In today’s digital world, nonprofit organisations increasingly rely on cloud technologies to enhance efficiency, scalability, and the reach of their services. AWS for nonprofits provide a powerful suite of tools and programmes designed to help NGOs not only move to the cloud but also manage their operational costs effectively.
In this article, we’ll explore how foundations and NGOs can benefit from AWS for nonprofits, including cost optimization tools, special support programmes and financial support initiatives like AWS nonprofit credits.
Why is cost optimization in the cloud important for NGOs?
Nonprofit organisations often operate on tight budgets and must maximise the value of every dollar. While cloud computing brings many benefits—such as flexibility, global access, and reduced need for on-premise infrastructure—it can also lead to unexpected costs if not managed properly.
Key benefits of moving to the cloud:
- Scalability: Easily adjust resources to meet changing needs.
- Cost efficiency: Pay only for what you use, eliminating capital investment.
- Remote access: Enable staff and volunteers to work from anywhere.
However, cloud bills can quickly escalate without proper monitoring and governance. That’s where AWS cost optimization tools come into play.
AWS Cost Optimization Tools for NGOs
Managing cloud costs is crucial for not-for-profit organisations. AWS offers a range of tools to help control expenses, optimise resource consumption and plan costs strategically.
- AWS Cost Explorer
AWS Cost Explorer is an intuitive visual tool that enables analysis of cloud spend over time. NGOs can use it to:
- Track and analyse costs by service, region or tag.
- Identify consumption trends and spending patterns to detect inefficiencies.
- Detect anomalies – e.g. a sudden increase in consumption that may indicate a misconfiguration.
- Forecast future costs based on historical data, which supports better budget planning.
Example: Working with a global logistics software provider, we audited their AWS environment. Using Cost Explorer, we identified excessive costs in the test and development environments that were generating unnecessary load. Visualising the data helped quickly pinpoint inefficiencies and led to changes that resulted in more than 15% savings on EC2 instances alone.
- AWS Budgets
AWS Budgets allows you to set cost and resource consumption limits with the possibility of automatic notification when you are approaching the set thresholds.
Benefits for NGO:
- Maintain full control over the budget, reacting in advance to overruns.
- Synchronise the use of the cloud with the organisation’s financial planning.
- Create different types of budgets, such as monthly, quarterly or for a specific service.
Example: For an organisation in the telecoms industry, we implemented AWS Budgets alerts that alerted them when their test and dev environments exceeded a spending threshold. This allowed the customer to automatically trigger mechanisms to shut down inactive instances during off-hours, which translated into savings of tens of thousands of dollars per year.
- AWS Trusted Advisor
AWS Trusted Advisor acts as a digital advisor in the background – analysing your AWS environment and making specific recommendations in five areas: cost, security, fault tolerance, performance and constraints.
Benefits for NGO:
- Ready-made tips on how to reduce costs – e.g. by switching off unused EC2 instances.
- Security recommendations to help protect beneficiary data.
- Improved performance and fault tolerance of systems.
Example: While working with another company, we used Trusted Advisor to identify unused resources – including outdated EBS snapshots and an inactive PostgreSQL database. With Trusted Advisor’s recommendations, we were able to remove redundant resources and reduce storage costs by more than 8%.
- Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering
For NGOs that store large volumes of data, Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering automatically moves data between storage tiers based on access frequency—helping you reduce storage costs without compromising data availability.
Benefits for NGO:
- Reduced cost of storing long-term data such as archives, reports, event photos.
- No compromise in data availability – data is always available, just stored in a cost-optimised way.
Example: A foundation documenting humanitarian efforts was storing thousands of photos and videos in S3. Moving them to Intelligent-Tiering reduced costs by 40% without affecting availability.
- AWS Savings Plans and Reserved Instances
For workloads that are predictable over time (e.g. website hosting or daily data processing), AWS offers two long-term savings models:
- Savings Plans – more flexible, they apply to a specific amount of computing consumption (e.g. 10 hours of vCPUs per day).
- Reserved Instances (RIs) – more rigid, but often offer greater discounts for specific EC2 instances, RDS etc.
Benefits for NGO:
- Discounts of up to 72% compared to standard pricing.
- Better cost planning for long-term projects.
Example: For a client using PostgreSQL RDS, we upgraded the database engine and implemented Reserved Instances for a period of 3 years. This reduced the costs associated with RDS by over 77% with minimal implementation effort. This has enabled the client to anticipate expenses at the infrastructure level and plan budgets with greater precision.
AWS for Nonprofits Special Programmes: Maximising Impact with Financial and Technical Support
AWS recognizes the unique challenges nonprofit organisations face when it comes to technology adoption, funding, and operational efficiency. To bridge this gap, AWS offers dedicated programmes tailored specifically for NGOs and foundations, helping them innovate affordably and scale their mission-driven work with ease. These initiatives go beyond just cost savings—they empower organisations to transform digitally with purpose.
