The Best of Google Workspace for Nonprofits

Ilia Jones | October 2021

Google offers many tools for free to nonprofit organizations. So many, in fact, that it might seem challenging to manage them all. That’s where Google Workspace for Nonprofits comes in. It’s a one-stop-shop for all the Google-related tools, tasks, and programs you need for day-to-day business operations. 

What is Google Workspace for Nonprofits?

Formerly known as G Suite for Nonprofits, Google Workspace for Nonprofits is just that. A workspace that brings all of your Google productivity apps together in one place. 

Google Workspace for Nonprofits includes:

• Gmail
• Meet
• Calendar
• Drive
• Docs
• Sheets
• Slides
• Chat
• Forms
• Sites
• Currents

It also offers security and account management, such as two-factor authentication, to protect your organization’s passwords and data. 

For nonprofits that work in the education space, Google is throwing in access to Google Classroom as well. 

Essentially, Google aims to provide all the tools and applications that nonprofit organizations need for their day-to-day operations. And they are offering it at an unbeatable price — free. 

Why Choose Google Workspace for Nonprofits?

Google Workspace offers nonprofits access to all of the tools you need to run a successful organization. From creating documents and professional email accounts to managing and sharing calendars and designing gorgeous slide presentations. All at a very reasonable cost of $0.00. 

Google Workspace also includes easy access to your Google for Nonprofits and YouTube for Nonprofits accounts. 

If you are unfamiliar with Google products, it may be a good idea to check it out before you opt-in and transfer your entire organization over to a new system. 

What Does Google Workspace for Nonprofits Include?

To help you learn more about the tools included in Google Workspace for Nonprofits, we’ve put together a rundown of each tool and how it can help your organization. 

Gmail Business Email

Along with all of the features you would expect from an email provider. Easy-to-use formatting and attachment options, contact list, and search functionality. And Gmail business email gives you professional email addresses with a custom domain for your entire organization. The benefit of having a professional email address versus a free Gmail account is that emails from your nonprofit won’t end up in anyone’s spam folder. 

Business email from Google includes phishing and spam filters to protect your organization from malware and other attacks. In addition to keeping you safe, it is also a utterly ad-free email experience. 

Meet Video and Voice Conferencing

While it may seem like everyone in the world joined Zoom over the past two years, Google has developed its own in-house alternative. So, rather than forking out a subscription fee, you can get the same functionality from Google Meet. 

Video and voice conferencing can help you connect face-to-face with your team whether you are working from home or in different countries. 

Meetings can host up to 100 participants, with international and US call-in information available and meeting times up to 24 hours long! They’ve also added polling and Q&A for a more interactive experience and have more features coming soon. 

Drive Secure Cloud Storage

With a Drive account, members of your organization can easily store, find and share documents and projects with up to 30GB of storage per user. More than 100 file types are supported. So you can upload files for any project, from web design to video to your annual budget. 

Drive is easily searchable and lets you create folders to organize files by project and control access to them. Sharing is made possible by email address, so you can share as much or as little as needed across your organization. 

Chat Team Messaging

The ability to interact and collaborate quickly is made possible by Chat, Google’s messaging offering. It works as an app on a mobile device or your computer, so you can stay connected wherever you are.

Chat allows you to share pictures and information easily and to jump from a conversation to a Google Doc or Sheet for fast and easy collaboration. 

Chat uses Wifi, rather than 5G or LTE coverage, so you can message all you want without incurring any mobile charges. Google is also dedicated to protecting your privacy and maintaining security, so the same phishing logic behind your Gmail protection is built into Chat as well. 

Calendar

Your team can share calendars to keep track of important events and maintain their calendars as well. Layering calendars makes it easier to schedule meetings at times that work for everyone, with no guessing games or time-wasting email back and forth. 

You can also set up meeting rooms and other resources to avoid confusion over what’s been reserved or where to meet. 

Calendar integrates with Gmail, Meet, and other Google tools to make the transition from work time to meeting time seamless. And Calendar is available on your computer or mobile device so you can attend meetings on the go. 

Docs, Sheets and Slides

Google’s Docs, Sheets, and Slides offer most of the functionality you’ve grown accustomed to using with Microsoft Office but has made it easier to collaborate and share. 

Docs

Docs provides all your word processing needs and is available right in your browser. There is no need for additional software or keeping up with updates. You can collaborate with team members in real-time. And all your edits are saved and versioned automatically, so you never have to worry about losing your work. You can export your Doc into many common formats, such as .docx, .pdf, .rtf, .txt, and .html.

Sheets

Google Sheets makes it easy to create project plans, budgets, and other spreadsheets. You can upload existing Excel spreadsheets or quickly create your own. It’s easy to collaborate and edit in real-time, and changes are automatically saved as you’re working. The Explore feature provides data visualizations and other insights at the touch of a button.  

Slides

You can create beautiful presentations in Slides using one of the many gorgeous themes available or import your own. There is no confusion over the latest iteration with easy collaboration and sharing, so you can rest easy knowing that everyone is presenting the same information. If you have existing presentations, uploading them to Drive will make them editable in Slides, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel if you’re migrating information over. 

Easy Access to Other Google Tools 

If you decide to transition your team to Google Workspace for Nonprofits, your team will have affordable access to all the tools they need daily. And you will have easy access to other tools, such as Google Tag Manager and Google Data Studio, among the other great things that Google offers.