Ever wonder what it takes to get a IT system up and running as a nonprofit under 25 people? In these difficult economic times, it’s really important to get your act together regarding your nonprofit’s finances. When I started out in the tech industry in the 1990s, IT departments were still pretty devoted to heavy iron. Servers and hard drives everywhere complete with a networking core were de rigeur for even a modest office setup.
I no longer believe that that should be the case anymore. I think many nonprofits can get away with a kind of virtual IT system where the files reside primarily on Amazon’s S3 and any more specific applications can be set up remotely (maybe even on Amazon EC2 which now supports Windows servers). Even better, you can get by without having to pay some IT guy thousands of dollars a year for maintenance. The suggestions that follow are for you to follow should you want to create a IT infrastructure for your nonprofit that keeps labor costs down as much as possible.
Here’s a suggested IT system for nonprofits under 25 people:
Software
Use Google Apps for your e-mail and file storage solution. There’s a nonprofit version that you can get if you’re a 501c3. It’s a far superior solution to untagged and unclassified documents on a shared hard drive which is how many nonprofits have stored their documentation over time.
Cost: $0.
Unfortunately, Google Docs are just not ready for primetime. Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint are still superior solutions if you need to get down and dirty with your documents. You can get Office 2007 for $16 at Techsoup. However, try out Open Office and compare. Personally, I think the jump in quality from Open Office’s Writer to Office’s Word is worth the $16.
Cost: $16 per user.
You still need to buy antivirus software for each computer. When you buy your laptops and desktops, say no to the optional antivirus software. Just go over to Techsoup and pick up 25 copies of Norton 2009 for $70.
Cost: $70 for all 25 users.
CRM sofware for basic fundraising purposes can be had for free from salesforce.com Foundation. That’s 10 licenses for $0. We’re assuming your org has no more than 25 people. If more than 10 people need to see your CRM at a time, extra licenses are available at a pretty massive discount.
Cost: $0.
There are tons of decent vendors at a price point under $300. I recommend looking at GiftWorks and DonorPerfect.
Hardware
Buy desktop computers for everyone but make sure to buy laptops for everyone who needs mobility. The price points between the two kinds of computing have declined to the point that it’s now a business decision more than an IT budgeting issue. Here are a few tips:
- Go to Dell’s website and buy Optiplex desktops and Latitude laptops with 4 year ProSupport plans. This will give you a chance to space out your purchases yet still have them get serviced for at least 4 years. It also means you won’t need a tech guy to fix these computers, you’ll just need someone to call Dell.
- These computers come with Vista. Never run Vista with only 1 GB of memory. It will be too slow and your employees will suffer needlessly. Always buy 2 GB of RAM for each computer.
- Buy the desktops with the added Wi-Fi USB stick. Wireless is much cheaper to install so even the desktops will be wireless.
- Buy the cheapest 17-inch monitors Dell will have you buy.
Cost: $1100 per computer.
Networking
Internet, Internet, Internet. You can’t skimp on networking as it is the backbone of what makes this low-cost configuration work. It also means you’ll need to pay for someone to network you unless you know how to do this yourself. Chances are you won’t or you wouldn’t be reading this post! It’s not rocket science but it’s certainly not for the uninitiated.
Find yourself TWO ISPs. You can get a cable provider such as Comcast or Time Warner and a regular DSL connection through Speakeasy or your local telecom.
You then buy an Internet router and then buy yourself a regular wireless access point. You will need a specialized router like the Cisco RV042 which has auto-failover. This means that if the cable connection goes down, it auto-switches to your slower DSL connection. Why such an elaborate scheme? Your employees will stop working if the Internet goes down. It’s just that plain and simple. You need Internet running all the time to make this system work.
Cost: $600 for the Cisco Linksys RV042 10/100 4-Port VPN Router
File Storage and Backup
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that file servers are no longer necessary. Instead, your small nonprofit can use the workgroup edition of JungleDisk. The way this works is that the JungleDisk application spends all it’s time synchronizing your files with Amazon’s S3 service. Your files are up on the Web automatically and every few minutes are being backed up into another copy. This service alone eliminates the need to have a file server sitting on your system always waiting for a nightly tape backup. It also means practically instant business continuity in the event of a disaster.
Even better thing about JungleDisk? You have 24 hour Web access to your files.
Cost: $ 0.15 per GB. Yeah, that’s right 15 cents per GB.
