I am currently on the board of a conservation focused non-profit, and in my free time have been developing software that helps address a specific problem we have been facing. I am running a pilot program for the software at one of our sanctuaries currently.

In the long run, I see this software potentially being able to be helpful to the wider conservation space, particularly for land owners and other small conservation orgs that manage land. I want to be able to provide this software for them, and potentially in the future develop new software/hardware products that address other needs.

I think that starting a non-profit might be the way to go, since that would explicitly define the goals of this organization (focused on the public good, not profit), and would give me access to the non-profit grant ecosystem. However, I have heard from others that an LLC can partner with non-profits to essentially achieve the same things, without requiring the overhead and dilution of ownership. I don't know of many technology organizations that might have had to face this choice, and I was wondering if anyone had any insights on what the typical/ideal path would be for this type of organization?

I don't envision this non-profit requiring donations for the majority of its income. The income would likely be affordable subscriptions to the service or charging for setting up/maintaining the software for organizations. Additionally, direct grants to fund development or indirect grants where this org partners with other non-profits would be another source of income.

I am not looking to make this a unicorn organization or anything, I just want to use my engineering skills to help with conservation in new ways, and at least make enough money someday to be able to do this work fulltime, ideally.

Thank you in advance!

Finding an appropriate business model is situational and may evolve as you engage with the user community. You could start by working in public with an open source license [1]. Your initial focus is customer discovery and building a community of stakeholders willing to invest their time and accepting the adoption risk. Once you have advocates, they may have suggestions for an appropriate business model. For example, the existing non-profit may decide to apply for grants, keeping the work open source and acting as the fiscal sponsor for the project via open collective [2] supporting a paid position. In my experience, getting caught up on recapturing early investment, being concerned about secrecy / proprietary value, or being worried about a competitor are often not the best use of mental energy early on. Conversely, sharing more about your space and ideas may win you collaborators and potential customers you didn't anticipate. Alas, none of this advice may apply, the right approach is specific to a particular opportunity. Good luck & have fun.

[1] https://press.stripe.com/working-in-public [2] https://opencollective.com/become-a-host