them. Every organization that gets there makes the case for the next one.