Configure Microsoft 365 for Nonprofit
This page will outline the first steps and best settings for configuring Microsoft 365 for your nonprofit.
🏁 Prerequisites
Once your nonprofit has been approved for Microsoft 365 nonprofit licensing, you can continue through this process. You can verify your organization's nonprofit status with Microsoft using this guide.
✅ Get Free Microsoft 365 Nonprofit Licenses
Follow these step-by-step instructions to provision licenses for your organization. This will provide you with access to a variety of Microsoft 365 services and tools.
Go to the Microsoft 365 admin portal by visiting admin.microsoft.com and sign in using your administrator account credentials.
In the left-hand menu, click on "Billing." This will take you to the billing overview page.
Within the billing overview, click on "Purchase services" from the top navigation menu.
On the Purchase Services page, you'll see a list of available services and licenses for your organization. Search or scroll for the licenses that are designated for nonprofits and are FREE, which include:
Microsoft 365 Business Premium (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) Donation - 10 free
Microsoft 365 Business Basic (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) - 300 free
Microsoft Fabric (Free) (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) - Unlimited for free
Dynamics 365 Customer Voice USL (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) - Unlimited for free
Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit Basic (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) - 1 free
Power Apps per app plan (1 app or website) (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) 10 seat donation - 10 free
Click on the licenses you want to add to your nonprofit organization.
Once you are satisfied with your selections, click the "Next" or "Purchase" button (the wording may vary depending on the options you've chosen).
⚡Assign Licenses to Users
After purchasing licenses, you'll need to assign them to specific users within your nonprofit organization.
Go to the "Licenses" section in the Microsoft 365 admin portal
Select a license
Click "Assign licenses" to choose which users should get that license.
You can also assign licenses directly to users from the Users screen of the Microsoft Admin portal.
🌎 Add your Domain
Your domain operates a lot of the key features within Microsoft 365. Adding your domain is the very first step to properly configuring Microsoft 365.
Follow this guide to add your domain in Microsoft 365: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/setup/add-domain?view=o365-worldwide
📧 Email Protection
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 - Good Heart Tech strongly recommends adding this to enhance email security. This adds Anti-Phishing, Safe Attachments, and Safe Links functionality and is included in several M365 packages. To enable these features in a few easy clicks:
Login to the security portal and navigate to Email & Collaboration < Policies & Rules < Threat Policies < Preset security policies: https://security.microsoft.com/presetSecurityPolicies
Turn on the Standard protection by completing the short setup wizard.
🔗 DNS Email Security
See this guide for more information on how to protect you Microsoft 365 environment using DNS email send validation technologies like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC:
pageEmail Sender Validation Using DNS (SPF, DKIM, & DMARC)🎨 Personalization
Adding logos and personalizing your tenant is not just for a great user experience. It also increases security by letting users know they are signing into the right place.
Adding a Logo & Theme for Microsoft 365
Customize the top bar/theme for 365 via the admin center
Upload the logo that'll appear in the top left of the navigation menu in Microsoft. Choose an appropriate color scheme. The settings will tell you if the colors are not contrasting enough.
Add Logo To Azure AD
Add graphics and support message to the sign-in screen via Azure from this screen:
For the sign-in background, create an image that is 1920x1080 pixels and place the logo in the middle. Upload that for the background.
For the company logo, save a small version of the logo and upload it.
💬 Setup Microsoft Teams
Add default meeting policy in teams admin center to allow sharing and joining from everyone
Edit any other settings you wish to change.
Then apply the policy to “All users”
📂 Setup SharePoint
Edit the default SharePoint site to show the document library
Set the default SharePoint Home site under SharePoint Admin < Settings < Home Site.
🔑 Security Settings
The MOST critical security setting: Enable Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Security Defaults are enabled by default for all new Microsoft tenants. Find out more here:
pageNonprofit Admin Guide to Enforcing MFA in Microsoft 365Other Security Settings
Update Security Settings in these sections at your discretion: https://security.microsoft.com/securitysettings
Disable user app registrations: https://portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_AAD_IAM/ActiveDirectoryMenuBlade/UserSettings
Restrict SharePoint sharing access with 'everyone' without sign-in: https://portal.office.com/Adminportal/Home#/Settings/Services/:/Settings/L1/Sites
📗 Misc. Recommended Settings:
Disable Microsoft End-User communication - https://admin.microsoft.com/Adminportal/Home?#/Settings/Services/:/Settings/L1/EndUserCommunications
Disable Skype deployment in office settings (Settings < Org < Office install options) - https://portal.office.com/Adminportal/Home#/Settings/Services/:/Settings/L1/SoftwareDownload
Adjust News settings - Select industry, topic (Nonprofit corporation), and disable daily news updates:
Select Microsoft 365 as feed, and disable daily digest.
💻 Endpoint Settings
Sign in to the Intune portal: https://endpoint.microsoft.com/
Add SharePoint library mapping automatically using this guide:
Setup LAPS: AAD < Device < Device Settings < Enable LAPS
Configure Account protection policies for Windows 10+ devices in Intune portal, LAPS policy.
Last updated