Google Apps for nonprofits

I now have several weeks’ experience with Google Apps — the suite of Google mail, documents and other tools using your own domain — in a nonprofit organization setting. Put mildly, I’m sold on it. (Though as a nonprofit, with an “educational” account, it is free of charge.) Email admin is easier and sharing documents was an unanticipated bonus.

Detailed praise would be a drain on my now-limited blogging time but if you are interested in Google Apps feel free to contact me or leave a comment.

By Scott Wells

Scott Wells, 46, is a Universalist Christian minister doing Universalist theology and church administration hacks in Washington, D.C.

3 comments

  1. Probably you don’t use Microsoft Word but your readers should be forewarned that Google Documents automatically reformats your Word documents. So if font, layout, or, you know, anything else about formatting is important to your document (margins, etc.) Google documents changes these. There is no way around it. I looked. And looked and it seems, at this point, unfixable on the user end. Google will have to fix it or it means that people who want to up and download Word documents and maintain formatting will not be able to use it unless they want to reformat after every download. I found this annoying. Obviously.

  2. I would appreciate a response–if at all possible–promptly.

    I volunteer to do IT stuff at our church. Though it may seem like I live under a rock, I just found out about Google Apps for Non-profits/Education. I have some questions, though I think I may know the answer.

    1. Cost. Is it really free? What are the limitations of this free, non-profit service, versus a premium account?

    2. Will our church staff be able to keep the same domain name (@domain.org), and likely their same email address? Free?

    3. Is there webpage development as part of the deal?

    4. Is there banner advertising as part of the non-profit package?

    Thanks.

  3. In brief:

    1. Yes, free of charge. For real. 100 email accounts, if I recall correctly. You do need to be a registered c3.

    2. Yes. And I really love how easy it is to make and administer simple mailing lists.

    3. Not really and not that I would want to use for a development site.

    4. No banner advertising (in the email.) Think Gmail. I find it very unobtrusive.

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