Could your Charitable organisation benefit from FREE Microsoft 365 subscriptions?

Charities are set to lose £12.4 Billion this year due to Covid-19 but free Microsoft 365 subscriptions could help.

The Covid-19 pandemic throughout 2020 has had a massive impact on charitable and not for profit organisations most of who rely heavily on donations from the general public, revenue for their shops which have been forced to close and funding events which have been scaled back or canceled altogether.  All at a time where many have seen a surge in demand due to the effects of the pandemic on the very ones they are set up to support.

According to recent research from  The Institute of Funding , on average charities report that they are expecting a 24% reduction in total income for the year which equates to a £12.4 billion loss in total.  During lockdown (between 23rd March and the 12th May)

• Charities received 29% less income than they had budgeted for.
• 84% of charities reported a decrease or a significant decrease in their income.
• 92% of charities reported a fall in trading income during the lockdown with just 5% reporting that income from trading had increased.

Looking at the year ahead the research shows that charities:

• Expect to see their total income significantly reduced, with their total income on average 24% lower than previously forecasted
• Are planning on an average fall of 57% on trading income
• Have revised their voluntary income for the year down by an average 42%

So, it comes as no surprise that this third sector is looking at ways in which they can not only cut operating costs but also restructure their internal processes to streamline their operations and protect them from the real threat of a 2^nd wave of Covid-19 while temperatures drop as we move into winter.

One of the major operational department’s charities are looking to improve is their IT systems, and how they can learn from the lessons brought by the pandemic and resulting lockdown measures. Ensuring their IT operations of the future are not only more flexible for a changing workforce but also lower cost of ownership to the organisation.

Cyber Security also plays a big part in the concerns of all charities with over 68% of them with an income under £100,000; 82% of charities between £100,000 and £500,000; and 94% of charities with an income over £500,000 now seeing this as a high priority.

This is not surprising when you learn that the average cost of all breaches or attacks identified in the last 12 months by a charity is now £9,470 according to the “The Cyber Security Breaches Survey” which is an annual report from “The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)”.

Phishing remains the most common form of attack on charities, with 81% of those who identified an attack or breach listing fraudulent emails as the cause. Technical measures are important in stopping these attacks but the strongest link remains security awareness training for staff, trustees, and volunteers.

Reduce costs, improve business continuity and increase security.

Many charities and not-for-profit organisations may not be aware that Microsoft make many of their leading applications available at “Free of Charge” (Donations) or very heavily discounted subscriptions.

Applications and services which are provided as Donations for up to 300 users include;

• Web versions of Word, Excel, and more
• File storage and sharing with 1 TB of OneDrive storage
• Business class email, calendar, and contacts with a 50 GB inbox
• Unlimited online meetings, IM, and audio, HD video, and web conferencing
• A hub for teamwork with Microsoft Teams
• Intranet site for teams with customizable security settings
• Corporate social network to help employees collaborate across departments and locations
• Work management tools to help teams create plans, organize, assign and collaborate around tasks
• Professional digital storytelling tools to create interactive reports, presentations, and more
• Personalized search and discovery across Office 365 using the Office Graph
• Maximum number of users: 300

Whilst the 80% discounted product provides;

• Desktop versions of Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, and Access (Publisher and Access are available on PC only) on up to 5 PCs or Macs per user
• Optimized Office experience on 5 tablets and 5 phones
• OneNote: Access to additional OneNote features (features vary)
• Web versions of Word, Excel, and more
• File storage and sharing with 1 TB of OneDrive storage
• Business class email, calendar, and contacts with a 50 GB inbox
• Unlimited online meetings, IM, and audio, HD video, and web conferencing
• A hub for teamwork with Microsoft Teams
• Intranet site for teams with customizable security settings
• Corporate social network to help employees collaborate across departments and locations
• Work management tools to help teams create plans, organize, assign and collaborate around tasks
• Professional digital storytelling tools to create interactive reports, presentations, and more
• Personalized search and discovery across Office 365 using the Office Graph
• Maximum number of users: 300

This allows smaller charities to take advantage of leading business class services and applications at a fraction of the usual costs whilst at the same time taking advantage of moving their organisations to the cloud to improve flexibly of working, team collaboration and security.

A cloud-based IT infrastructure, in place of a traditional on-premise topology also removes much of the reliance on a primary facility, simplifying business continuity and disaster recovery plans, improving Cyber Security defences and ultimately reducing the costs in maintaining, supporting and managing them.

How can S.A.D.S IT help you?

At S.A.D.S IT we are committed to helping our Kent charities continue the great work they do throughout the county.

We offer registered charities and Not-for-profit organisations discounted pricing on all our services allowing them to take advantage of our 30 Years’ experience of providing business grade services, to some of Kent’s fastest growing companies

Our support team provides proactive, monitored and unlimited support solutions ensuring your technology remains available for use, fully secured and fit for business.

As a long term trusted Microsoft Partner, we will help you design, plan and manage your Microsoft 365 digital migration as well as provide Cyber security advice and services to ensure your organisation is sufficiently protected for today’s digital world.

We can help your organisation achieve Cyber Essentials, Cyber Essentials Plus, or ISO 27001 information security certification as well as assist with GDPR guidance and other regulatory or governance requirements.

Our Security Awareness and Training programme will help your organisation in identifying, testing, and training any vulnerable staff and volunteers on becoming more security-aware and able to spot Phishing and other security threats to your organisation.

If you would like to find out more about how S.A.D.S IT can help your charitable organisation please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us via the form below or on 0344 8111167 and we will be happy to help.

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