Final budget over 4 years:
Software: $680 for MS Office and 4 years worth of Norton Antivirus
Hardware: $27500 for 25 computers
Networking: $5400 – $7200 for a router, access point and Internet access
File storage: Assuming a total of 100 GB in the first month and a growth rate of 3% per month, JungleDisk will cost you $1566
Not bad huh? That’s a total of $36,946 for 4 years worth of reasonable computing for 25 people. Mind you, there may be some hidden costs in the third or fourth year of operation. Hopefully, you may have outgrown your hardware needs or want to add services at that point. The great thing about this configuration is that it’s so barebones that you’re not actually painting yourself into a corner with anything. And frankly, that’s one of the biggest headaches for any IT Director worth his or her salt. You almost never want to subject the patient to a course of treatment that you can’t back off from. It’s the Hippocratic oath for IT people. Above all, do no harm and hopefully I haven’t done so. Just so you know, this is a path I’ll be charting on my own as my nonprofit comes into being.
(4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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This anti-virus software is free. And its very effective. http://www.free-av.com/
If you are running a Mac this is a non-issue, however.
In fact I would go as far as to say, SKIP Windows and go directly to MAC. The administration costs of running windows computers is far too high. Mac’s do not break, do not stop running, do not get bogged down over time. They just keep working. The time you spend screwing around with just 1 windows malfunction or wondering why it is slow is just not worth it.
This makes financial sense even if the macs are more expensive. If every one of your 25 computers wastes only 10 minutes of your employees time every day (and believe me, just one problem will cost you more than 10 minutes per computer on averag), and you’ve lost 250 minutes per day. That’s about 3 hours per day. Lost just because windows isn’t all that responsive and gets slower over time.
Great post. I think any small business, not just non-profits, can benefit from your advice.
Hey Ryan, I’m pretty agnostic about operating systems but when it comes to nonprofits wanting to run nonprofit fundraising software, not all of them run on a Mac OS. There are also numerous nonprofit accounting packages that assume a Windows OS. That’s why I tend to skip talking about Macs and go straight to a Wintel platform. That said, I heartily recommending using Macs if you are not planning on using certain nonprofit accounting or fundraising packages.
Also, I’ve never heard of Avira AV which you suggest but it may be worth a shot for people to use. However, I don’t like free utilities because they frequently don’t have a support contract behind them. That makes it difficult to get to a point where a user can feel good about calling the company if something goes wrong. This is why I tend to prefer Techsoup as a software vendor because they give me some peace of mind about the purchase. I’m not saying NOT to go with a free software package but when you look at the minimal costs that Techsoup provides it just seems like a better deal to me. $70 for 25 users? I’d take that in a heartbeat.
Thanks, Sean, for your kind comments. Yes, this advice can be used for small businesses but we’d have to assume that the software costs would be much higher. Salesforce.com runs around $100 a seat in it’s unlimited for-profit version and requires some negotiation with their sales division. Norton Antivirus is about $60 a seat. Google Apps is $50 per user account per year. It starts to add up.
This is a great shopping list. What do you make of the Office Live Essentials suite? It seems like it could take away the need to split things up so much across vendors.
I just checked out Office Live Essentials. It seems that it’s a kind of Google Docs for Office users but using the desktop client to do the editing. I’m thinking it’s not too shabby for a first cut but I’ll wait for the service to mature before I would recommend.
However, if you still want to use it. I’m ok with it. As long as the files are saved in both Office Live Essentials as well as on Jungledisk, I don’t think I have too much of a problem. The major fear I have with both Google and Microsoft is what happens if they discontinue either Google Docs or Office Live Essentials.
Alan,
Great stuff. One thing though–the Salesforce license may be free, but setting it up to work for your organization will cost you a few thousand dollars, unless you’ve got some pretty serious data skills.
Jeremy
@Jeremy Wallace: Yeah, that’s true. All software costs something to operate. It’s all up to the way the organization is willing to define its priorities. I happen to also like Donorperfect or Giftworks for this size organization. I think donation software is part of the fundraising strategy of an organization and not necessarily it’s IT strategy so I left this part of the dicussion kinda short. I think though that we can explore that as well in another post.
Thanks Allan, this information may also be useful for schools – especially small, independent ones that don't have any IT support. These types of schools can usually qualify either under a clause for educational institutions (as Google Apps allows), or may be eligible for 501(c)(3) status themselves.
Thanks, TeacherJay. Let's hope that schools start to listen. At $500 a pop, most of the cost goes to Windows and support contracts. They're almost giving these things away.
[...] Please see my article on building networks for small nonprofits. Basically, make sure you build an IT network that takes advantage of very low desktop and laptop prices, good support contracts, and redundant Internet connections. A lightweight network will give you more flexibility in the long run as no one (definitely not me) can really predict what will come down the pike. Don’t build something that paints you into a corner in terms of technology. This generally means using stuff that works on a well-known industry standard. It also means not heavily relying on any one vendor to take care of you. [...]
