Is Google Workspace for Nonprofits a Good Fit for a Small Nonprofit?

I won't bury the lead: if you're a lean team of 10 or less — or even much higher — Google Workspace for Nonprofits is a great fit. I believe it is a better fit than Microsoft 365, which has a more complicated administrative process and clunkier apps.

The biggest win I'll talk about is how easy it is to administer Google Workspace, especially for someone with limited tech experience.

Often I find people are evaluating Google Workspace for Nonprofits because they want to transition staff from using personal emails like edcommunitycentre@gmail.com to addresses with their own domain, like executivedirector@communitycentre.org.

What is Google Workspace for Nonprofits?

Google Workspace for Nonprofits includes features such as: custom email for your organization, online documents, Google Calendar, video meetings, administrative controls to manage users and devices, up to 100 TB of shared storage, up to 2,000 users, the Gemini app with enterprise-grade data protections, shared drives, and AppSheet Core for building mobile and web apps with no coding experience.

The best part — if you qualify, you get it all for free.

I've been a Microsoft person my whole life. What do I need to keep in mind?

They are different, but more compatible than ever, and you don't have to deal with Outlook. If you make a document in Google Docs, you can download it as a Word file (.docx).

The biggest difference is that there are no desktop applications. Everything you do is in the browser. Microsoft Word on your desktop becomes docs.google.com in your browser.

What do I need to do to get started?

First, verify that Google Workspace for Nonprofits is available in your country.

Before you get started, have a domain for your organization. A domain is your website address, so if people go to www.nonprofit.org and land on your organization's website, you have a domain. When you sign up, you'll start with a 14-day trial, and a large step is verifying your domain. Ensure the following is true:

Functional website: Your organization's website must be fully functional, load correctly, and not contain primarily placeholder content like 'Coming Soon' or 'Under Construction' pages.

Relationship to your organization: Your website must represent a clear relationship between your registered nonprofit and the submitted domain. It should clearly match your organization's name, recognized acronym, or official branding.

Transparency and content: Your official website must include the organization details submitted during registration, such as your Charity ID, a physical street address, and/or a clear mission statement describing your programs or services.

If you use a LinkedIn page or Facebook page as your primary site, you more than likely don't have a domain. It is worth asking a board member if you're newer to the organization.

Purchasing a domain can be relatively cheap, and nonprofits should get a .org. It is universally understood that sites with a .org are nonprofit organizations. When you sign up for Google Workspace for Nonprofits, you can purchase a domain during the process. If you're a low-tech or no-tech person, do it this way — it will handle technical configuration steps for you.

If you want to purchase separately, use Squarespace Domains or Namecheap, and then complete the Google Workspace verification step during signup. It isn't that complicated.

Google provides a great five-step guide to get started that you should check out in case things change after this blog is published.

Google uses Goodstack to verify your nonprofit or charitable status.

I am verified. Now what?

If you urgently need other users to start using email with your organization's domain, go for it. You'll still want to do the next steps, so let your users know you're going to set up some systems, and they should expect changes.

What I would do, if I had time and patience when launching this, is create structures to ensure people start using it effectively. This may include a Google Site with guidelines for using their new account, shared drives for each business function like Board, Finance, Programs, and Marketing, and spaces in Google Chat based on different programs.

If you're in the process of setting up Google Workspace, please don't hesitate to ask me for help. I am also more than happy to set up Google Workspace for Nonprofits for you as a service.