Coronavirus: Tech offers available to charities

• Quip - Salesforce are offering free access to Quip: a resource enabling remote workers to share documents, spreadsheets, and chat, in order to help align efforts between remote and distributed teams. Get it here.

• Asana - Some charities may be eligible for free support from project management platform Asana during the current crisis. This platform helps you to streamline and manage workflows, and offers increased visibility for remote workers. It is a useful resource for keeping teams aligned and projects on schedule. Get it here.

• Office 365 E1 - Microsoft is now offering Office 365 E1 for 6 months for nonprofit volunteers. Office 365 E1 includes Teams as well as email, file storage and more. This offer is designed for organisations who need a seamless option for volunteers working in remote situations in the face of COVID-19. Get it here.

• Microsoft Teams enables your team to keep in touch remotely, through video conferencing and instant-messaging chat functions. It also allows for quick and easy file-sharing. Check out our webinar on how to use Teams to get up to speed. Get it here.

• Dropbox - The popular file-sharing service has announced that charities working to support communities and people affected by coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, will receive free subscriptions for three months. Get it here.

• Funraisin - Digital fundraising platform Funraisin has produced a lite-stack version of their product which they are offering for free to charities impacted by Covid-19. The lite version consists of three packages that are being offered “completely free to the charities that are impacted the most”. Get it here.

• Twilio - Twilio.org are deploying product, financial, and employee resources to help organisations respond to COVID-19. Below you will find information regarding product donations and discounts, grant funding, and technical resources. To speak with a Twilio representative, and to find out if your charity is eligible, contact them at their COVID-19 contact page.

• Curatrix - Charities working remotely can benefit from the guidance of Curatrix’s free to use professionally operated IT helpdesk.

• Smartdesc - Offering free consultation and advice with senior “Virtual IT Directors” to help discuss strategic matters like remote working policies and procedures, tools and technology that enable secure, remote working, and how to improve IT security when staff are working at home on their own devices. Anyone interested can visit www.smartdesc.co.uk/our-services/strategic-and-project-services/virtual-it-director/ and email solutions@smartdesc.co.uk

• Lastline - Offering free access to Lastline Analyst (Hosted) until June 30^th 2020. Lastline Analyst provides your IT teams, threat analysts and incident response teams with the advanced malware isolation and inspection environment they need to safely execute advanced malware samples and understand their behaviour. Get it here.

• Babb - This fundraising platform and tech for good company uses blockchain technology to fundraise for local and global causes - large or small. BABB is offering zero fees for COVID 19 related fundraisers. Simply download the app, list your COVID 19 fundraising campaign for free within minutes and start raising funds from all over the world. Conditions apply. Get it here

• Skurio – The cybersecurity and Digital Risk Protection company is offering a free data breach detection solution for all UK charities to help protect them during this crisis. There has been a dramatic increase in cyber threats of all kinds since the outbreak started, and the risks have increased now many staff are working from home. Let us help keep you safe, either with a free license or free managed service. Get it here.

• Mitel - A world leader in communications and contact centres, is now offering its audio, video and web conferencing application free for 6 months for all charity organisations. Mitel MiTeam Meetings enables secure video and audio conferencing for up to 16 video participants and 100 audio participants and doesn’t require an underlying Mitel telephone system. This offer is designed for organisations who need an easy to use, seamless option for charity staff working from home or remote locations who still need to communicate securely in the face of COVID-19. Get in touch.

• Socialsuite - To help monitor the impact of the crisis on your people, Socialsuite is providing a free COVID-19 Social Impact Assessment Tool. Included are an expert-designed COVID-19 social impact assessment survey and an interactive dashboard showing key areas where your people are being impacted, and how you or your funders can help." Get it here.
  
  
  

• Soldo - Spend and expense management platform Soldo has launched Soldo Care, a fee-free solution that allows charities to distribute funds quickly and securely directly to people in need. Rather than a charity needing to provide traditional food stamps or vouchers, they simply give prepaid MasterCard cards to those in need. Charities can control how and where the cards are used, and all unspent funds remain under the stewardship of your organisation, with the ability to reallocate in a few clicks. Get it here.

There are a number of other free and paid tools available to charity teams switching to remote work, or working across distributed teams. We take a look at some of the best options here.

We will continue to advise on digital practice and recommend tools available to charities as the situation develops.

Discounted software is available to charities at the Charity Digital Exchange. We will continue to update you as more subscriptions become available free to charities.