@JeffPaulsen :
Generally I would advise to open a new thread for this new topic.
However, I'm almost sure that Azure reservations can not be applied to the non-profit Azure subscription type, this usually only works for the subscription types mentioned here: Buy an Azure reservation | Microsoft Docs
Other recommendations to reduce costs would be start-up/shut-down automatioon to shut the VM(s) down when notz needed, that can lead to higher savings then reservations.
As Tech Soup does afaik not sell licenses with Software Assurance, Hybrid licensing won't work. In order to use a traditional license in Azure, like Windows Server, SQL Server, Windows Server RDS CALs there needs to be active software assurance.
Finally another approach to save costs may be found in the solution design - for your proposed setup you need to have a Windows Server as RDS host, plan for user load on this, obtain RDS CALs, implement VPN gateways - all things that come at a cost. If you would instead build an application based on web technologies that could be accessed via a browser, you would need less resources on the VMs for using RDS, no need for RDS CALs and instead of VPN you could access securely via https. Now I don't know what kind of app you want to deploy, if it is already set to run in RDS or if there is still a choice on how this is built - but if it is still in early development this should be considered.
If you are Silver or Gold Microsoft Partner you can also contact the Technical PreSales and Deployment Services Team to get 1:1 guidance on your scenario: https://aka.ms/technicalservices
Kind regards, Janosch (Note: Leaving role as of March 2023, don't expect further answers. Connect with me via LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/janoschulmer)
