Blog Post

Tech Impact's Nonprofit Technology Learning Center - resources from 2020

By: Marco Campana
January 3, 2021

If you're not familiar with Tech Impact, they're one of a number of fantastic nonprofit tech resource organizations. They have a great Nonprofit Technology Learning Center and recently shared a number of great publications, recorded webinars, and free training courses from the past year. The Learning Center is part of their merger with Idealware, a nonprofit tech organization I have linked to previously and have highly recommended.

In each case, they'll ask you for your information before you can access the resource (think of a typical corporate whitepaper download experience), but it's generally worth it. They also offer paid publications, webinar recordings, and courses, but I've only included the freebies here.

This list is pulled from their most recent newsletter.

Free Publications

Return on Investment (ROI) in Nonprofit Technology Decisions

While many organizations factor Return on Investment (ROI) in their decisions, the sector is still not realizing the full strategic value of a thoughtful ROI analysis. This report presents the findings and insights from our survey of more than 1,000 nonprofits to help you see how your organization compares to sector norms and learn how to make the most of your own technology investments.

Making the Case for Tech: A Nonprofit Workbook and PowerPoint Template

Do you have the tools you need to make a compelling argument to convince funders, board members, executive staff, or peers to support new technology for your nonprofit? This tech pitch kit includes worksheets to help you gather and prepare everything you need to convince decisionmakers that you have a plan for success. To fully arm yourself for a successful pitch, just customize the companion PowerPoint deck template with your brand logo and colors and use the corresponding worksheets to fill out the slides.

Nonprofit Technology Policy Workbook

Good technology policies protect your organization’s data and reputation by providing clear guidance on what’s acceptable and how to manage risky situations. This workbook helps you create and document policies for the acceptable use of technology and networks, personal devices for work, how to provide IT guidance to “accidental techies,” how to respond to an IT incident, and how to recover your technology after a major disaster.

Consumers Guide to Low-Cost Fundraising Software

This fifth edition of our popular report (formerly known as the Consumers Guide to Low-Cost Donor Management Systems) compares widely used donor management systems against more than 100 requirements criteria, and includes a user-friendly digital version with sortable charts to help you easily compare systems and features.

Consumers Guide to Grants Management Systems

This edition reviews 14 of the most widely used grants management systems against hundreds of requirements criteria developed with the expertise of consultants, vendors, foundation program officers, and system administrators.

A Look at Virtual Finance And Accounting For Nonprofits

COVID-19 work-from-home mandates caught a lot of organizations off guard, making actions that were once routine—such as signing checks for vendors or contractors—more difficult. This article shows how an investment in your accounting and finance software can provide benefits that will outlast the pandemic, making your nonprofit more efficient and more effective.

Phones for Teams: Why You Should Integrate Microsoft Teams With Your Phone System

If your nonprofit uses Microsoft 365 and would like to simplify your technology environment, one option to consider is Microsoft Teams combined with a phone service. This article discusses Teams functionality, Microsoft phone packages, and benefits of integrating a PBX with Teams.

What You Need to Know About Google G Suite For Nonprofits

Selecting the right cloud solution can help nonprofits cut costs and improve collaboration. This article provides a closer look at what Google G Suite for Nonprofits includes and what's involved in implementation.

A Few Good Online Survey Tools for Nonprofits

A well-crafted online survey can teach you a lot about your constituents and how your nonprofit’s work is helping your community. Surveys are also useful for gathering research data, testing your messaging, and even collecting votes. Learn what you need to know about comparing and selecting online survey tools.

Future-Proof Your Grantees: 10 Ways to Fund Nonprofits for Long-Term Success

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could fund a single project that would have a positive impact throughout all of your grantees’ programs and services? There is: technology capacity building. Properly supported, the right technologies can build your grantees’ effectiveness and efficiency and multiply the impact of your other grants and programs. Many foundations are reluctant to support technology projects. As a result, many nonprofits are reluctant to directly ask for that support. We created this free guide as a resource to bridge that gap.

The Remote Option: Smart Tech for Creating Virtual Teams

Going virtual can reduce the costs associated with office space, eliminate commutes, and enable more flexible schedules. But there are also challenges. To support a virtual team, an organization has to think differently about operations and technology. This article shows you what you need to know to succeed.

Free Recorded Training

Online Survey Tools and Techniques

This webinar goes through the tools and best practices for designing a reputable online survey, recruiting participants, and analyzing the data. FREE

Digital Media Production on a Shoestring Budget

Videos and podcasts are a powerful—and increasingly affordable—way to tell your story. What do you need to know to go from concept to broadcasting effective videos and publishing podcasts, without spending big bucks? We’ll walk through the tools and best practices you’ll need to effectively create, shoot, edit, and publish videos and podcasts on a shoestring budget. FREE

Data Visualization Tools

Data can be hard to decipher. This webinar shows you the kinds of tools available to help you make your data attractive and interesting and help you analyze trends and surprises. FREE

Telling Stories through Blogs, Videos, and Photos

How do you convey the great work your organization is doing with blogs, photos and videos? These tools are powerful ways to share the difference you're making in the world. This webinar covers the principles of good storytelling, look at examples and research about what’s working for nonprofits, and then discusses the tools that can help you put them online. FREE

Creating an Excel Dashboard

Need to create a low-cost dashboard using existing tools? Excel is a surprisingly powerful tool that can be used to assemble and display your data. Learn how to use Excel’s built-in features and functions to create a dashboard that brings your data to life. FREE

Search Engine Optimization

Understanding how search engines work and leveraging that knowledge to improve SEO outcomes is crucial for your organization’s success. During this 60-minute course, you will gain the skills you need to build an SEO strategy and understand how and why the decisions you make affect SEO ranking. FREE

Free On-Demand Courses 

Texting for Nonprofit Program Delivery

This eLearning course is designed to take you through the questions you should ask yourself before jumping into texting as a program delivery tool. By the end of these three lessons, you’ll have the information you’ll need to get started implementing your texting program. FREE

Tactical Tech Planning

Does your technology need major upgrades? Where do you start, and how do you get the job done on time and on budget? Learn to spot your organization’s critical technology needs and develop a practical plan for improving your technology infrastructure––even if you don’t have a tech background. FREE

Collaboration Using Microsoft Office 365

This course includes demonstrations of how Teams works and some of its features. This overview of Microsoft Office 365, and specifically Microsoft Teams will help your organization stay organized, reduce email clutter, and collaborate with others. FREE

Azure Basics

Learn about Azure’s features for cloud application hosting, backup, and recovery, and whether Azure makes sense for a nonprofit organization like yours. FREE

Microsoft 365 Administrator’s Security Toolkit

If you are the Microsoft 365 Administrator for your nonprofit or foundation, this course will help you get into a security mindset and become familiar with some of the security settings and tools within the Microsoft 365 suite. FREE 

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