Google Apps for Non-Profits

[Nearly Dark Side]

Hello CapTalk. So my squadron is going through a revival of sorts and I am starting to take over on the cadet side of things. We're doing a kind of spring cleaning that is years overdo. Part of the duties I have before me is the implementation of a more efficient method of communication and management of the squadron. I have heard many good things about Google Apps for Non-Profits and its use in CAP. My question is what are the specific benefits and how would I go about setting up such a thing for a home squadron, including proving CAP as a non-profit. Thank you in advance to all who contribute.

[JeffDG]

Proving CAP is a non-profit is the easy part.  CAP's 501(c)(3) determination letter is available at:  http://capmembers.com/cap_national_hq/general_counsel/501-c-3-federal-income-tax-exemption/

GANP can be a small undertaking, or a huge one, depending what you want to do with it.

First there are different modules that you can utilize (all under the free access):

-Sites:  Websites.  WYSIWYG editor, not the most flexible platform, but it works well and reliably.

-Mail:  Basically a full-version of GMail for your organization (without the ads...).  You do have to manage the accounts for this

-Calendar:  Shared and personal calendars.  Can integrate with Sites (so you can embed a calendar on your website...see http://tn393.tncap.us/ for an example)

-Drive:  Shared document storage and document management.  Allows you to sync documents to your PC (or multiple PCs) and share documents.  Shares 30 GB of storage with Mail.

-Groups:  discussion boards and shared mailing lists...I love these, but you need to either develop an automatic membership manager, or do a lot of pruning

You can get started at:  http://www.google.com/nonprofits/products/

I've implemented this on a Group level, then Wing decided to take it and put it to use Wing wide, so I've done it at that level too.

[Eclipse]

Jeff hit all the high points.

GDrive for doc sharing is one of the big ones - it's the easiest way to get your unit to a paperless situation.

Not having "hotkittyAV8Tre69@juno.com" or something equally unprofessional for an address is high on the list as well.

Transition when people leave or move is easier, especially for the docs data, and it can all be accessed on multiple platforms.

For cadets with access or parent issues regarding using the internet, it can allow for an email and the other services
in a controlled manner, CAP-centric manner.

The "free" part is a big deal, too.

I've implemented this for my Group (very early adopter), and assisted my wing, and have also implemented the platform
for a number of companies.

It's designed to be user-friendly and user-managed by non-technical people and their tech support is awesome.

Sliced bread wishes it was as awesome a GApps.

[JeffDG]

Note, however, that there are rumbles coming from the echelons above reality about requiring all CAP Internet Operations to be on the platform of NHQ's choice, and given the fact that NHQ IT is, shall we say, overworked, I have incredibly low expectations for such a service.  The proposals I've seen are far less than the capabilities I have built for this Wing, and cost far more.

[a2capt]

The same people that prematurely publish stuff, don't test their implementations fully, and suffer from NIH Syndrome?

The Boston Tea Party was nothing.

[Nearly Dark Side]

Eclipse,
You mentioned the professionalism of the email addresses. Is that just saying that when members join the possible Google apps account I am proposing that they will create new emails with the @gmail.com domain? Or would I be able to create my own domain name. If not would it be recommended that I do so that it gives my squadron a more professional appearance?

[Eclipse]

You'll need to use a custom domain name, and you could certainly a subdomain of CAP.gov, though absent
a wing mandate, the choice of domain name would be up to the unit CC to decide.

unit.wing.cap.gov   or unit.org (etc.)

[Nearly Dark Side]

OK thank you all for the knowledge. I will take this into account when I make my case to our squadron commander at the next meeting. I need to bring our squadron into the modern era.

[Pylon]

I did the Google Apps for Nonprofits setup for my squadron some years ago.  We still use it, mostly for email though now.  Its worthwhile.  We chose the route of getting a cap.gov subdomain established.  It required approval from the Wing CC or his designee (in our case, that was delegated to the Wing Director of IT), and then a few emails back-and-forth with the cap.gov administrator to get the proper settings in place to sync up Google Apps and the domain.


An additional nice part about using a cap.gov subdomain is that it's free. No domain registration fees or renewals to deal with.

[A.Member]

As an FYI....an alternative, Office 365 is also available. 

It was touched on earlier but the key is to understand what your needs are; what are you solving for?  Who will manage the solution?  Continuity planning? Etc.  As an example, one of our greatest needs was a common document repository.  Unfortunately, Google Apps isn't the best solution to that need.

[JeffDG]

Unfortunately, Google Apps isn't the best solution to that need.

Why not?  Google Drive works fantastically for exactly this need.

[NIN]

Correct me if I'm wrong but office 365 is not free for nonprofits correct? I'm always a little leary of hitching my star quite so completely to Microsoft. They have a great tendency 2 come up with rather grandiose plans, twist everybody's arm to embrace those plans, and then decide midstream that they're not interested in following that course of action anymore. I won't buy any Microsoft hardware ever again after they put out what was actually a pretty cool product is the form of the Microsoft Phone, then rather quickly orphaned it. Major bummer, because it had a lot of potential if it had just been supported.

