Microsoft to launch Power Platform-driven Nonprofit Operations Toolkit for small organizations
September 3 2019
A project entity in the Nonprofit Operations Toolkit
Microsoft will launch a Nonprofit Operations Toolkit in October 2019 aimed at small nonprofits. The solution, part of a new wave of productivity, training, and business tools focused on organizations with ten or fewer employees, will be built on the Power Platform and is intended to "help small nonprofits implement effective project and awards management processes that reduce costs and build trust with funders," according to an announcement attributed to Justin Spelhaug, General Manager, Tech for Social Impact, Microsoft Philanthropies.
The Nonprofit Operations Toolkit has been built with model-driven and canvas PowerApps, Power BI, cloud storage, and Excel, according to the company. It will be available in preview this month and will go live in October through Microsoft cloud solution partners.
Other solutions announced in the post include:
- Microsoft 365 Business for Nonprofits offer - provides 10 donated seats of Microsoft 365 Business, with the option to purchase additional seats at $5 per user per month.
- Microsoft Digital Skills Center for Nonprofits – launched in partnership with TechSoup, it provides a learning path platform full of product training and skill-building content to help nonprofits successfully use technology.
The efforts aimed at smaller nonprofits stems from the fact that most nonprofits have fewer than ten employees and work locally. "Small nonprofits are at the greatest risk of being left behind in the digital world," the blog post states. "Their size, funding and infrastructure do not always accommodate purchasing the latest technology, training their employees on how to use it, employing designated IT staff, or investing in resources to keep their organization secure."
The three new offerings are meant to reflect the needs in the space that span education, digital security and management, and operations. Spelhaug explains:
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Non-Profit struggle to cope with digital transformation
Many small and medium size non-profit organisations are using an in-house developed system or accounting software of more than 10 / 15 years old. Lack of resources is one of the main reasons. All changes required management support and more important funding. I hope Microsoft can devote resources to help in training and enhancement.
Taking Nonprofit Operations Toolkit further
Hi Mary, you're absolutely right. This solution from Microsoft is a starting point, but it does rely on partner to take it further to support organizations that are ready to move off of their in-house systems. We created Operations Essentials for Nonprofits, a product built on the toolkit that can be deployed in a day and supported by us.
Since this post Microsoft has also expanded the gifted licenses for Dynamics 365 Sales (now 5) and Power Apps (now 10). We think small nonprofits could really benefit from these tools.