What should a not-for-profit ask before choosing an IT provider?

Three beyond the usual: whether they will claim the nonprofit licensing you are entitled to, how they would handle volunteer and staff turnover, and whether they can produce the evidence a funder will ask for. The generic questions matter; these separate providers for this sector.

The licensing question is the most immediately valuable. Ask directly whether they will check your eligibility for nonprofit programmes and handle the applications. A provider who has not raised it unprompted is either unaware of it or not looking for savings on your behalf, and the difference between commercial and sector pricing is large enough that this single question can be worth more than any negotiation on their own rate.

Then the turnover question, because it is the sector's structural reality. Ask how they would handle onboarding a volunteer in a morning and removing that access reliably when the person finishes. A useful answer involves role-based access and a process tied to something that already happens. A vague answer suggests you will end up with the same accumulation of orphaned accounts you probably have now.

Third, ask whether they can produce a dated report you could attach to a funding application or acquittal, because funders now ask and the answer needs evidence rather than description. And ask who owns your tenant, your domain and your data, since that determines how difficult leaving would be, which matters for an organisation whose circumstances change with funding. If you would like to ask us those questions, call 1800 456 567.