New Relic is a leading observability platform that helps companies monitor how their websites and applications perform behind the scenes. By tracking page load speeds, error rates, and overall system performance, New Relic enables teams to quickly detect and resolve issues before they escalate.

For businesses and nonprofits operating in a digital-first world, performance isn’t optional. Software disruptions can damage revenue, erode customer trust, and impact brand reputation. 

Observability for Good

Through its Observability for Good program, New Relic provides eligible nonprofits with free access to its data-driven platform. By equipping mission-driven organizations with enterprise-grade observability tools, New Relic enables them to improve operational efficiency while protecting the digital infrastructure that powers their impact.

One example of this impact in action is Watch Duty, a nonprofit delivering a real-time wildfire intelligence service providing fast, verified updates during emergencies. Its reporting is powered by 250+ volunteers, including firefighters and dispatchers, who monitor radio scanners and official sources 24/7 to provide alerts on fire spread, wind direction, evacuation risks, and response activity.

Watch Duty supports over 1.5 million concurrent users and serves 3 million daily users. During the California wildfires, it reached up to 9 million people in a single week. It turns fragmented data into clear, actionable information when it matters most.

To operate at this scale, Watch Duty uses New Relic for observability. With sudden traffic spikes and a small engineering team, reliability is critical. New Relic provides real-time visibility into system performance, helping the team detect and resolve issues before users are impacted. During the California wildfires, New Relic supported Watch Duty in scaling 10x.

“One or two engineers can operate as a full-scale tech company with the New Relic tools available,” said Dave Merritt, CTO at Watch Duty.

Scaling impact while ensuring compliance

As the Observability for Good program expanded, New Relic needed a reliable partner to manage nonprofit verification so its team could concentrate on delivering value, not navigating administrative complexity. By partnering with Goodstack, New Relic embedded automated nonprofit verification directly into its program operations.

Through Observability for Good, New Relic supports nonprofits with the tools they need to stay reliable and effective. Partnering with Goodstack has simplified the verification process, making it easier for our team to support nonprofit partners at scale.

Lauren Keeler

Head of Social Impact, New Relic

With Goodstack’s verification service, New Relic was able to:

• Scale with confidence: Goodstack’s global nonprofit verification infrastructure enables New Relic to validate organizations efficiently and consistently, reducing risk while supporting program growth.

• Stay compliant: Verification processes align with regulatory requirements, helping New Relic mitigate fraud risk and ensure benefits are directed to legitimate nonprofits.

• Simplify the nonprofit experience: A streamlined process reduces administrative burden on applicants, making it easier for nonprofits to access the technology they need.

• Free internal teams to focus on impact: By outsourcing verification, New Relic’s team can invest more time in program development, partnerships, and long-term strategy.

From product donations to long-term partnerships

Observability for Good has evolved beyond one-time product donations. Increasingly, nonprofits scale their usage as their technical maturity grows. As organizations deepen their reliance on the platform and see tangible benefits, they are able to unlock more features and expand to paid usage models. This drives impact that supports the continued expansion of the Observability for Good program.

New Relic demonstrates how social impact programs can deliver meaningful nonprofit support while also creating clear business value.

To learn more about New Relic’s Observability for Good program, visit their website. For more on Goodstack’s nonprofit verification services, visit goodstack.io.