Google has been given access to GSUITE for a while now and I've setup several non-profits with this and do occasionally help them administrate it if required. Now Microsoft is getting in the game (and this is a good thing) now giving Office 365 for free for non-profits.
This post will go though what is required to apply and (hopefully) get approved for Microsoft 365 for Non-Profits. I highly recommend before going forward you go thought the https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/nonprofits/ site and verify your eligibility. The plans that are available for free are the Office 365 Nonprofit Business Essentials and
Before you setup your Microsoft 365 account I recommend you have the following:
- a techsoup account
- a domain, ie. $yourdomain.ca
- an email on that domain that can receive email. This may require setting up an email alias if you don't have your own server
- a way to verify your registration. I recommend using a business or corporation number
- picture of registration information
When you have all this information setup then you can go ahead and signup for Microsoft 365 Business for Non Profits. When signing up I used a image of the registration information. In the case of the setup I did I used the corporation number, and your techsoup validation token.
For more information about what is included in the free version of office 365 for non-profits. https://www.techsoup.org/support/articles-and-how-tos/what-you-need-to-know-about-microsoft-office-365-nonprofit
Once you've filled out all the information you will get a verification email stating that the office 365 application is in progress.
When you go to login you can use the non-profit portal to login. Typically you will be logging in with the format $user@$domain.onmicrosoft.com
Once you login to the non-profit portal you see your status and quick links for github, linkedin, and more Microsoft services that are available to you.
When you sign in to office.com you will be taken to a dashboard.
From here you can go into the office admin, non-profit portal, etc. At least for this non-profit I am showing you the dashboard for they are allowed up to 25 unique users.
My experience with google there is no limit on the number of users you can have, but if you want Microsoft's products and services this is a fantastic service which I am sure will cut into google apps for non-profits adopters. I found the setup and verification quick and fairly easy. You are required to setup 2FA for the administrator account and for that I use and recommend Microsoft Authenticator available on Google Play and iOS
