How Nonprofits Can Maximize Their Technology Budget

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) dedicate themselves to important missions to improve the world. But your success doesn’t just depend on your seemingly bottomless determination and selflessness. It also depends on how your nonprofit maximizes its technology investment.

Alarmingly, only 11 percent of NPOs view their approaches to digital as highly effective. The remaining 89 percent of NPOs don’t achieve their full potential because they:

Rely on outdated processes.
Waste limited financial resources by supporting legacy infrastructure.
Spend valuable time trying to solve technical problems they’re not competent to solve.

The solution? A partnership with a managed services provider (MSP) that works with nonprofits. They’ll have a thorough understanding of your technological needs. Plus, they will possess the experience needed to overcome the typical constraints nonprofits face.

Here are just five (of the many) ways an MSP can then help your nonprofit maximize your technology budget.

5 Ways an MSP Maximizes Your NPO Technology Budget

1. Hassle-Free Access to New Technology

The information technology industry is evolving faster than most nonprofits can keep up with. We’ve witnessed a massive cloud computing explosion for years.

Many organizations have moved their entire infrastructures to a cloud-based model to benefit from its scalability, security, and cost-effectiveness.

As we predicted, artificial intelligence and machine learning are proving to be the next huge drivers of competitive advantage and productivity enhancers.

MSPs are dedicated to making new technologies accessible to their customers. They leverage economies of scale to offer affordable prices. Which is great news, because even cash-strapped nonprofits can benefit from best-in-class digital solutions.

The IT experts employed by MSPs provide nonprofit organizations with comprehensive assistance. So, you can eliminate the need to staff an in-house IT department because they will take care of:

Initial planning
Implementation of the selected solution
Ongoing maintenance

2. Predictable IT Budgeting

When finances are limited, every IT expense must be justified and planned even better. The last thing any NPO wants to deal with is a sudden resignation letter from a critical IT employee. Because the entire IT sector is experiencing a shortage of skilled talent. Recruiting IT professionals is exceptionally competitive.

NPOs that outsource their IT needs and worries to an MSP can rest assured because their budget will never take a surprise hit. MSPs use several predictable pricing models that reflect the size of each customer. This effectively reduces all IT expenses into a single fixed fee.

When NPOs know precisely how much money to allocate toward IT each month, they can better support other essential business functions.

Use this checklist to make choosing the right managed service provider for your organization easy and stress-free.

3. Robust Data Security and Compliance

NPOs spend a considerable amount of effort building relationships with their donors, but a single data breach incident can be enough to harm them irreparably.

The moment donors discover their personal information has been exposed in a breach often marks the end of their support and the start of legal consequences.

Because of the complexity of the cybersecurity landscape, even small NPOs with a limited online presence need to view cybersecurity as a necessary investment. Your donors expect you to have it.

Partnering with a cybersecurity-savvy MSP will help you build trust with your donors and other stakeholders. They can perform an initial vulnerability gap analysis to discover weaknesses in your technology. Then, they’ll suggest controls and policies to eliminate them.

4. Ongoing Business Continuity Management

Many smaller organizations believe the existence of backups provides enough protection against data loss incidents. In reality, backups are helpful only if they are:

Up to date.
Regularly tested to ensure their recoverability.
Stored in multiple safe locations.

Unfortunately, most organizations that don’t have a comprehensive business continuity management program don’t meet at least one of the requirements. What’s worse, they only realize how inadequate their backups are when it’s too late.

Nonprofit organizations should leave this critically important technology task up to professionals. By doing so, you’ll avoid spreading yourself thin by implementing a business continuity management program from the ground up to maintain business functions.

Plus, an MSP will make sure that you can quickly resume operations after a data loss disaster has occurred.

They have a wealth of experience with backup and disaster recovery. They will be able to avoid common implementation mistakes – guaranteeing that data is recoverable even under the worst conditions imaginable.

5. Workplace Flexibility and Scalability

We live in challenging times that require flexibility. If we didn’t know it before, the pandemic taught us this lesson well.

One day, volunteers were collecting donations from the members of their communities. The next day, they were required to shelter in place and work only from their homes.

Additionally, the needs of NPOs can change rapidly – requiring scalability.

To cope with unpredictability, nonprofits must be flexible and scalable. This is impossible with fixed IT resources and support staff.

MSPs expect their customers’ needs to fluctuate. Because of that, their services reflect it in every way.

From flexible pricing to cloud migration support, a capable MSP makes achieving the desired level of workplace flexibility and scalability easy. That way, all challenges are effectively responded to.

Unlocking the Power of Technology to Create a Better World

For your nonprofit organization to thrive and maximize its impact (not to mention budget), you must recognize the importance of strategic technology spending. With a mere 11 percent of NPOs considering their digital approaches highly effective, it is evident that change is needed.

By partnering with a knowledgeable managed services provider, your nonprofit can overcome the obstacles posed by outdated processes, legacy infrastructure, and technical difficulties.

An MSP familiar with nonprofits’ unique struggles, like Teal, can offer seasoned solutions to address your unique technological needs. Enabling you to make the most of your limited resources and precious time.

With the right MSP by your side, you can harness the power of digital technology and fulfill your mission to create a better world.

Choose the Right MSP for Your Nonprofit

Unsure what you should be looking for in a Managed IT Service Provider? This checklist prevents you from losing valuable time and money with the wrong provider.

It includes 50+ things you should consider during the evaluation process of each MSP candidate to ensure you get the seasoned expertise you need.  

What’s Included: