After a few conversations with museums a common theme has been emerging:
that they would benefit from cloud file storage and sharing documents, standardised email
accounts and working collaboratively online aka ‘productivity application suites’.
Business accounts for these productivity application suites can be FREE for charities*. So, our Digital Engagement Officer has put together this short guide on what is currently available for charities from the two tech giants Microsoft and Google.
If you have any questions or would like a one to one conversation with our Digital Engagement Officer about anything listed below please get in touch via our enquiry form.
You will need to conduct an eligibility checker for both:
- Microsoft 365: Nonprofits Grants & Credits Eligibility | Microsoft Nonprofits
- Google Grant Application Eligibility Google for Nonprofits
Context
Microsoft and Google both want to make it easier for your teams to work together and collaborate effectively. Both suites are built on a reliable, secure cloud infrastructure you can access your accounts anywhere.
The two suites are quite similar in offer: they both include apps for email, word processing, instant messaging and video conferencing. Included with this is file sharing and central management functionality (using a single, central set of tools, procedures, and systems). Both are subscription based and this will depend on the size of your charity and what functionality you will want to access.
Top tips
- Have the person who will be the administrator of your organisation’s account sign up and make sure there is continuity with the email address ( i.e an organisational one rather than personal).
- Map into your transition plans the need to bring everyone onboard, discuss standardised ways of working and plan methods to discover the tools together
A comparison of key features
Outline offers |
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Microsoft 365 Business Basic –nonprofit
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Google Workspace for nonprofits
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Collaboration and cloud storage |
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Cloud storage: One Drive: 1tb per user (if less than five users). Sharepoint: document management system
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Cloud storage: Google Drive: 30gb per user and unlimited users
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Email and calendar |
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| Exchange: default mailbox size of 50mb (+1tb One Drive)
Can custom the email to your organisation’s domain Microsoft’s Exchange Online Protection (EOP) Outlook: shared calendar |
Gmail business email: default mailbox size of 30GB
Can custom the email to your organisation’s domain Ad-free Phishing and spam protection Calendar: shared calendar |
Instant communication: Chat and video |
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Notable differences |
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| VOLUNTEERS: After some digging it looks like volunteers (not including unpaid executive staff) are not eligible for Microsoft’s non-profit grant package subscriptions –but could access your files from a personal account:
Nonprofit grants are permitted only for paid non-profit employees, and unpaid executive staff who act as leadership for the non-profit. Non-profit discounts are permitted for all non-profit staff and volunteers. Non-profit beneficiaries, members and donors are NOT eligible for non-profit licenses and subscriptions. If your non-profit has volunteers that you would like to invite to collaborate with your staff and employees as external guests, you can invite these external users to sign into your site and resources using a personal Microsoft account. Alternatively, discounted offers are available if you want to provide full Microsoft 365 capabilities, including an organization email address, to your volunteers. More info in FAQ’s section: Nonprofits Grants & Credits Eligibility | Microsoft Nonprofits There is another option for Non-profits : a Microsoft 365 Business Premium grant for up to 10 seats –if you are a smaller charity and would only need 10 user accounts (for paid staff or unpaid executive staff) |
VOLUNTEERS: If you are volunteer led or have more volunteers than paid staff then Google Workspace provides more options for having volunteer users.
Google Workspace for non-profits also offers:
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Links to get started |
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