Many nonprofits struggle with outdated servers running old, legacy apps that are too sophisticated to quickly migrate to the cloud.
Maintaining your own physical servers or paying for space in costly Data Centers is a bad idea; instead, you could move to Microsoft cloud for nonprofits.
Azure for nonprofits is a public cloud platform at its heart that enables businesses to build, implement, and manage services and applications without having to worry about maintaining physical servers and hardware.
It can be used to host infrastructure and provide services like networking, virtual computing, and storage, among many other things.
About Microsoft Azure
Azure for nonprofits is a platform for cloud computing that makes it simple for businesses to build, deploy, and manage applications and services in the cloud, eliminating the need for expensive onsite equipment upgrades and maintenance and providing unmatched flexibility.
What Do Azure Offer Nonprofits
In order to improve their technology capabilities, nonprofits can claim for and obtain free access to Azure service credits (currently $3,500 annually) as part of Microsoft’s nonprofit program.
Since many nonprofit organizations may miss out on grants and service discounts because they lack the time or resources to perform online research on this, it is crucial to bring it up.
Is Your Nonprofit Organization Eligible For Azure Credits?
Azure helps nonprofits that meet the following criteria:
- The nonprofit is registered.
- The Mission of the nonprofit is to serve the local community
- Paid non-profit employees and unpaid executive staff who serve as senior leadership may use user licensing. The charity’s beneficiaries are ineligible.
- Accept some license restrictions – including no sharing, transferring, or selling of the products.
- Microsoft’s non-discrimination pledge must be met by policies and mission.
- Nonprofits working towards bettering social welfare, delivering relief to the underprivileged, promoting human rights, and working for environmental causes.
You can access a new pricing structure for a wider range of Microsoft services that you might be interested in once you’ve registered for the program. This includes spam filtering, Dynamics CRM, etc.
Pricing For Non-Profits
The term “free” is music to the ears, just ask anyone who has ever managed a non-profit organization! So receiving Azure and Office 365 as a free service must be a real treat.
Azure offers $3,500 in free credit for any of its services to qualified non-profits. Office 365 provides non-profits with five options, two of which are completely free. The benefits of these services, along with the savings accessible to non-profits, are too significant to be ignored.
How Does Azure Help Nonprofits
Azure help nonprofits in the following ways:
Data Security
Following the standard security paradigm of detecting, analyzing, diagnosing, stabilizing, and close, Microsoft Azure for nonprofits places a high priority on security. This strategy has enabled Azure to achieve multiple compliance certifications, all of which establish Azure as a leader in IaaS security when combined with strong cybersecurity measures.
Azure offers security for both the platform and the end user. As security threats continue to multiply daily around the world, targeting end users and putting the data of your company at risk, this multi-level of protection is crucial. Azure offers straightforward, user-friendly security features like multi-factor authentication and application password requirements.
Large Data Insights
Microsoft Azure has been engineered in such a way that it can easily integrate with Microsoft Excel and other Office 365 programs, enabling businesses to see their data in a way that can help them quickly discover a number of business insights that will help them thrive in the market.
Microsoft continues to expand its Business Intelligence (BI) offerings in response to the escalating demand and the businesses’ changing needs.
Cost-Effective
When selecting a cloud provider, it’s important to keep IT costs in mind, which is why many nonprofits find the Microsoft Azure platform to be so appealing. Pay-as-you-go pricing for Azure enables nonprofits to better manage their IT budgets by only investing in what they actually need.
Furthermore, the cloud environment enables nonprofits to launch both internal and client applications on the cloud, which lowers the expenses of IT infrastructure while easing the hardware and maintenance demands of in-house IT management.
Hybrid Capabilities
The hybrid capabilities of Azure set it apart from other platforms. Between on-premises infrastructure and public clouds, Azure enables simple mobility and a consistent, trustworthy platform. For increased usability and performance, Azure provides a broader selection of hybrid connections, such as ExpressRoute connections, virtual private networks (VPNs), caches, content delivery networks (CDNs), and VPNs.
Collaborative Environment With Other Microsoft Tools
Nonprofits that rely on Microsoft applications like Office 365, Outlook, and SharePoint invest money in a cloud platform that seamlessly interacts with those tools. Using the same virtual on-premises Windows and Linux computers with Azure streamlines operations.
Easy Learning Curve
It is simple for specialists to develop cloud-based enterprise apps because cloud-native applications are created using well-known tools like Visual Studio, ASP.NET, and programming languages like Visual Basic, C++, and C#, among others.
How Can XO Help
Running a nonprofit organization is all about the mission, and we’re perfectly aware of that.
XO is dedicated to working with non-profits and other businesses alike. Our IT specialists and highly experienced Project Managers have great insight into how to run a successful project from the outset all the way through to implementation and monitoring. They have been working with and implementing Azure in the nonprofit sector for many years.
Contact us to discuss or to book an initial consultation.