- AWS for Nonprofit Credits
Nonprofit organisations often need reliable, scalable, and cost-effective IT infrastructure—without the burden of major capital investment. The AWS Nonprofit Credit Program addresses this need by providing up to $5,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit annually, empowering NGOs and foundations to begin or expand their cloud journey with minimal financial risk.
Key Features:
- Annual AWS credits from $1,000 to $5,000 USD, depending on the organisation’s size, scope, and cloud usage plans
- Access to a wide range of AWS services, including:
- Computing power for running enterprise applications, virtual servers, or large-scale data analysis.
- Storage solutions for archiving, backup, or live application data via Amazon S3, EBS, or Glacier.
- Databases, including Amazon RDS, DynamoDB, and Redshift, for reliable, scalable data storage and access.
- Advanced services such as AI/ML, analytics, content delivery, and data visualization.
Why it matters: By lowering the financial barrier to entry, the AWS nonprofit credits allow organisations to prioritise impact over infrastructure. Instead of delaying innovation due to budget constraints, NGOs can immediately begin implementing scalable cloud-based solutions that support their mission—and grow with their needs.
- AWS Imagine Grant
The AWS Imagine Grant is one of the most impactful funding opportunities for nonprofits looking to drive innovation through cloud technology. With three distinct award categories, the programme supports both foundational IT upgrades and highly advanced, scalable digital solutions. As of the latest programme update, a new track has been introduced to support projects using generative AI—underscoring AWS’s commitment to cutting-edge technologies in the nonprofit sector.
The Pathfinder – Generative AI Award
This newly launched award supports mission-critical projects that incorporate generative AI. Designed for nonprofits with a clear data strategy and a well-defined AI use case, this track targets projects that are already in the planning or implementation stage and have the potential to transform an entire industry or field.
Ideal for:
- Nonprofits using generative AI to solve complex problems.
- Projects that build on strong existing data infrastructure.
- Use cases ready for near-term execution and long-term scale.
Award package includes:
- Up to $200,000 USD in unrestricted financial support.
- Up to $100,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit.
- Hands-on support from the AWS Generative AI Innovation Center.
- Access to AWS training and implementation resources.
- Opportunity for marketing promotion via AWS channels.
Momentum to Modernize Award
This track supports foundational cloud infrastructure projects. It is ideal for nonprofits seeking to migrate, modernize, or expand their technical environment to better support their mission delivery.
Example project types:
- Application migration and modernization.
- Database centralization.
- Infrastructure re-architecture or scalability upgrades.
- Building new internal-facing or public-facing apps.
Award package includes:
- Up to $50,000 USD in unrestricted financial support.
- Up to $20,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit.
- Technical implementation support from AWS experts.
- Full access to AWS training resources and cloud enablement.
- AWS marketing exposure for selected projects.
Go Further, Faster Award
This category is tailored for organisations with innovative, high-impact projects that leverage advanced cloud technologies. These projects are expected to be scalable and repeatable, with the potential to act as force multipliers within their respective sectors.
Technologies supported include:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)
- High Performance Computing (HPC)
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Predictive analytics, data lakes, and smart dashboards
Award package includes:
- Up to $150,000 USD in unrestricted financial support.
- Up to $100,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credit.
- Dedicated technical support from AWS solution architects.
- Access to training and AWS programme resources.
- AWS-driven publicity for innovative work.
Why it matters: The AWS Imagine Grant provides not only financial assistance, but also deep technical expertise and global exposure. Whether your organisation needs to lay the groundwork for digital transformation or scale a visionary, AI-powered initiative, the Imagine Grant opens the door to sustainable, mission-aligned technology growth.
How SolDevelo Foundation Helps NGOs Optimize AWS Costs
At SolDevelo Foundation, we’re committed to helping nonprofit organisations harness the full potential of cloud technology—strategically and sustainably. Whether you’re just beginning your cloud journey or looking to optimize existing AWS usage, we provide comprehensive support tailored to your mission.
Cloud migration workshops
We guide your team through the entire cloud migration process—from planning and infrastructure assessment to deployment and optimisation—ensuring a smooth, low-risk transition to AWS.
- Grant application assistance: Help with securing AWS Nonprofit Credits and Imagine Grant funding.
- Cloud architecture reviews: Detailed assessments of your current cloud setup with recommendations for cost and performance optimization.
Summary
AWS for nonprofits provides organisations with a robust ecosystem of tools and support programmes designed to reduce cloud costs, enhance operational efficiency, and ultimately amplify social impact. By leveraging solutions like Cost Explorer, Trusted Advisor, S3 Intelligent-Tiering, and long-term savings plans, NGOs can gain full control over their cloud spending without compromising performance or scalability.
Combined with financial aid initiatives such as the AWS Nonprofit Credit Program and the AWS Imagine Grant, these tools empower mission-driven organisations to innovate confidently – no matter their budget.
Ready to start your journey with AWS for nonprofits?
Schedule a free consultation with SolDevelo Foundation to take control of your AWS costs, migrate to the cloud, or unlock new funding opportunities.
Let’s work together to make cloud technology serve your cause – efficiently, affordably, and meaningfully.
