How Nonprofits Can Manage Their Cost in Azure

Margaret_Farmer

Microsoft

May 12, 2025

A photo of Calculator and bag of money.

Nonprofits face a unique challenge of having to find ways to reduce operational costs as well as finding new funding streams. Thus, having to measure, reduce, manage, and tighten their belts to keep within budget. Add to that pricing, software and services, then you have a recipe for costs to get out of control. Microsoft does offer a grants and discounts to nonprofit organizations. However, even with those generous offers, nonprofits need to have extra tools to help manage costs. Don't worry, we got you covered. In this blog we will be able share some tips and strategies that nonprofits can use to effectively manage their costs in Azure.

Leverage Azure Grants and Discounts

Microsoft offers significant grants and discounts to eligible nonprofits. For instance, nonprofits can receive up to $2,000 in Azure credits annually. These grants can be used to offset the cost of various Azure services, making it more affordable for nonprofits to leverage the power of the cloud. To learn more how you can get started with claiming your Azure sponsorship credits learn more here: Claiming Azure Credits | Microsoft Community Hub.

Things to Consider

Move older servers to Azure to save money
Utilize Hybrid Azure Benefit
Take advantage of your Support plan
Optimize your resources
Implement cost management policies for your subscriptions

Optimize Resource Usage

One of the key takeaways to manage costs in Azure is by optimizing resource usage. This involves regularly monitoring and analyzing your cloud usage to identify underutilized resources. Azure provides tools like Azure Cost Management and Azure Advisor, which offer insights and recommendations on how to optimize your resources and reduce costs. Azure Advisor provides advice to help in the five categories of your Azure subscription:

Azure Advisor Categories

Reliability: Ensures your Azure services are reliable and available by providing recommendations for improving fault tolerance and disaster recovery.

Security: Offers guidance on securing your Azure resources, including identity management, network security, and data protection.

Performance: Provides recommendations to enhance the speed and efficiency of your Azure applications and services, ensuring optimal performance.

Costs: Helps you manage and reduce Azure expenditures through cost-saving strategies and resource optimization suggestions.

Operational Excellence: Focuses on best practices for managing and monitoring Azure environments to achieve smooth and efficient operations.

Azure Advisor provides suggestions for managing underutilized resources and shows their effects on your subscription. If your virtual machines are not being used to their full potential, you can adjust them to minimize resource waste. Moreover, using Azure Advisor alongside Cost Management tools can improve your team’s productivity and get a bird’s eye view on your budgets.

Implement Cost Management Policies

A photo of the Get started Cost management in Azure.

Setting up cost management policies can help nonprofits keep their cloud spending in check. Azure allows you to set budgets and alerts, ensuring that you are notified when your spending approaches or exceeds your budget. This proactive approach helps in avoiding unexpected costs and staying within your financial limits.

Cost Management Features

Create budgets
Get forecast estimates
Create alerts
Get reports & analysis

Use Reserved Instances

Albeit nonprofits may not be able to receive the discount that reserved instances provide if they have an Azure Sponsored subscription. If you have predictable workloads, using Azure Reserved Instances can lead to significant cost savings. By committing to a one- or three-year term, nonprofits can save up to 72% compared to pay-as-you-go pricing. This is particularly beneficial for organizations that have steady, ongoing cloud usage. There will be times when you will need to weigh in your options. Using the Azure Pricing calculator can help build estimates to see what may be more charitable to your workload.

Take Advantage of Free Services

Azure services screen from website.

That's right, you heard me say free. There are some services that are always free and trials. Azure offers a range of free services that nonprofits can take advantage of. These include free tiers of popular services like Azure App Service, Azure Functions, and Azure DevOps. Utilizing these free services can help nonprofits reduce their overall cloud expenditure while still benefiting from Azure's capabilities.

FREE Azure Services

12 Month Services free
55 Services that are always free
Free trials for multiple services in Azure

Regularly Review and Adjust

Cost management is an ongoing process. Nonprofits should regularly review their Azure usage and costs, making adjustments as needed. This might involve scaling down resources during off-peak times, switching to more cost-effective services, or taking advantage of new Azure offerings and discounts.

Conclusion

By leveraging grants and discounts, optimizing resource usage, implementing cost management policies, using reserved instances, taking advantage of free services, and regularly reviewing and adjusting their cloud strategy, nonprofits can effectively manage their costs in Azure. These strategies not only help in reducing expenses but also ensure that nonprofits can continue to focus on their mission without financial constraints.