Cloud computing basics for nonprofits: Raining pennies from heaven?

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Vanessa James.

There is little argument today that cloud-based computing has taken the IT world by storm and continues to gain in popularity, including within the realm of nonprofit organizations. Unlike the usual small-business-style enterprises, nonprofit organizations are generally not resource rich and usually not terribly fluent in the IT business. We’ll walk through some of the cloud computing basics in this first of a two-part series devoted to the particular cloud-based computing needs of small to medium-sized nonprofit agencies.

Funds are stretched pretty thinly, especially in today’s economic climate — where giving has markedly decreased or is limited to grant-mandated specific uses. In turn, budgets for nonprofit organization IT expenditures are often small. Choosing the right technology and using IT budgets effectively is crucial to an organization’s health and allows CIOs and executive directors to focus on membership and the mission…

Oversight, regulation and protocols for each are much different, as is how they are classed and viewed by governmental agencies and regulators on a state and federal level. Therefore, certain allotments of money are often strictly outlined and dictated by grants for nonprofit organizations. If cloud storage fits within the requirements laid out by the nonprofit organization’s grants and funding sources, cloud computing can be a valuable opportunity for nonprofits that have a stretched IT budget…

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