By Nitish Pahwa
Publication Date: 2026-08-18 09:40:00
Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.
Ronald Khosla, a former vegetable farmer and tech entrepreneur, keeps things simple at his nonprofit: He’s the co-founder, president, and head of IT for Canopy, a modest venture firm that offers capital to startups trying to protect and sustain our natural world.
“There’s no paid staff, and we mostly support niche tech projects, like people exploring new ways to preserve trees in Morocco or to regeneratively regrow a pasture in Oregon,” Khosla told me.
Keeping such a sparse, specified operation going means narrowing budgets wherever possible, especially when it comes to managing Canopy’s investments and data. For that, he’s depended for years on special licenses Microsoft has granted to smaller-size nonprofits around the world, offering them a premium suite of Office apps (Word, Excel, OneDrive) at no charge.
At…