Is Google Suite Free for Nonprofits?

Published by Jay Cordova

Who Is Eligible for Google for Nonprofits?

Before looking at all the features Google Workspace has to offer, you first want to make sure your organization meets Google Workspace for nonprofits eligibility. Thankfully, the qualifications are fairly straightforward. Let’s take a look.

1. Charitable Organization Registration

Your nonprofit must be registered as a charitable organization in the country it is located in. For the United States, some examples of this criteria include:

The IRS must legally recognize your nonprofit as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. This includes organizations formed for educational, charitable, literary, scientific, religious, or other tax-exempt purposes.
Your nonprofit cannot be a fiscally sponsored organization.
If your organization is covered under a group exemption, meaning it is part of a tax-exempt group (such as within a church denomination), you must still get IRS recognition of 501(c)(3) tax exemption.

Every country has its own rules, so it’s also important to confirm the specifics of the country your organization is in.

2. Country Specific Requirements

We mentioned a few of the requirements that U.S. nonprofits must fulfill before they are qualified to use Google Workspace. Still, this second requirement is important to note because each country will have a variety of different conditions. For example, in Canada, nonprofits must be designated as one of the following:

a charity
a tax exempt non-profit organization operating on a nonprofit basis for the public benefit
a federal not-for-profit corporation; or
a provincial non-profit

And in Australia, here are some examples of qualifying nonprofits requirements:

a deductible gift recipient (DGR) endorsed by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) or listed by name in the tax law
an organization located in Australia or the territories of Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, or the Cocos (Keeling) Islands

As you can see, each country has its own provisions, so be sure to review these before applying for Google for Nonprofits.

3. Agree to Terms

If you’re good to go on the other eligibility criteria, the last step is agreeing to the Google Terms of Service and Google for Nonprofits Terms. The nonprofit terms include a few points that you must be able to verify you are in compliance with, such as its anti-discrimination clause. This asks you to ensure your organization does not discriminate against any person or group in your regular course of work, including employees, volunteers, and people and communities served.

It’s important to read through both agreements thoroughly to ensure you understand what you are agreeing to. If you’d like a little help in this regard, our team at Computers in Ministry (CIM) is quite familiar with Google terms, and we’re happy to walk you through these terms and the whole Google for Nonprofits application process.

Now that we’ve gotten past the tricky part of qualifying, let’s talk about Google Workspace for nonprofits features and how it all works.

How Does G Suite for Nonprofits Work?

G Suite, now Google Workspace, increases the collaboration, productivity, and efficiency of nonprofits. The possibilities are endless, but here are some of our favorite benefits:

Google Drive allows you to securely store and share files across your whole team.
Team members can meet virtually face-to-face through Google Meet to collaborate on projects no matter where they might be in the world.
Gmail offers custom domain email addresses for you to keep in touch with your donors, volunteers, and community members.
You can use Slides and Docs to create and enhance the look of grant proposals and presentations. These programs also save all versions of your work, just in case you need to go back to a previous version, and everything is automatically backed up to the cloud, allowing team members to collaborate simultaneously.
Sites is a program that offers the ability to build external or internal websites so you can share your mission and relevant information across your organization.

Even with all those features, you may not feel ready to move your whole organization over to a new set of tools. This is where you must decide if Google Workspace is right for your nonprofit.

Is Google for Nonprofits Worth It?

Here’s the thing…it’s free for nonprofits, so why not give it a try? If it doesn’t work for your organization, there are plenty of other options available. At CIM, we frequently have partners who need to change the system they use for a multitude of reasons. It’s all about what’s working for you and what isn’t, as there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach.

If you enjoy using Google but find that you want a little more out of your virtual workspace, Google offers similar upgrade options as to what they offer their business customers. These upgrades are not free, but they are offered at significantly discounted rates for nonprofits. Currently, each upgrade tier is around 70% off from Google’s business upgrade costs.

Find Other Free Tools and Solutions with CIM

Our dream has been the same since CIM was founded in 1996: align appropriate and affordable technology solutions with our nonprofit partners’ objectives. There are so many free and discounted options available for nonprofits nowadays, but finding them and navigating how to use them can still pose a challenge. That’s where CIM comes in. We assist our partners by offering comprehensive:

Organizational and consulting services
Cybersecurity and risk management
Technology services
End-user support

If you’re looking for tech support that understands nonprofit purpose and drive, look no further than CIM. Contact us today to talk tech solutions for your organization!

Is Google Suite Free for Nonprofits?￼