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Previously, I’ve talked about Microsoft’s commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. This campaign launched on International Women’s Day this year and aims to showcase how Microsoft is taking action and contributing to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. With National Nonprofit Day approaching on August 17, I wanted to reflect on how Microsoft, through our marketplace, aligns with SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.

 

Why peace, justice, and strong institutions matter

SDG 16 is about promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development. It’s about providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels. Now in particular, this goal feels elevated in importance.

 

COVID-19 has put additional stresses on our economic environment, leaving many unemployed, homeless, and/or struggling to make ends meet. We’ve seen some really innovative ways partners in our ecosystem have aimed to bridge the inequality gaps that have widened in this pandemic. In May, Charlotte Yarkoni (CVP, Commerce + Ecosystems) wrote about how Microsoft and our partners are responding to the pandemic. For a summary of solutions and offers to help available in our commercial marketplace, see here.

Recent rise in the Black Lives Matter dialogue has elevated awareness of many of the inequities faced by black people and people of color around the world. Undoubtedly, beyond governmental and legal response, technology can play a vital role in supporting organizations to bridge societal inequities. What has become even more evident is the crucial role that nonprofit organizations play during these times.

 

The importance of nonprofits
The nonprofit sector is where change is directed at reducing inequities in society. It touches on many issues, including economic development, mobility, all forms of inequities, and effective governance. Nonprofits aim to actively serve the global public good.

Microsoft is committed to supporting the nonprofit sector. We have shown this commitment through our Tech for Social Impact program, which helps nonprofits create an even bigger impact through our technologies. Additionally, in May, we announced a partnership between our Microsoft for Startups team and Dream Legacy Foundation. Through this partnership, Microsoft for Startups and Dream Legacy Foundation have been working together to help accelerate, develop, and build strong foundations for underrepresented communities dealing with inequity: LGBTQA2S+, indigenous communities, people of color, people with disabilities, female-identified founders, newcomers, and refugees.

 

How Microsoft’s commercial marketplace contributes
Microsoft helps bring relevant technology solutions and services to our customers via our commercial marketplace. With over 20,000 offers from our partner ecosystem, you can find many solutions that help us collectively work toward building effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels. In alignment with National Nonprofit Day, over the coming weeks you’ll notice relevant solutions featured in our commercial marketplace homepages – both Microsoft AppSource and Azure Marketplace. Below is a snapshot of a few of these creative solutions.

 

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Alphavima created a nonprofit management system, GiveLife, that provides a 360-degree view for managing donors, volunteer interactions, memberships, and campaigns, making it a go-to platform for better business operations.

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AppFusions’ AlohaCloud is a modern scalable community, networking, and collaboration platform that enables organizations to bring internal and external constituents into unlimited purposeful and integrated digital experiences, workplaces, communities, and networks to drive growth.

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Assura Software Ltd.’s one-platform approach to managing multiple business processes, unifying data, and streamlining workflows provides a consistent user experience. For government agencies and nonprofits, Assura is accessible, with intuitive workflow design and flexible mobile capabilities, ensuring that everyone can participate and go beyond mere compliance.

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Avanade’s Grant Making Solution offers comprehensive end-to-end grant management over the grant lifecycle, allowing grant makers to save time by making processes effective and transparent. The solution leverages the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Nonprofit Accelerator and the Common Data Model for Nonprofits, which is developed in collaboration with nonprofits, partners, industry experts, and open initiatives to ensure interoperability and accelerate impact to the nonprofit sector.

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BetterUnite created a comprehensive fundraising solution for nonprofits that’s built on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Nonprofit Accelerator. The BetterUnite Enterprise solution provides virtual event tools; live and silent auction support; text-to-give, online, and peer-to-peer fundraising tools; and volunteer management on a single platform.

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carefolk’s sureMission is an out-of-the-box social network and community support platform that a nonprofit can quickly brand and launch without having to assume the risk and cost of a technical build.

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Cyclotron‘s TeamsHub for nonprofits offer is built upon Cyclotron’s highly successful accelerated Microsoft Teams adoption program for Make-A-Wish, which needed a rapid implementation of Teams during the COVID-19 outbreak to support national fundraising efforts. Leveraging TeamsHub as the integrated adoption platform for end-user training and self-help on Teams, Cyclotron is able to accelerate Teams training and adoption.

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MISSION CRM provides a complete donor management and fundraising system built on the Common Data Model for Nonprofits.

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QUANTIQ CareTEQ delivers fundraising and donor management capabilities that enable nonprofits to minimize overhead and operating expenses, maximizing throughput of funding and streamlining service delivery to clients.

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RedBit has helped Second Harvest meet the increased need to feed people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Microsoft Azure, RedBit upgraded the platform to accommodate large-scale donors and ramp up for new donors. RedBit works closely with organizations to plan transformation strategies that take advantage of Azure and cloud technologies.

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RedMane Technology LLC created mCase, a solution based on Microsoft Azure that makes case management tasks faster and more efficient. Organizations can support clients in the office or use mobile devices and the web to quickly complete tasks such as intakes, assessments, and outcome measurement while keeping sensitive information secure.

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Tangicloud Technologies has created Tangicloud Fundamentals to provide true fund accounting for nonprofits and governments with advanced allocations and electronic approvals.

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Wipfli has a special assessment to help nonprofits explore how Microsoft Dynamics 365 can meet their business needs to effectively develop relationships, manage and service participant and volunteer networks, plan events, and track donations and grants.

 

You can learn more about our technology and resources for nonprofits on our Microsoft nonprofits website.

 

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.