Technology Discounts & Grants: A Guide for NWA Nonprofits

I was honored recently to be interviewed at Pixels With Purpose, a forum designed to help Northwest Arkansas's nonprofits thrive in today's hyper-digital world. The event brought together over 40 NWA nonprofit leaders with local experts in tech, cybersecurity, digital marketing, AI, and more — all to help local nonprofits advance their causes amid the rapid digitalization happening now.  

My Q&A, titled "Managing Nonprofit Technology When It's Not Your Day Job," gave me a chance to share some of the tips, tricks, and tactics I've collected over two decades serving area nonprofits with their IT and cybersecurity needs. 

The truth is: Nonprofit leaders are passionate about their missions — feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, supporting veterans. They're rarely passionate, though, about managing technology. And I get it; I can understand why. For nonprofit leaders, IT and cybersecurity often feel like necessary evils that come with the territory of leading a nonprofit and serving a community.

As we've written elsewhere, many nonprofits — given their noble, sometimes urgent focus on the mission at-hand— commonly make avoidable mistakes with their IT, including not properly securing the org from cyberattack.    

These nonprofits, we find, could take simple steps to better streamline and secure their technology. 

Nonprofits Can Take Simple Steps With Their Tech, Cybersecurity

So, it was my aim at Pixels With Purpose to reduce — if only just a little — the burden NWA's nonprofits associate with IT, technology, and cybersecurity. To give them some easy wins, if you will, with their tech and cyber defenses. Easy wins like:

• Turn on MFA everywhere, as it stops 90%+ of identity attacks (and it's free)
• Standardize onboarding/offboarding with a simple checklist
• Test data backups once a year 

But as important as this advice was, I must admit I was most eager to talk about another point altogether...

"Stop paying retail," I told the audience, "for your software," because many of today's leading SaaS/digital platforms offer grants and steep discounts to recognized 501(c)(3)s — on everything from office productivity suites to payment processing to graphic design.

Free Resource: A Guide to Technology Discounts & Grants for NWA Nonprofits

Your budget is too limited, and your work too important, to needlessly spend even one extra dollar on technology.

So, TekTrendz prepared a free one-page resource, the "Tech Discount & Grant Guide for NWA Nonprofits," to help our local nonprofits save money on tech — and to put those dollars to better use serving our community.

Click below for a PDF version of this free guide. 

As you'll see, the guide contains discounts and grants to several popular subscriptions among nonprofits today, including:

• Microsoft 365
• Google Workspace and Google Ads
• Canva
• Stripe
• Monday.com

Our encouragement: Start by getting verified with both TechSoup and Goodstack. This will simplify the process of receiving your well-deserved discounts and grants.

Got Questions, NWA Nonprofit? We're Here to Help

Often, nonprofits would rather think about their life-giving, community-building cause than about technology.

So, if you have questions about your IT, technology, or cybersecurity.

• If you need help getting verified with TechSoup or Goodstack

• If you're looking for additional ways to save money on your technology

• If you're concerned about your org's exposure to cyberattacks

TekTrendz is here to help. We're here with free, friendly answers to your tech and cybersecurity questions. 

And thank you all you do to make Northwest Arkansas the wonderful community it is.