Nonprofit organizations provide invaluable support and services, address social and environmental issues, and pave the way to celebrate, aid, and unite communities. For all of their incredible contributions, mission driven organizations often struggle to find the resources, funding, and technology they need to maintain and grow their work.
Just last week, Microsoft announced the arrival of Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit, an accessible tech solution that strives to support and simplify the transformative work of nonprofit organizations. This cloud-based solution aligns the capabilities of Microsoft 365, Power Platform, Dynamics 365, Azure and LinkedIn to address many common nonprofit scenarios. It connects nonprofits to Microsoft cloud offerings while utilizing the Common Data Model to unite their organizational data on a single platform.
And...this solution will be available in the second half of 2021. So, what do you need to know about Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit to prepare for its release? This blog will walk you through the basics and help you determine if this solution is right for your organization.
Table of Contents
- What is Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit?
- Demystifying the Common Data Model
- What is the Microsoft Partner Ecosystem?
- Learning more about Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit
What is Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit?
You likely have some experience with or knowledge of Microsoft 365, Power Platform, Dynamics 365, or Azure — all Microsoft solutions that exist in the cloud. Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit applies these cloud-based products to common nonprofit frameworks, enabling solutions and smart structuring around constituents, programming, and mission outcomes.
The Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit offers innovative solutions for:
- Constituent Management
- Donation and Award Management
- Volunteer Management
- Program Delivery
- Unified Data
- Constituent Analytics
- Personalized Engagement
Utilizing the Common Data Model, Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit unites an organization’s data in a single location with a shared language, saving invaluable time (and countless IT headaches). This intelligent platform simplifies workflow, increases efficiency, expedites reach, and empowers staff to focus on the “heart” of the nonprofit— the community-building, mission-driven work.
If you are curious about the impact that this platform can have, you can read about how one organization scaled its monthly donor count from 100 to over 3,000 after implementing the capabilities of Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit.
Demystifying the Common Data Model
Back up. The common data what? Imagine a world in which all your apps and services work seamlessly with all the data from your organization. Fundamentally, the Common Data Model (CDM) is a solution to unite disparate data sources and simplify your workflow within a centralized location.
Microsoft, in collaboration with nonprofit organizations and other companies, has been leading an effort to develop the Nonprofit Common Data Model (NCDM), with a goal of providing nonprofit organizations, technology vendors, and technology consultants one common language to represent key data points and data entities within every nonprofit organization. Even better, this data model does not require an organization to even use Microsoft's products or services to make use of it. It's open source, and readily available.
Technically speaking, the Nonprofit CDM is a set of entities (or “objects”) and attributes (or “fields”) that make up a common set of data structures for nonprofit organizations. It includes entities for constituent management data, fundraising data, awards data, and program management/results data. And, it’s expanding. Check out our guide to the Nonprofit CDM for more information.
What is the Microsoft Partner Ecosystem?
The Microsoft Partner ecosystem is Microsoft’s network of vendors and service providers that build solutions around or in alignment with Microsoft products. The partner ecosystem further extends the capabilities of the Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit platform with industry specific services and solutions.
Soapbox Engage is proud to be a Microsoft Partner! After serving the nonprofit community now for two decades, we’re excited to step into this next chapter. Not long ago (in October of 2020), we shared Microsoft's announced arrival of Fundraising and Engagement, an open source fundraising application that is now a component of Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit. Anticipating these new offerings, we've worked to ensure our online engagement tools, like our Donations app, integrate with the Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit.
Learning more about Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit
Join Microsoft experts on March 30, 2021, to learn about the power of this industry-specific solution. See a demo of the new capabilities in Microsoft Fundraising and Engagement, hear from nonprofits using Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit, and ask questions of Microsoft experts.
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