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Supporting charities and not for profits with digital transformation through COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis is continuing to impact people and organisations globally and one sector that has felt the biggest impact is the Not for Profit sector.

Many traditional fundraising and income channels have disappeared overnight – charities have had to cancel in-person fundraising events and charity shops are closed indefinitely with lockdown and social distancing measures in place. As a result, it is estimated by NCVO that charities could lose £4.3 billion during a 12 week period and their voluntary income will nearly halve.

On top of this, whilst there has been a huge reduction in income, there has been a significant 43% increase in demand for charity services. To sustain themselves and to continue delivering critical services, charities are having to rapidly innovate to be able to connect with their supporters, find new fundraising avenues and deliver services digitally.

Whilst a major challenge, this presents an opportunity for charities and nonprofits to digitise their services, modernise operations and evolve to meet modern supporter expectations. Rather than implementing stopgap solutions for a short-term fix, charities need sustainable long-term solutions that will help them survive and thrive in the long-term. The ironic challenge, however, is that at the time when technological innovation is most needed, charities are facing their biggest financial struggle and pressure to reduce costs.

How we can help

We’ve worked with charities and not for profits for over twenty years and seen the positive impact of technology. Through our work within the sector, we built Evo 365 on Microsoft Dynamics 365 to give charities and nonprofits the specific features and benefits they need to effectively operate and fulfil their mission. Now at the time when not for profits need the right technologies and support in place, we would like to offer Evo 365 Fundraising to charities and not for profits for free for 12 months.

If you would like to see Evo 365, how it works and how it could be used at this time to support your fundraising activities – please join our webinar on Wednesday 10th June at 11am. If you would like to find out more details offer or have any questions, please contact us.

Additional Microsoft resources and offers

If you are a charity or not for profit using or considering Microsoft solutions, then there a number of offers and free resources that you should be aware of so that you can take advantage of these:

  • Double Azure credits
    As standard, Microsoft give eligible charities $3,500 of free Azure credits every year but during the crisis this has been doubled to $7,000 for critical care and first response organisations. This must be redeemed by 30th June and is to be used within 12 months – more information is here.
  • Office 365 E1 6 months free for nonprofit volunteers
    This includes Teams, email and file storage to give volunteers free secure access to your organisation and digital services – read the announcement here.
  • Discounted Office 365 & Microsoft 365
    Microsoft offer as standard their Office 365 and Microsoft 365 plans to charities with heavy discounts and also offer 10 free Microsoft 365 Business Premium licences. Find out more here.
  • Power Platform 6 months free trial
    Access premium capabilities across Power Apps, Power Automate and Power Apps portals to rapidly develop custom apps and build powerful process workflows.
  • Dynamics 365 Customer Service 6 months free trial
    To help contact centres cope with an increase in demand, eligible charities can access Dynamics 365 Customer Service free for 6 months.

You can download a full summary in Microsoft’s COVID-19 response guide for Nonprofits here.

If you have any questions around using the Microsoft offers or implementing any Microsoft solutions, please feel free to contact us with any questions.