I would disagree the with comment "Buy the cheapest 17-inch monitors Dell will have you buy." I would suggest at least 19 inch LCD for anyone that uses the computer consistently and two 19inch LCD monitors for those who are power users.
Currently, it's a $60 price difference at Dell between the 17- and 19-inch monitors. That comes out to $1500 over 25 monitors. I can't help it. I'm a penny pincher when it comes to purchasing monitors. I would probably rather spend the money on better website design as you can actually make your money back there. I totally get that you might want the users to experience better comfort though.
I have to agree with Allan on this. I've put together a number of different labs for different organization, from the showpiece employment center in New York City, to rural non-profit schools in third-world countries. The usability difference between 17 and 19 inch is not great enough and the 17 should be adequate, a pair of them for some power users possibly, but ONLY if they've used them before, if not they won't know how to use them effectively anyhow. I remember seeing hundreds of CRT monitors sitting in storefronts in New Delhi, they were only about $10 each and every time one wore out you just picked up another. You can practically do the same with LCDs now. Start with the 17s and as they need to be replaced, go with 19s. You can reduce your initial buy-in that way and budget for improvements as you go. This way you always have the option of not buying a 19 at any time.
Allan – recommendations on CRMs for organizations that want to do more than basic fundraising? Salesforce or Convio for orgs that want to track a combo of campaign actions and giving?
Cristina, I like salesforce.com and mpower open for smaller nonprofits. Both will require some programming though if you're looking to do campaigns.
In fact, advocacy and political campaigns require a lot of programming because there's actually a positive return to tricking out your site for more and more interactivity.This meas programming. Unfortunately, you're still looking at bespoke solutions that use developer tools to build something.
Ryan,
I disagree with going straight to MAC's. It will definitely be much more costly. It is a myth that MACS don't break, do not stop running and do not get slower over time. If this were true, why is it that 95% of the business world uses PC's? Also, finding a qualified and certified MAC technician is not easy. Not to mention the compatibility issues. I am a technician with 7 industry certifications and over 10 years experience supporting technology for nonprofits and MACs are a luxury with no costs advantages in my professional opinion.
95% of the business world doing something doesn't mean its the best approach.
You don't need mac technicians. They break way less often. I'm running a company with 20 macs. No problems. No IT person. I have 4 pcs at my house. Every single one of them has broken several times. The macs at my house – never broken. 2 very expensive pcs with raid arrays, where I should never have to lose data – both of them crashed and took all the data with them. If I hadn't been using $5/month online backup, I'd have lost everything. Repaired the computers, one of them is already giving errors. My last company was 60 employees and I needed a full time MIS guy to deal with Windows. People have finally woken up to this and most my CEO friends have moved over to become completely Mac driven. I was anti-mac for years but the headaches from running windows just go away when you finally go mac.
There are a lot of reasons 95% of the business world uses PCs, and I guarantee you not a single one of them is because they are cheap to maintain. Mostly its the self-perpetuating monopoly effect and because pcs were able to be manufactured by many companies, not just one.
I have never had to deal with a mac technician, but I know tons of windows technicians, and I see them way too often.
Everytime I have a pc tech do something it takes hours and costs hundreds of dollars. The cost differential on the Mac more than makes up for the lack of support.
And, do not store anything valuable on your computers – store it all on the internet. Then, if a computer does break, no matter the model, you don't lose anything. The time wasting and panicking about losing files is not worth any amount of money.
Hey Ryan, I'm just curious. Is the claim here that Mac hardware is better than PC hardware? Does Apple source hardware components differently than say Dell or HP? I thought it was pretty much a OS vs OS issue not a hardware issue.
only 1 company makes macs and apple is responsible for it. i don't know if they make them, or what factory makes them. But pc components are made by hundreds of manufacturers.
And the operating system. Mac just works. Comes to life instantly. PC, not so much. Lots of antivirus software and scanners and all this other junk has to run.
I made the switch when I borrowed someones mac laptop and had it side by side with my pc laptop. Open PC laptop. Wait for it… wait, wait. Got sick of waiting, opened the mac, it was on instantly, online, and it worked. After a few days of that I felt like the last stubborn holdout. And then I realized, my god, I've spend probably MONTHS just sitting and staring at a PC boot screen, or screwing around cleaning viruses off the machine (and I've always run antivirus software on my pcs), or getting the stupid thing repaired.
The fact is, the computer no longer matters except as a tool for getting you online. If that tool doesn't work 100% of the time, its junk and is wasting your money. It's an appliance. I can sit down at any computer anywhere and for the most part get at all my data. If my microwave needed all the love my PCs need, I would throw it away and get a better one. If my fridge needed it, I'd be wasting a lot of money on spoiled food.
