Community IT Innovators Nonprofit Technology Topics

If your organization uses Google Workspace you have access to Google Groups. Kind of like a listserv but so much better.

What are Google Groups?

If your nonprofit uses Google Workspace, you can use Google Groups to manage tasks via an email group, with granular controls and monitoring if you need it. Google Groups can improve security for email addresses like “donate@mynonprofit” or “info@mynonprofit” if that email directs ...

Welcome 2025! It's going to be a big year for nonprofit IT and as is our tradition, our senior staff weighed in with the biggest stories of 2024, the most overlooked trends, and what they will be keeping an eye on in 2025. 

We hear from Senior Engineer David Dawson, Director of IT Consulting Steve Longenecker, IT Business Manager Erik Solce, IT Business Manager Team Lead Norwin Herrera, Chief Technology Officer Matthe...

Is your nonprofit ready to go server-less? What's holding you back from going to the cloud? 

Norwin Herrera is an IT Business Manager with Community IT and has decades of experience in IT and as a nonprofit IT consultant. In his work with clients over the years he has learned some of the barriers to moving entirely into the cloud, and gives some advice in overcoming that inertia. 

Starting with saving money, ...

Cybersecurity Readiness for Nonprofit Accountants, Hosted by Jitasa University

Join Matt Eshleman, cybersecurity expert and author of the re-released Community IT Cybersecurity Readiness for Nonprofits Playbook, in a short presentation on how to use the playbook to protect your organization if you are a financial manager or accountant.

In this video, you will 

• Learn about the free downloadable Playbook on Cybersecurity Readiness f...

New nonprofit auditing requirements SAS145 now include IT and cybersecurity compliance. Are you ready?

In 2022 the AICPA Auditing Standards Board (ASB) issued Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 145,Understanding the Entity and Its Environment and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement. The new standard became effective for audits of financial statements for periods ending on or after Dec. 15, 2023. For more on SAS 145 c...

It won’t be a surprise that AI is on everyone’s mind. Matt also shared some thoughts on some year end cybersecurity tips and maintenance to ensure your cybersecurity practices – and permissions – are up to date.

Nonprofit Cybersecurity expert and Community IT CTO Matt Eshleman offered these year-end cybersecurity tips.

• Do a permissions audit at the enterprise level – what are your defaults for sharing, and how are you t...

If you find yourself with a little downtime, what should you work on?

The Gala is back! If your nonprofit is focused on an end of the year fundraising event, you may find yourself and your IT team with a little extra time on your hands this December as the rest of your staff are pulled away from their desks and are calling the help desk less frequently. Carolyn Woodard reviewed our recent webinars and podcasts for advice on what pro...

Are you feeling burned out? 
Nonprofit IT can be exhausting. Learn how to de-stress to better tackle your job and help your nonprofit succeed.

There is so much stress in managing nonprofit IT. 

There are conflicting agendas, tight budgets, and unrealistic demands. 
A lot of us have been burned by IT projects in the past that still give us nightmares. The tool was expensive, required a huge project to implement, took a ton of ...

Do you have an IT roadmap at your nonprofit? 
As a nonprofit leader, how can you design an IT roadmap to create value for your organization?

On October 3, 2024 the Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership partnered with Community IT Innovators to provide a workshop: Design an IT Roadmap to Create Value for Your Nonprofit.

To fully utilize the power of IT to support your nonprofit, you need to have a plan. View the workshop vide...

Las mejores prácticas para organizar sus archivos en la nube para lograr seguridad y eficiencia.

La organización de archivos en la nube es algo que puede parecer una prioridad menor, en particular con el aumento de las herramientas de búsqueda potentes y ahora con el auge de la búsqueda con inteligencia artificial (IA). Carolyn habló con el invitado Norwin Herrera, IT Business Manager Team Lead de Community IT, para respon...

Best practices on organizing your files in the cloud for security and efficiency.

Cloud files organization is something that can seem like a low priority, particularly with the rise of strong search tools and now with the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) search. Carolyn spoke with guest Norwin Herrera, IT Business Manager, to answer questions about why it’s important to create a file organization system, both for increased cyber...

Is your nonprofit struggling to understand cybersecurity fundamentals? 
Are you unsure what level of protection you need or can afford?

In part 1, Matt discussed the cybersecurity landscape for nonprofits and some of the changes that prompted this update to the Playbook. In pt 2, Matt walks through the "foundational" suggestions and takes audience questions.

October is Cybersecurity month! Community IT Chief T...

Is your nonprofit struggling to understand cybersecurity fundamentals? 
Are you unsure what level of protection you need or can afford?

In part 1, Matt discussed the cybersecurity landscape for nonprofits and some of the changes that prompted this update to the Playbook. In pt 2, Matt walks through the "foundational" suggestions and takes audience questions.

October is Cybersecurity month! Community IT Ch...

Best practices on improving data security, making the case for creating the policies, and the impact of AI on data security.

Carolyn speaks with guest Jeff Gibson from Build Consulting to answer questions about why data is important to nonprofits, how your data can get really widely distributed in different tools in different departments, and why it is important to do an audit and assessment to know what data you have...

How do you track your subscriptions and licenses? Why is it important to know who has which subscription at your nonprofit? 

Many clients come to Community IT experiencing difficulty tracking IT inventory. In addition to tracking physical hardware, laptops, and devices, nonprofits also can find it difficult to track licenses and software subscriptions to cloud-based apps and IT tools. 

The rise in cloud-based software-as-a-...

What do you need to do now to track your inventory? Why do you need to track inventory - and why isn't there a killer app for that yet?

A significant number of clients come to Community IT without any inventory tracking at all. Besides being a financial risk this is a clear security risk - especially if you have no system in place to off-board staff who leave your nonprofit but keep their laptop and access to private files and ...

Have you ever used a skills matrix in IT change management at your nonprofit?

In pt 1, Heather describes a typical IT Skills Matrix and how you create one, and responds to audience questions. In podcast part 2, she delves into identifying stakeholders and gives several examples of when and how to use a Skills Matrix to build and empower your team.

Do you know your super-users and early adopters? Your champions and ambassado...

Have you ever used a skills matrix in IT change management at your nonprofit?

In pt 1, Heather describes a typical IT Skills Matrix and how you create one, and responds to audience questions. In podcast part 2, she delves into identifying stakeholders and gives several examples of when and how to use a Skills Matrix to build and empower your team.

Do you know your super-users and early adopters? Your champions and ambassado...

Tiff Parker is an expert in Google Workspace support, having used Google Workspace herself throughout her career and developing a practice as an in-house expert to our clients who use Google Workspace. Carolyn asked Tiff for her tips on features to use and things to know about Google Workspace at the office.

The takeaways: 

• Know the difference between My Drive and Shared Drives, and set up Shared Drives for anything that you will...