The $138,000 Mistake: How a Food Bank Almost Starved Its Own Budget

We recently spoke with a local food bank, an incredible organization running on a total annual budget of $400,000. They knew they needed to upgrade their technology, so they did what they thought was right: they called a Managed Service Provider (MSP) for a quote.

The quote came back for $150,000 per year.

Let that sink in. A company wanted to charge an organization nearly 40% of its entire budget for IT services. The proposal was filled with buzzwords: enterprise servers, 24/7 proactive monitoring, dedicated cloud infrastructure, and a multi-year contract thicker than a phone book.

The food bank’s team was overwhelmed. They were being told this was “best practice” and necessary for “security and scalability.” In reality, it was a solution designed for a 500-person corporation, not a 12-person nonprofit that primarily needed reliable email, a functional website, and a simple system to manage donations.

A Common-Sense Second Opinion

This is where the Maxsys model makes a difference. One of our local Tech Stewards sat down with them, not with a sales pitch, but with a notepad. After listening to their actual, day-to-day needs, the solution became clear:

Set up Google Workspace for Nonprofits. Cost: Free.
Recommend affordable, reliable computers to replace their aging desktops.
Implement a secure, cloud-based backup solution.
Provide on-call, as-needed support from a local technician who understands their mission.

The total annual cost for a solution that actually met their needs? Around $12,000. That’s a savings of $138,000—money that will now go directly toward feeding hungry families instead of padding corporate profits.

Your nonprofit’s budget should fuel your mission, not a tech vendor’s bottom line. Getting the right advice isn’t just about saving money; it’s about maximizing your impact.
Maxsys International

Before you sign a massive IT contract, ask yourself: is this solution built for our real-world needs, or are we being sold a one-size-fits-all package that will starve our budget? The answer could change everything.

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