[...] Please see my article on building networks for small nonprofits. Basically, make sure you build an IT network that takes advantage of very low desktop and laptop prices, good support contracts, and redundant Internet connections. A lightweight network will give you more flexibility in the long run as no one (definitely not me) can really predict what will come down the pike. Don’t build something that paints you into a corner in terms of technology. This generally means using stuff that works on a well-known industry standard. It also means not heavily relying on any one vendor to take care of you. [...]
Also – av-free edition is for personal, home use – not business use.
Wow this is a great post for small business. That Dell ProService thing sounds great. I've never tried this myself, but an IT outsourcing service maybe worth investing in as well.
Windows?? You can't be serious. Come on guys, you have to start promoting Free Software and recommending OS's like Ubuntu. I made the switch almost a decade ago and it has served my roster of non-profits admirably.
I would be interested to see this rundown base on MAc system. When I started working for my non-profit we already had Macs. And just the only only PC. Everyone that has come on board now all have macs and it seems every time I turn around someones old laptop is now a new macbook. The problem I have is we recently decided to use Giftworks. We are in the evaluation stage, the problem with that is only one computer in the whole office is able to use it because of its PC standards. Only a few people in the office work on a Mac with Parallel capabilities. And I am not one of them and I am the number one person who needs to access this information and keep it updated. I do have access to the PC but only on Tues and Thursday when our part time Accountant Staffer is not here. So you can see my frustrations. Is there anything out there just like Gift Works that works on MAC's? In addition wit would also be nice if this software was accessible form multiple computers so that at anytime anyone can access the donor database.
I normally do promote free software but generally speaking, not Linux. The problem is that a lot of desktop fundraising software doesn't run on Linux. Most of them are Windows-based.
However, If a nonprofit is comfortable with using CiviCRM or salesforce.com or Convio's Common Ground, it's well worth the look. At this time, I am unwilling to commit nonprofits to an immature codebase in regards to Linux and say the offline edition of salesforce.com for nonprofits.
I normally do promote free software but generally speaking, not Linux. The problem is that a lot of desktop fundraising software doesn't run on Linux. Most of them are Windows-based.
However, If a nonprofit is comfortable with using CiviCRM or salesforce.com or Convio's Common Ground, it's well worth the look. At this time, I am unwilling to commit nonprofits to an immature codebase in regards to Linux and say the offline edition of salesforce.com for nonprofits.
And that's the problem with using Macs or Linux. This is why I don't recommend either OS for nonprofits if they are using fundraising software. Linux and the Mac OS are both great operating systems but at this time, they're suboptimal if you want to raise money. This is a case where the IT department must align itself with the business needs of the organization despite the problems behind Windows.
Sorry, IEgea, I think you need to get your sys admin to install Parallel on your Mac. This is not a technical issue but a business decision has to be made to re-align your IT assets with your strategy.
Hi I am very interested in this topic….but at the same time payment process is a major problem for organisation at the moment credit card payments we take all require an invoice to be manually generated, entered into our accounting software, and reconciled against receipts from the credit card merchant service. Does anyone know of a software that automatically creates invoices? We would love to be like amazon and itunes and email our customers an automated invoice the same day!
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Since the biggest cost is the hardware, what do you think about thin-clients?
ncomputing looks interesting based on cost and ease of setup/use, not to mention
power savings.
Excellent source of information here. So if you spend all of your money on hardware, how do you get ahead of the game. I guess the ease of setup saves you time which equals saved revenue? Great post!
You, my friend, are such a fanboy and it is so obvious that you have NO idea what you are talking about. Just a plain repeater if "information" you do not understand.
BTW – the same companies make mac and pc hardware fool … asus makes many macbook boards. please do not post if you are dumb.
avira is freemium – you can register and get support.
but more importantly, think about what you just said… you need support for the antivirus software. which is support for the operating system. 2 levels of support for an operating system to get it to simply not crash. what a waste!
go mac, all these problems go away.
no point in being agnostic about operating systems. its not a religion. its Which One Is More Reliable?
i'm not a fanboy, I was not into mac at all until 2 years ago when i had a mac laptop someone loaned me and a pc laptop and while i waited for the pc laptop to boot and go through its usual nonsense of popups and virus checking and just being slow, the mac was instantly on. i got exactly where i needed to be, on the internet, in seconds. try that with your pc.
i realized that I only needed to get on the internet, so why did I need antivirus software, why did I need windows, why did I need any of the nonsense that comes with windows? i just needed it to work.
now multiply that across 25 employees.
Great Blog Line. I have just been put on the Board of a small non profit start up. No exsisting it systems. Your shopping list is going to be a great help.
No problem. I should probably update that with thoughts on what’s coming down the pipe IT-wise.
Useful stuff, some of the options providing IT for non-profits are quite surprising to say the least!