Whether a not-for-profit organisation has five team members or five hundred, the efficient management of information and documents is crucial to its effective operation. SharePoint, Microsoft's information management platform, can help NFPs store, organise and securely share information and documents, both with internal staff members and external stakeholders such as volunteers and board members. In this post we explore how not-for-profits can unlock the potential of SharePoint.
What is SharePoint?
Microsoft SharePoint Online is a cloud-based information and document management application. It provides a secure place to store, organise, share, and access content from any device. This can include anything from documents, images and videos, to news, events, links and lists. SharePoint integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft apps, including traditional Office apps (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) as well as Teams, Power Automate and Power Apps. This makes SharePoint a sound choice for not-for-profits already using Microsoft 365.
How can not-for-profits use SharePoint?
SharePoint is a flexible platform that can be used to create a range of solutions for NFPs. However, its two core functionalities are as an intranet to share information throughout the organisation and as a document management tool to create, store and manage working documents.
SharePoint as an intranet
SharePoint can serve as an organisational intranet, creating a central hub for all internal communications and resources. For example, the intranet can host organisational news, upcoming events, policy documents and links to frequently used resources. This ensures all team members have easy access to up-to-date news and information. By leveraging SharePoint as an intranet, not-for-profits can enhance internal communication, streamline information sharing and create a cohesive digital workplace.
Not-for-profit organisations can also use SharePoint to create an external-facing intranet, also known as an extranet, which provides a secure and accessible hub for external stakeholders such as volunteers and board members. For example, a dedicated volunteer hub can provide access to important announcements and training materials, ensuring all volunteers are well-informed and prepared. By using SharePoint to create extranets, not-for-profits can improve communication and build stronger relationships with their external stakeholders.
SharePoint for document management
In addition to creating intranets and extranets, not-for-profits can use SharePoint to streamline the storage, organisation and sharing of documents. As a document management platform, SharePoint offers robust security, accessibility from any device and powerful search capabilities. Additionally, SharePoint supports real-time collaboration, allowing multiple team members to work on the same document simultaneously, fostering a more collaborative work environment. By adopting SharePoint for document management, NFPs can help their team members work more securely and productively with documents.
What are the benefits of SharePoint for not-for-profits?
SharePoint offers many benefits, both when used as an intranet or to manage documents. In this section we explore some of the benefits that can be gained from implementing SharePoint.
Benefits of a SharePoint Intranet
Digital home – An intranet can become the digital home of an organisation, a place where people start their workday to find organisational news and information. Organisations can collectively name their intranet, creating awareness and engagement amongst team members.
Customisable permissions – SharePoint allows organisations to customise permissions to meet their specific needs, ensuring team members can only access the content they need to. Access to sites and pages, as well as other elements like navigation, can all be controlled through permissions.
Source of truth – SharePoint makes it easy to ensure everyone has access to the latest version of a policy document or form. Its integration with Microsoft Office also allows important organisational templates to be accessed directly through Word, Excel or PowerPoint.Â
Ease of maintenance – With earlier non-cloud versions of SharePoint, organisations would often customise their intranets with code. This led to high maintenance costs and a risk of the customisations not being compatible with future updates. SharePoint’s modern out-of-the-box features make it easy to create an intranet that is simple to maintain and future-proof.
Scalability – Whether an organisation has ten employees or ten thousand, SharePoint can scale to meet its needs. SharePoint makes it simple to add new content, features and capabilities as an organisation grows and evolves.
Compatibility – As is expected from any modern application, SharePoint intranets are accessible from any device, with no additional design required. All that is needed is an internet connection.
Benefits of SharePoint document management
Security – SharePoint provides the ability to securely store and share documents. Backed by Microsoft’s robust security infrastructure, it’s easy to manage who has access to what documents and how those documents can be shared both internally and externally.
Accessibility – SharePoint allows team members to access documents from anywhere and on any device. There’s no need to use a VPN. When team members travel to areas without internet access, they can save an offline version of a document to their device. Once they have internet access again, any changes they have made will be automatically synced with the cloud version.
Collaboration: We have probably all experienced trying to open a document from a shared drive only to discover that it is locked because someone else has it open, or even worse, someone has left it open and gone on leave. When documents are stored in SharePoint, multiple people can work on the same document at the same time. For example, if a spreadsheet needs input from multiple areas, team members can open and input their data without having to wait for others to close it.
Search – SharePoint has come a long way in terms of its search capabilities. It’s now a very powerful feature, making it easy to find documents based on location, content, author, etc. Importantly, search only shows results that the user has permission to see.
Reliability – Cloud-based file storage offers greater reliability than traditional file servers which can be prone to failure and data loss. Microsoft has a number of Australian data centres with redundancies in place to mitigate disruptions.
How much does SharePoint cost for not-for-profits?
SharePoint Online is included with most Microsoft 365 business and enterprise subscriptions, so if an NFP already uses Microsoft 365 they will most likely have access to SharePoint. Some Microsoft 365 licences that include SharePoint are:
Microsoft 365 Business Basic
Microsoft 365 Business Standard
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Office 365 E1, E3 and E5
Microsoft 365 E3 and E5
Through its nonprofit program, Microsoft offers eligible NFPs free Microsoft 365 Business Premium licences for up to 10 users as well as discounted pricing for additional users. Read our blog post for more information about free and discounted Microsoft products.
How can you get started with Microsoft SharePoint?
Most Microsoft 365 licences include SharePoint, so if you already have a licence you can get started straight away.
At Motive Consulting we have experience implementing customised SharePoint intranets and document management solutions for not-for-profits. Get in touch to find out more about Motive Consulting’s SharePoint training and consulting services for not-for-profits.
SharePoint FAQs
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