Information & Technology

Nonprofit IT Staff Training is a free 2021 webinar by the consulting group, Community IT Innovators, which gives tips on how to develop an IT training program specific to your nonprofit’s staff needs, whether that's better on-boarding, improving on-going training efforts, or re-training staff for a major system change. 

The presenters note ways to make this task approachable, such as:

In the digital age, even small nonprofits are not strangers to being the targets of cyberattacks like having passwords hacked, email phishing scams, or ransomware.

Microsoft's Nonprofit Guidelines for Cybersecurity and Privacy (2017) provides tips to assess cybersecurity risks and considerations for data privacy. It gives an overview of the legal landscape for compliance with laws governing the digital aspects of operating a nonprofit, as well as suggests ways cloud technologies could help with becoming compliant. 

The Nonprofit Show is a webcast created by the American Nonprofit Academy.

Flexibility of hours and location is one of the most important determinants of employee satisfaction and retention. Below are resources for shifting your staff to a fully remote or hybrid model.

What Nonprofits Need to Know About Security: A Practical Guide to Managing Risk* provides succinct guidance on how to mitigate your nonprofit's risk exposure, implement basic protections, and build a culture that values security with firm policies in place to guide staff. It includes a staff security checklist, case studies of other nonprofits' experiences with cybersecurity, as well as a list of where to find additional resources. (TechImpact, 2021)

Topics covered:

"Ransomware" refers to any virus or malware that maliciously encrypts your computer, data, or network to hold it hostage and bring your organization to a standstill until a ransom is paid. During these attacks, your systems display messages prompting users to pay or take other actions that further compromise your organization's security, while promising to allegedly allow you to regain control over your systems or retrieve your data.

The Cyber Readiness Institute (CRI) reports "more than 60% of data breaches are a result of weak or stolen passwords, 91% of all attacks start with a phishing email, 27% of malware infections are introduced via a corrupted USB, and 77% of attacks in 2017 could have been prevented if software was up-to-date." Luckily, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and CRI offers a series of short guides below, free webinars,

Ransomware attacks block access to your IT infrastructure or your constituent/donor data unless you pay the attacker to release your property.

Whether for Facebook, Twitter (X), LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok – or whatever other platform rises to popularity next – your nonprofit will need a coordinated strategy to maximize the benefits from the hard work invested in managing your organization's online presence. Below are resources on conducting an audit of your organization's social media platforms and content strategy, why it can benefit your nonprofit organization, and the tools you can use to complete an audit.

Overviews of Conducting Social Media Audits