How to Choose a Nonprofit Technology Consultant

A disclosure before anything else: Lifehouse Development is one of the options described below. That is a reason to check this against other sources, not a reason to skip it — but you should know it going in, and this guide names the firms you should compare us against.

First, name the problem

Most bad engagements start with the wrong category, not the wrong firm. “We need technology help” covers four genuinely different jobs, and the organizations that do each one well are mostly not the same organizations.

• Something is broken or unsafe right now. Email is down, a laptop is missing, you failed a grant's security questionnaire. That is managed IT, not consulting.
• You have to choose between systems. CRM selection, a migration you cannot undo, a board asking about AI. That is strategy and assessment work.
• The thing you need does not exist off the shelf. A program intake workflow no product matches, an integration between tools that do not talk. That is software development.
• Nobody owns technology decisions. The same arguments every budget cycle, tools bought and abandoned. That is a fractional CTO problem.

The four kinds of provider

National nonprofit technology consultancies

Firms that work exclusively or largely with nonprofits on technology and data strategy. JCA, DNL OmniMedia, Build Consulting and Tech Impact are long-established names here. They bring depth, formal methodology, and teams — and they are priced for organizations that have a technology budget line already. If you are a $5M-plus organization replacing a core system, start here.

State nonprofit association programs

Many state nonprofit associations run a technology arm for members, priced below market because that is the point. In Michigan that is MNA Tech, which has offered IT support and assessments to member organizations since 2001. If you are a member, check what you are already entitled to before paying anyone — including us.

Managed service providers

MSPs handle helpdesk, devices, patching, backup and security monitoring on a per-user monthly fee. Grand Rapids has a healthy market of them. They are the right answer for keep-the-lights-on work and the wrong answer for what-should-we-build. Many also offer a “virtual CIO” hour alongside support, which is worth having, but it is generally advice about the stack they already manage.

Independent consultants and small studios

One person or a small team. Lower overhead, direct access to the person doing the work, and far more variance in quality than the other three categories. The upside is that nothing is lost in translation between the person who understood your problem and the person who implements it. The risk is bus factor — ask what happens to your systems if they disappear, and make sure you own the code, the accounts, and the documentation.

The three questions

These sort the field faster than any RFP.

1. Do you resell or implement what you recommend?

Most nonprofit technology advice is attached to a product. A Salesforce implementation partner will find that you need Salesforce; a Microsoft partner will find that you need Microsoft. That is incentive, not dishonesty — but you should know which one you are getting. Ask how they are paid if you adopt the recommendation. A vendor-neutral consultant earns nothing either way, which is the whole value of the answer.

2. Do you publish what you charge?

Almost nobody in this sector does. A firm that will not give you a range before a discovery call is telling you the price depends on what they learn about your budget. Published ranges are not the same as a quote, but they let you find out in ten minutes whether a conversation is worth having — which is why we publish ours.

3. Who actually does the work?

In larger firms the person who wins the engagement is often not the person who delivers it. That is normal and not disqualifying — but ask, so you are not surprised when a junior consultant you have never met arrives to run your migration.

When to hire nobody

Three situations where an engagement will waste your money:

• You have not claimed the free tier yet. If you are eligible for Google Workspace for Nonprofits or the Microsoft equivalent and have not applied, do that first. It is free, it takes an afternoon, and it changes what the rest of the problem looks like.
• The problem is a process nobody wrote down. If two people do intake differently, no system will reconcile them. Write the process first. Software encodes a process; it cannot invent one.
• One person owns all the passwords. That is an governance problem with a free fix — move accounts to organization ownership. See the five things that actually matter.

Where we fit, plainly

Lifehouse Development is the fourth category: an independent studio in the Grand Rapids area. We are the right call if you are a small-to-mid nonprofit or church that needs someone to own technology decisions without hiring an executive, if you need something built that does not exist off the shelf, or if you want an assessment from someone with nothing to sell you.

We are the wrong call if you need 24/7 helpdesk and device management — hire an MSP. If you are replacing a core system at a large organization and need a team with formal change management, hire one of the national firms above. And if you are an MNA member who has not used what membership already includes, use that first.

Frequently Asked Questions