There are a wealth of resource available to non-profits. Many of these are available for the asking, and provide commercial products and support at minimal costs. This page lists ones that we or our partners have found to be most useful. If you have additions to recommend, please contact us.
Tech Soup
TechSoup provides technology solutions (hardware and software) to 501(c)3 nonprofits, foundations, and libraries. They do charge an administrative fee, but the savings are substantial.
From their web site, you can learn check your eligibility, register your organization, read informative articles, or learn about what they offer from their product catalog pull-down from the menu on their web page.
Google for Nonprofits
Google offers a set of products, available free to non-profits. They utilize Tech Soup to confirm non-profit status. Learn about eligibility.
The product offerings include:
- G-Suite- a set of applications for effective communication
- YouTube- Create videos to tell the story of your organization
- Google AdGrants- raise visibility with AdWords with a monthly grant
- OneToday- simplify giving and matching
- Maps- create custom map of locations of interest
G-Suite
G-Suite is a collection of products available for businesses. The suite includes:
- Gmail for your domain
- Google Docs
- Google Drive
- Google Calendar
Google provides a description of how G-Suite can benefit a non-profit.
In order to sign up your organization to use these services, follow these steps.
Our experience with the support team from G-Suite was tremendous- fast, professional, knowledgeable, and working with the skills of the person seeking support.
Bridging the Gap
PCs for People, in partnership with Mobile Beacon, offers a free platform that allows non-profits to offer affordable, high-quality refurbished computers and Mobile Beacon’s unlimited, high-speed internet service for as low as $10/month, available for individuals and families under the 200% poverty level.
Your non-profit can act as the entry point, but PC’s for People provides all the infrastructure for ordering computers, billing, and establishing service with Mobile Beacon.
They offer:
- Quick, easy sign-up
- No administration costs
- Ongoing support for billing, equipment delivery, and customer service
- Dashboard view of your impact
As of June 2018, they had 174 organizations using this service to provide broadband service to 10,922 clients.
AdGrants
Drive Google.com search engine traffic to your organization’s website with a monthly $10,000 USD advertising grant. Follow these steps: https://support.google.com/gra
For those unfamiliar with advertising, it may feel a bit daunting, and there are multiple steps to go through to get it set up, but the tools are fairly easy to use and they do raise the visibility of your organization. In addition to registering with Tech Soup, and Google for Non-profits, you will register with Google Adwords, creating an Ad before you complete the process of applying for AdGrants. Since this platform is used by paid advertisers as well, you may face some questions or reminders about budgets and funding, but there is a good AdGrant Help Center with FAQ and a supportive help community for navigating the process. The Account Creation Guide is a good starting point.
Maps
Create a custom map of your donors or project sites in ten minutes. Collect data in the field with and map your data to visualize your cause. Learn more about each tool at http://www.google.com/earth/ou
More detail will be added as we gain experience with this topic.
Pro-bono lawyer
Use your contacts to find a law firm with experience in non-profits that is willing to provide pro-bono services. We started with some small questions, and have established a relationship. It can be extremely reassuring to have someone to call in when you have legal questions.
Communication Tools
One great tool we have been using a lot lately for conference calls is Zoom. It allows for video conferencing, desktop sharing, recording, with the host able to mute participants or pass control of shared desktop to others. For a free option, users can host two-way calls without a time limit, or multi-way calls for forty minutes. Hosting longer multi-way calls requires a paid subscription.
Good360
Good 360 partners with socially responsible companies to source everyday goods and distribute them through a network of diverse nonprofits. Not-profits can receive these goods for distribution to their clients in accordance with these terms.