Industries · Non-profits
IT for non-profits and charities
Most of your budget belongs to the mission, and the rest has to survive a board meeting. We support charities, associations and community organizations across Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley — keeping systems steady, licensing right-sized and donor data protected.
IT priorities
- Multi-factor authentication on email, the donor or member database and accounting
- A licensing review each year: eligibility reconfirmed, seats matched to real people
- Offboarding that runs on the last day — staff, contractors and volunteers alike
- Shared devices where everyone signs in as themselves, so activity is traceable
- Backups of mail, files and the donor database, with a restore tested once a year
- Accounts and passwords documented and held by the organization, not by one person
Overview
Technology for non-profits and charities
Non-profits run a stack assembled one decision at a time: a donor or member database, accounting and payroll, the spreadsheets that turn both into grant reports, an email platform and a newsletter tool, volunteer scheduling, and program laptops shared between staff and carried between sites. Very little of it was chosen at the same time, and almost none of it was chosen by someone whose job was technology.
The constraints are different from a business of the same size. Licensing is donated or discounted, which genuinely helps and comes with conditions about who may hold which licence. People cycle through — staff, contract program workers, students and volunteers — so accounts accumulate faster than anyone closes them. The board wants a plain-English answer on what technology costs and whether donor data is safe. And a registered charity has to keep its books and records at the Canadian address the Canada Revenue Agency has on file, with electronic records kept in an electronically readable format.
We support non-profits remotely first, and on site across Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley when something needs hands. The work is practical: licensing reviewed so you aren't paying for seats nobody uses, multi-factor authentication turned on before a donor list goes missing, offboarding that actually runs, and backups proven by a restore rather than a green checkmark.
Scope
What we look after
What we keep running
- Donor or member databases, and whatever the annual report is built from
- Accounting and payroll, including the coding that grant reporting depends on
- Email, the newsletter or broadcast platform, and the domain both send from
- Volunteer scheduling, sign-up forms and the calendars behind them
- Program laptops, tablets and the front-desk computer several people share
Licensing that fits the organization
- Confirming eligibility with each vendor and keeping non-profit status attached to the tenant
- Sorting who needs a granted licence and who needs a paid or discounted one
- Separating paid staff from volunteers, who the programs treat differently
- Removing licences when people leave instead of renewing them another year
- Choosing between Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace on what you actually use
Security that fits the data
- Multi-factor authentication on email, the donor database and accounting
- Shared program devices set up so each person signs in as themselves
- Encrypted laptops that go out to program sites and come back
- Access that ends the day someone finishes, staff and volunteers alike
- Independent backup of mail, files and the donor database, with restores tested
Pressures
What makes IT different for non-profits and charities
A budget the board has to approve
Technology competes directly with programs, and every line is read by people who are accountable for the spending. That means plain-English explanations, predictable costs, no surprise renewals, and knowing what a change is worth before it is proposed.
Donated licensing has conditions
Microsoft grants a capped, web-and-mobile tier of Microsoft 365 to eligible non-profits and discounts the tiers that add desktop apps and device management; Google offers a no-cost Workspace edition with discounts above it. Grants are limited to paid employees and unpaid executive staff — volunteers and temporary staff fall under the discounted licences. Terms change, so eligibility gets confirmed with the vendor rather than assumed.
People cycle through
Staff, contract program workers, students and volunteers all get accounts, and often nobody owns closing them. A few years in, the tenant has more licensed users than the organization has people, and several of them can still open the donor database.
Donor and client data
Donation histories, member records and, in service organizations, information about the people you help are personal information under BC's Personal Information Protection Act, which requires reasonable security. A breach here costs trust before it costs money, and trust is the operating capital.
Records an audit will ask for
A registered charity must keep its books and records at the Canadian address the Canada Revenue Agency has on file, and records kept electronically must be kept in an electronically readable format. Societies have their own obligation to keep members' registers, minutes and financial records available for inspection. Funders layer their own reporting on top.
One person holds it together
Most organizations have a staff member who is good with computers and became the help desk by accident. It works until they are on vacation during a grant deadline, or until they leave holding the only copy of the passwords.
Priorities
Where we start
- Multi-factor authentication on email, the donor or member database and accounting
- A licensing review each year: eligibility reconfirmed, seats matched to real people
- Offboarding that runs on the last day — staff, contractors and volunteers alike
- Shared devices where everyone signs in as themselves, so activity is traceable
- Backups of mail, files and the donor database, with a restore tested once a year
- Accounts and passwords documented and held by the organization, not by one person
Other sectors
We also support
Every sector is supported across Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
FAQ
IT for non-profits and charities: questions
What licensing is actually available to us?
Microsoft and Google both run non-profit programs for eligible organizations: a granted tier at no cost and substantial discounts above it, confirmed directly with the vendor. The details change often enough that we check current terms rather than quote from memory. Grants generally cover paid staff, while volunteers need a discounted licence. Our Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 comparison covers the choice itself.
One staff member handles our IT. Can you work with them?
Yes, and it is a common arrangement. They keep the day-to-day work they are good at and enjoy; we take the parts that need tooling and after-hours attention — security, backups, licensing, the network, and whatever nobody wants to own. It also means the organization isn't exposed when that person is away. See managed IT services.
How do we protect donor data without a big budget?
Most of what matters is configuration rather than purchase. Multi-factor authentication, sharing settings that don't default to anyone with the link, database access limited to the people who need it, offboarding that runs, and a backup you have actually restored. Our small business cybersecurity checklist is the same list we work through with non-profits.
We have accounts for people who left years ago. Where do we start?
With a list. We export every user in your email tenant and every login in the donor database and accounting system, match them against current staff and volunteers, and close what's left over. It usually reduces licence count as well as risk. After that the fix is an offboarding routine tied to the last day rather than to somebody remembering.
Can AI help a small organization?
For writing and sorting, often. Drafting grant narratives from material you already have, summarizing meetings, turning program notes into a report and answering routine enquiries are realistic starting points. Donor records and client information should not be pasted into a tool until you know where that data goes. See AI consulting and our guide to what to automate first.
Services
Services for non-profits and charities
Managed IT Services
Help desk, device and Microsoft 365 management, security and backups — your outsourced IT department under one agreement.
Learn more->Cloud Services
Microsoft 365 migrations, Azure and AWS infrastructure, cloud backup and server replacement — planned, migrated and managed.
Learn more->Cybersecurity
Security assessments, MFA, endpoint protection, email security, backups and staff training — the controls that stop common attacks.
Learn more->
Guides
Guides for business owners
[Cloud]
Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 for Small Business
Compare Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 for a small business: apps, storage, meetings, device management, security tiers and Canadian pricing.
[Security]
Cybersecurity Checklist for Small Businesses in BC
A cybersecurity checklist for BC small businesses built on the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security’s baseline controls, plus what to do after a breach.
[Costs]
How Much Do Managed IT Services Cost in Vancouver?
What managed IT services cost in Canada: pricing models, what's included, published Canadian rates, a 15-person Vancouver office budget and how to compare quotes.
Get in touch
Talk to us about IT for your non-profit
Tell us about your business and what you need from technology. We reply within one business day.
Tell us what's going on
Send the form or call. A rough idea of your team size and current setup helps us come prepared.
A 30-minute conversation
We ask about your people, systems and goals, and flag anything urgent we notice along the way.
A written proposal
Clear scope, a plain-English plan and pricing laid out line by line. Nothing starts until you approve it.