Microsoft 365 for Charities is a cloud-based suite of software applications, tools and services designed for collaboration in the workplace. It comes with features like email, calendar, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive and more. Microsoft 365 promotes hybrid working, productivity, collaboration and much more.
Microsoft Dynamics for Charities is a line of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) software applications. It helps organisations manage their processes and operations, such as accounting, sales, manufacturing and more. With Dynamics, organisations can automate tasks as well as access and analyse real-time data across multiple systems.
Both licences offer completely different services and functionality for nonprofits and charity organisations that qualify for charitable status. Let’s dig a bit deeper into the difference between Microsoft 365 for Charities and Microsoft Dynamics.
Microsoft Office 365 for Charities UK based and beyond
Microsoft 365 for Charities is a set of applications that can increase nonprofit productivity, it can also aid efficiency and communication within a secure cloud-based environment. A subscription includes the following benefits:
Collaboration
Microsoft Teams, part of Microsoft 365 for Charities, is one application that can enhance collaboration. It allows you to share documents you’re working on with your team members whether they’re in the office or working remotely. Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive are both a part of Microsoft 365. They facilitate collaboration between nonprofit staff and volunteers with shared documents, collaboration on the same document and much more.
Communication
Take your communication to the next level with Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams for Charities allows you to virtually call, instant message and book meetings with donors, staff and volunteers. You can also see when your staff is offline are available, making communication simple.
Efficiency
Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel all offer efficiency. This extends to areas such as creating documents, spreadsheets or presentations. The software is also very user-friendly for staff and volunteers to learn.
Security and Compliance
Microsoft 365 for Charities also offers reliable security and compliance. Nonprofit organisations and charities will benefit from this when it comes to handling confidential and sensitive data on a daily basis.
Data encryption ensures all of your charity’s confidential data is secure and backed. Multi-Factor Authentication enables a 2nd step entry into your Microsoft 365 accounts. This ensures no one from outside the organisation can access your charity data.
Microsoft 365 also promotes access level management. This means you can set a variety of level permissions for across your staff and volunteers, for example a volunteer may have different access levels to staff.
GDPR Compliance is another compliance factor that Microsoft 365 runs by. This ensures that all data handled within Microsoft 365 is appropriate and within its guidelines.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Charities
As we mentioned at the start of this blog, Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Charities offers slightly different applications to Microsoft 365. It is a package of applications and security tools.
Microsoft Dynamics for Charities is a Saas Product. It is also a line of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) software applications. This makes it easy for nonprofits to manage their sales, customers and donators, finance and operations.
Microsoft Dynamics subscription includes a tool to download reporting and view analytics. This can help with reviewing data, automation and workflows.
Find out more about what Dynamics integrated apps can offer eligible registered charities below –
Dynamics 365 Sales
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales is ideal for organisations that are looking to manage customer relationships as well as sales processes. Its tools cover a variety of interested, including: account and contact management, lead generation, opportunity tracking, and order processing.
With these tools, you will be able to accelerate deals, identify trends and uncover opportunities. Organisations can also use Dynamics 365 to access customer data in real-time. This feature is invaluable when it comes to gaining a better insight into your target market and making more informed decisions.
Dynamics 365 Customer Service
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service can essentially be described as a customer experience platform. It includes tools suitable for case management, knowledge management, self-service portals and customer insights. Dynamics 365 Customer Service will help your organisation to efficiently manage customer requests, capture data across multiple channels and track performance.
The platform ultimately enables organisations to provide more targeted support to their customers while fostering longer-lasting relationships.
Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations
If your organisation needs help with financial processes then look no further than Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. This ERP solution of cloud services. It is ideal when it comes to simplifying financial processes and streamlining operations.
It comes with tools that can automate accounting, and facilitate budgeting, supply chain management and provide analytics. Therefore, organisations should find that they can reduce their costs, become more efficient and use the data to drive their decisions.
Dynamics 365 Human Resources
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Human Resources is a cloud-based HR solution that helps maximise productivity and efficiency in the workplace. It provides users with tools to manage employee onboarding and offboarding, payroll, performance reviews and training. These tools help organisations keep their teams organised, improve employee engagement and ensure compliance with labour laws.
Dynamics 365 Marketing
Organisations can create personalised customer experiences with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing. This cloud-based marketing automation solution includes tools to manage campaigns across channels such as email, web, mobile and social media.
This can help companies produce targeted messages to the right people at the right time. It also lets users measure performance across channels. Dynamics 365 Marketing benefits nonprofits by providing a central hub to manage all your marketing programs.
Dynamics 365 Commerce
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce is an e-commerce platform that once again operates within the cloud. Its main purpose is to create seamless customer experiences for organisations to utilise.
It does this by providing management tools for end-to-end commerce operations. This includes sales and order management, marketing, fulfilment and analytics. Dynamics 365 Commerce can be used to better tailor your customer experiences to their needs.
How much does Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Dynamics cost for charities?
Microsoft 365 licensing for charities is available in a range of packages. The pricing is sure to suit all eligible nonprofits with charitable status, regardless of size. See below a list of Microsoft 365 for Charities pricing for small-medium nonprofit organisations –
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic (Nonprofit Staff Pricing). Microsoft Grant offers free for up to 300 users, available as part of Microsoft Nonprofit Programs.
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) £2.30 +VAT per user per month for 12 months
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) Grant offers Free for up to 10 users or £4.10 +VAT per user per month for 12 months
Microsoft 365 licensing is also available for larger nonprofits in the following packages –
- Microsoft 365 E3 (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) £7.90 +VAT per user per month for 12 months
- Microsoft 365 E5 (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) £19.20 +VAT per user per month for 12 months
Microsoft 365 Dynamics for Charities offers free packages for a certain number of users, see the options below –
- Microsoft Dynamics is free for up to 5 users (with a Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise grant)
- Microsoft Dynamics and Power Apps is free for up to 10 users (with a Power Apps grant)
The Main Differences Between Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Charities
Microsoft 365 for Charities offers a range of applications to benefit all nonprofit staff and volunteers. Microsoft 365 would become the software your charity uses daily to complete day-to-day tasks, stay communicated and collaborate.
On the other hand, Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a platform that is more directly focused on customer relationship management. It uses AI and machine learning to facilitate some of its functionality.
It operates as a top-level management tool for your nonprofit organisation. You can get granular data on sales and donor information to manage your relationships with them. However, Microsoft 365 for Charities will be more efficient for day-to-day tasks in your charity organisation. These tasks would include things like creating a spreadsheet or a presentation of finances.
Microsoft 365 and Dynamics for nonprofits are both part of the Microsoft 365 platform. This means they can communicate and integrate with each other perfectly. Therefore, your charity can benefit from both!
Final Thoughts on Microsoft 365 for Charities and Microsoft Dynamics
In short, Microsoft 365 for Charities and Microsft Dynamics 365 are not direct competitors, instead, they compliment each other and work hand in hand. Nonprofit organisations would see the immediate benefit of Microsoft 365 as it helps with day-to-day tasks.
However, Microsoft Dynamics 365 will suit expanding organisations. It is a powerful CRM system that can offer some great reporting and analytics that can help the organisation to monitor its success.
Need some advice on how Microsoft 365 could benefit your charity? Book your FREE Microsoft 365 consultation with our IT experts by clicking the button below.
