3 Great Microsoft Solutions For Nonprofits

Microsoft Solutions That Nonprofits In South Florida Use To Achieve Their Missions

Technology can play a powerful role in helping to meet the world’s greatest challenges. It can also help make nonprofit organizations like yours more productive, more innovative, and ultimately, better stewards of your resources so you can do more good.
Here are 3 Microsoft technologies that you need to do this:

1. Microsoft Office 365 Business

Empower creativity, productivity and security with Microsoft Office 365 Business. Security and device management capabilities are embedded into this Office 365 best-in-class productivity solution that will help to further safeguard your organization’s data. And it only costs $5 per user, per month.

Collaborate In Real Time

Office 365 Business is a popular software solution for nonprofits in South Florida. You can collaborate securely in real time on documents, ensure data and email security, and use plug-ins specifically designed with nonprofits in mind.

It’s Affordable

Office 365 is available as a cloud-based online suite where your organization is charged on a per-user basis. This model includes customer service, upgrades, patches, and even training for your employees. Office 365 is also available as a stand-alone software product. You make a one-time purchase where you own the software.

You’ll Have The Data Security You Need

Office 365 comes with native encryption, end-to-end security, and multi-factor authentication options to protect both your data and emails so they’re only accessible to those you authorize. Some of these features will need to be set up by an IT professional, but once this has been done, it can save your employees and volunteers a lot of time and work.

Benefit From So Many Great Apps

Office 365 is an excellent productivity tool for nonprofits. It comes with applications like Planner, Bookings, Flow, Groups, Delve and Sway. Once you learn how to use these applications, you’ll be impressed by their versatility and great potential to help you save time and increase your productivity.

• Microsoft Planner lets you create different stages in a project and insert tasks. Assign tasks for team members, attach documents, communicate and track the progress of your projects.
• Microsoft Flow is another productivity booster. It provides a way for you to connect Office 365 applications to other Office 365 apps so you can transfer information or create an action based on a trigger. Flow comes with templates to help you. For example, you can choose a template to copy emails to OneNote. You can also use Flow to connect Office 365 applications to popular social media sites, Google apps, Basecamp, Buffer, Asana and many other productivity solutions.
• Microsoft Groups lets you use collaboration portals that you can set with a few clicks. Just go to “People” and create a “Group.” You can even create Group portals for teams both inside and outside of your nonprofit. Set permissions for your Group to share a OneNote notebook, a shared calendar, a shared Planner, access a SharePoint site, and much more.
• Microsoft Connectors extends Groups’ functionality. It’s like Flow but just for your Groups. Once you set up your Group, click Connectors and add content from other project management tools, social media sites, and more. Whenever any of your Connectors are updated, your Group will be notified. You can even build your own Connectors with the Connectors Developer Dashboard. It’s a real timesaver.

Microsoft makes it easy to manage all of your Office 365 Business solutions from one place. Your staff will save time with a single login for all Office 365 services. It’s also simple to learn and straightforward to use. Your staff won’t have to learn new software or language. It’s designed for nonprofits that don’t have on-staff IT teams. And Microsoft’s online portal provides step-by-step instructions on how to add users and training so your team can quickly start using Microsoft Office 365 Business.

2. Microsoft Azure

Accelerate your nonprofit’s innovation with Microsoft Azure. You can take advantage of up to $3,500 per year in donated Azure services credits, plus $1,500 in Enterprise Mobility + Security E3 subscriptions for up to 50 seats. Nonprofits in Florida and around the U.S. are using Microsoft Azure for their cloud-based infrastructure. Take a look at Azure Foundation for Nonprofits which provides prescriptive scripts, documentation, diagrams, governance, and security guidance to help you quickly adopt Microsoft Azure to empower your organization.

Get More Power From Your Data

Storing data in the Cloud is one thing but manipulating the data in a way that allows you to get meaning from your data is even better. The power of PowerBI has enabled nonprofit executives to visualize data in a way that has never been easier. It’s like having a data scientist in a box.

Azure Increases Security

You’ll have Azure Active Directory for on-site directories and authentication, secure VPN (Virtual Private Network) connectivity, a scalable and secure Application Gateway, DDoS Protection, Advanced Threat Protection, and much more from the Azure Security Center.

You’ll Benefit From Popular Web Solutions

One of the most popular platforms within Microsoft Azure is the group of Web solutions, including the Content Delivery Network which focuses on the user experience and reduces load times. Microsoft Azure guarantees massive capacity with a scalable interface while avoiding new infrastructure costs.
The E-commerce platform offers the ability to give your members and donors what they want with a personalized and secure experience. Compliance is never in question with governance capabilities built into Microsoft Azure.

Azure Supports Smart Devices

IoT Central and IoT Hub let you connect, monitor, and manage your IoT assets, with notifications for authenticated devices and message delivery tracking. Given the explosion of the “smart” device industry, Microsoft’s IoT Hub is the best friend you didn’t know you had. Go further using Azure’s IoT Central, a scaled solution for connected devices that allows you to build production-grade applications in a matter of hours without extensive development experience.
No matter how advanced or simple your needs are, Microsoft Azure has a solution for your nonprofit, and can help you grow, protect your data, and increase your efficiency. From reliable and secure data storage to flexible environments, Microsoft Azure has the solution for your nonprofit’s future.

3. Microsoft Dynamics 365

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Donor Management Software is often overlooked in the Top 10 lists of Donor Software. But those nonprofits who know have found that it helps to keep their donors engaged and their missions succeeding.
Add nonprofit-specific relations management capabilities with Dynamics 365 to help improve relationships with donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries, and optimize your operations. With Dynamics 365 you can:

• View donors’ complete giving history from just one place.
• See all your donors’ pledges or planned-giving for better forecasting.
• Access real-time totals for your Annual Fund or Capital Campaign for the fiscal year.
• Easily develop a Prospect Pipeline of your major donors and then track where they are in the pipeline.
• Clean up all of your old donor data.
• Organize your Grant Report tasks and deadlines.
• Determine the success of your Mass Marketing and Fundraising Campaigns both from email and direct mail.
• Benefit from Event and Volunteer Management in the same system as your donor information.
• Integrate your donation and pledges into your accounting system.

To learn more about how to make the most of these 3 great Microsoft Solutions For Nonprofits, and to find the right technology to help you achieve your mission, reach out to LANInfoTech in Ft. Lauderdale.
In the meantime, stay up-to-date on the latest IT news and information for nonprofits in Southern Florida. Visit our Blog. Here are a few examples of what you’ll find:
Business Insights With Visio & Power BI
How Can I Enter And Analyze A Data Entry Form In Microsoft Excel?
How To Set Up Your Microsoft Office 365 Email On Your Smartphone

Michael Goldstein

LAN Infotech is a Microsoft Cloud Services Provider, IT Managed Support company and a leader in helping law firms, nonprofits and medical organizations deploy cloud solutions, manage computer networks, keep data protected and top technology management company. Businesses like yours need technology support to run highly-effective organizations.