I gave up on Microsoft hardware after that, and some of their non enterprise Solutions are similarly foisted off on the public, and then completely changed around within weeks. Ok months, maybe not weeks

[Eclipse]

Unfortunately, Google Apps isn't the best solution to that need.

Why not?  Google Drive works fantastically for exactly this need.

+1.  Sharepoint or cloud drive or whatever they are calling it this week is certainly not something I would
turn on the average CAP non-IT person.

Having supported it for a small business, it's a typically over-engineered, "feature-rich / support poor" MS offering.

The TOS on their non-profit offering are a lot more "detailed" and potentially onerous then GApps.

[A.Member]

Unfortunately, Google Apps isn't the best solution to that need.

Why not?  Google Drive works fantastically for exactly this need.

The issue I have with Google drive is ownership and transfer of ownership.  As people rotate through the organization (a very regular occurrence for us), management of drives seems burdensome, especially if they're not engaged.   

It's simply not clean like something such as this:
www.opendocman.com

[A.Member]

Correct me if I'm wrong but office 365 is not free for nonprofits correct? I'm always a little leary of hitching my star quite so completely to Microsoft. They have a great tendency 2 come up with rather grandiose plans, twist everybody's arm to embrace those plans, and then decide midstream that they're not interested in following that course of action anymore. I won't buy any Microsoft hardware ever again after they put out what was actually a pretty cool product is the form of the Microsoft Phone, then rather quickly orphaned it. Major bummer, because it had a lot of potential if it had just been supported.

I gave up on Microsoft hardware after that, and some of their non enterprise Solutions are similarly foisted off on the public, and then completely changed around within weeks. Ok months, maybe not weeks

It is available at no cost now (via donation).  You're leary of Microsoft but not Google?  Hmmm.

BTW, hardware and software are very different matters.

[JeffDG]

Unfortunately, Google Apps isn't the best solution to that need.

Why not?  Google Drive works fantastically for exactly this need.

The issue I have with Google drive is ownership and transfer of ownership.  As people rotate through the organization (a very regular occurrence for us), management of drives seems burdensome, especially if they're not engaged.   

It's simply not clean like something such as this:
www.opendocman.com

The "Admin" pannel for GApps has a simple "transfer ownership" function that lets you grab everything from a non-active member and assign it to someone else.

[A.Member]

Unfortunately, Google Apps isn't the best solution to that need.

Why not?  Google Drive works fantastically for exactly this need.

+1.  Sharepoint or cloud drive or whatever they are calling it this week is certainly not something I would
turn on the average CAP non-IT person.

Having supported it for a small business, it's a typically over-engineered, "feature-rich / support poor" MS offering.

The TOS on their non-profit offering are a lot more "detailed" and potentially onerous then GApps.

If looking for a SP alternative, Huddle also offers a SharePoint alternative to non-profits for a low one time fee - $150. 

[A.Member]

Unfortunately, Google Apps isn't the best solution to that need.

Why not?  Google Drive works fantastically for exactly this need.

The issue I have with Google drive is ownership and transfer of ownership.  As people rotate through the organization (a very regular occurrence for us), management of drives seems burdensome, especially if they're not engaged.   

It's simply not clean like something such as this:
www.opendocman.com

The "Admin" pannel for GApps has a simple "transfer ownership" function that lets you grab everything from a non-active member and assign it to someone else.

Like, I said, it's burdensome.  Who's keeping track of who's engaged and owns what docs?  We have enough issues with people figuring out how to use distribution lists.  For me, a better solution is for every user to save to a common share without the ownership issues.

[JeffDG]

Unfortunately, Google Apps isn't the best solution to that need.

Why not?  Google Drive works fantastically for exactly this need.

The issue I have with Google drive is ownership and transfer of ownership.  As people rotate through the organization (a very regular occurrence for us), management of drives seems burdensome, especially if they're not engaged.   

It's simply not clean like something such as this:
www.opendocman.com

The "Admin" pannel for GApps has a simple "transfer ownership" function that lets you grab everything from a non-active member and assign it to someone else.

Like, I said, it's burdensome.  Who's keeping track of who's engaged and owns what docs?  For me, a better solution is for every user to save to a common share without the ownership issues.

Who's active and such is automatically managed.  Users who depart are flagged as "disabled".

Generally, people use shared unit space on the drive that's pre-configured to share with the unit.

We can handle document sharing automatically based upon duty position and unit of assignment without issue.  We can handle confidential information, up to and including IG files, all on the same shared space that is basically "set once and forget".

[A.Member]

Like, I said, it's burdensome.  Who's keeping track of who's engaged and owns what docs?  For me, a better solution is for every user to save to a common share without the ownership issues.

Who's active and such is automatically managed.  Users who depart are flagged as "disabled".

Generally, people use shared unit space on the drive that's pre-configured to share with the unit.

We can handle document sharing automatically based upon duty position and unit of assignment without issue.  We can handle confidential information, up to and including IG files, all on the same shared space that is basically "set once and forget".

It's been quite a while (ie. year+) since I looked at it so you're obviously more familiar with it than I am.  However, I am skeptical that anything is managed "automatically".  How does GA "automatically" know whether someone left the organization or the role?  How did you set up, pre-configure the shared space?  Did you need to approve all the users for access?