Cloud Solutions: How Nonprofits Can Use Office 365
Like Google, Microsoft offers a group of solutions for nonprofits, including discounts on application suites, collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, business intelligence tools and even top-level administrative tools.
One of the most robust discounted offerings for nonprofits is an annual credit for access to the company’s Azure cloud management services, worth as much as $3,500 per year. The company also offers discounted access to its Power BI visualization platform and Dynamics 365 customer relationship management (CRM) tool.
Microsoft also makes available free, self-paced educational courses for nonprofit employees looking to get a grasp on applications like Teams, Excel and SharePoint.
Software Solutions: QuickBooks for Nonprofit
Bookkeeping is key for nonprofits, especially given that their financial records are publicly reported and closely scrutinized by potential donors. One of the most popular ways to do that is through Intuit's popular QuickBooks accounting software.
Intuit makes a strong case that the software is well suited to nonprofits in particular, in part because the cloud-based QuickBooks Online can effectively integrate with different CRM platforms.
The company maintains a partnership with TechSoup, an organization that makes technology tools available to nonprofits, to offer discounted versions of the application to nonprofit users.
MORE FOR NONPROFITS: The tech trends that will shape the industry in 2022.
Software Solutions: How Nonprofits Can Use Adobe
Whether producing graphics, brochures, magazines, websites or video projects, many organizations rely on the design-focused offerings of Adobe to help generate and maintain their creative projects.
Adobe also closely partners with TechSoup to make available discounted copies of its popular tools, such as the broad-reaching Creative Cloud suite (which includes such mainstays as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, XD and Premiere) and the Acrobat document management tool, which is important for use cases such as signing electronic documents.
Collaboration Solutions: How Nonprofits Can Use Zoom
Zoom is widely considered one of the big beneficiaries of the move to remote work, as many people learned to get comfortable with videoconferencing for the first time during the pandemic. But nonprofits, which have put on a lot of virtual events during this time, have found Zoom to be a great option for fundraising as well.
The company also works with TechSoup to offer discounted versions of the popular videoconferencing suite.
Of course, having access to the software is just one part of the equation when it comes to leveraging a tool like Zoom. Nonprofits need the right equipment to ensure a professional experience for users, so purchasing the right audiovisual equipment could prove to be a useful investment down the line, whether your organization is working in a fully remote setting or embracing in-person events once again.
