Technical Guides

Identity & Code

Step-by-step: create a personal GitHub account with the email on your phone, turn on multi-factor authentication, and add your work email — the account is you, the person, not the charity.

Security

What multi-factor authentication is, how the scan-a-QR-code flow works, which authenticator app to use, saving recovery codes, and the precautions to take before you get a new phone.

Social Presence

Create your personal LinkedIn profile, turn on multi-factor authentication, then create your charity’s LinkedIn Page from that personal profile — the same person-owns-the-page pattern as GitHub.

Social Presence

Create your personal Facebook account, turn on multi-factor authentication, then create your charity’s Facebook Page from it — the person owns the Page, just like GitHub and LinkedIn.

Email & Workspace

First sign-in to your FFC-provided Microsoft 365 charity mailbox, turning on multi-factor authentication, and getting Outlook on your computer and phone.

Email & Workspace

First sign-in to a Google Workspace charity account, turning on 2-Step Verification, and getting Gmail on your devices. For charities already standardized on Google.

Tools

Why you need a password manager, the built-in option in your Chrome or Edge browser profile, when to add LastPass, and how to store your MFA recovery codes so a lost or new phone never locks you out.

Tools

Create a Canva account, turn on multi-factor authentication, and join the charity’s Canva team to access its brand kit and templates.

Email & Workspace

Install Microsoft Teams on your computer and phone — the first app every applicant installs. It’s how you meet with FFC, share your screen, and get live help.

Email & Workspace

Set up Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive to store the charity’s core files, and learn to scan paper documents (like the IRS determination letter) with your phone.

Security

What passkeys are, how to add one on your phone and computer (including Windows Hello), and why you keep them alongside — not instead of — your authenticator MFA.

Social Presence

Create a personal Candid (formerly GuideStar) account to research nonprofits, and use it to find charities doing your mission. Your organization’s own profile and seal come later.

Social Presence

Create a personal Idealist account to see how volunteers find and connect with charities. Your organization’s listings come later.

Social Presence

Create a personal Taproot account to learn how skills-based (pro-bono) volunteering is sourced. Your organization can request pro-bono help here later.

Tools

Install Google Chrome and sign it into a profile tied to your Google account so your saved passwords and bookmarks sync and back up — your built-in password manager on the Google side.

Tools

Install Microsoft Edge and sign it into a profile tied to your Microsoft account so your saved passwords and favorites sync and back up — your built-in password manager on the Microsoft side.

Tools

Pick and sign in to the AI assistant that matches your email — Gemini for Gmail/iCloud, Copilot for Outlook — then add Claude for deeper work, so you always have help walking through any step.

Tools

Get a free Google Voice number to use as the charity’s public phone line — it rings to your own phone while keeping your personal number private.

Social Presence

Create your personal Instagram account, turn on multi-factor authentication, then set up the charity’s account and link it to your Facebook Page — the same person-owns-the-account pattern as everywhere else.

Tools

Create a free personal Cloudflare account, turn on two-factor authentication, and get it ready for FFC to invite you to the FFC Cloudflare account — without adding your domain to it.

Tools

Get your own login on the charity’s Zeffy account — accept the invitation, set a strong password, turn on two-factor authentication — without creating a second Zeffy organization by mistake.

Social Presence

VolunteerMatch merged into Idealist in 2025, so its volunteer network now lives on idealist.org. Your personal account is an Idealist account — follow the Idealist guide.

Tools

Create your own Intuit login with two-factor authentication so the charity can invite you into its QuickBooks Online — you never create a company file of your own.

Social Presence

Take the LinkedIn Page you created and make it work for the charity: complete the profile, add admins, post on a cadence, and connect LinkedIn’s nonprofit features.

Social Presence

Operate the charity’s Facebook Page with Meta Business Suite: assign roles, turn on nonprofit fundraising tools, and post consistently.

Tools

Create the charity’s Canva team, get Canva Pro free for nonprofits, build the Brand Kit, and invite volunteers so everything stays on-brand.

Email & Workspace

Claim Microsoft 365 Business Premium through Microsoft for Nonprofits, add your domain and users, and run the tenant safely with FFC.

Email & Workspace

Claim Google Workspace through Google for Nonprofits, verify your domain, and add users — for charities standardized on Google.

Email & Workspace

Move from a personal Teams sign-in to the charity’s tenant: add your @yourcharity.org identity, create teams and channels, and organize the volunteers’ workspace.

Email & Workspace

Move the charity’s files from a personal drive to a shared Team/Shared Drive or SharePoint, with a clear folder structure and the right permissions for the whole team.

Social Presence

Claim your organization’s Candid (GuideStar) profile and earn the transparency seal — Bronze through Platinum — so funders can trust and find you.

Social Presence

Register your charity on Idealist and post volunteer opportunities and jobs that attract the right people.

Social Presence

Once you’re a 501(c)(3), register your charity on Taproot Plus and post well-scoped pro-bono projects to get skilled professionals donating expertise.

Tools

At the organizational phase, use LastPass to securely share the charity’s shared logins across the team — without anyone ever seeing or copying the raw passwords.

Social Presence

Operate the charity’s Instagram through Meta Business Suite alongside the Facebook Page: post on a cadence, read insights, and turn on nonprofit fundraising tools.

Tools

Register and get your charity “Validated” on TechSoup — the nonprofit-status validator that unlocks donated and deeply discounted software, most notably Intuit QuickBooks Online, Microsoft 365, and Adobe.

Tools

Register with Goodstack (formerly Percent) — the nonprofit-status validator that Canva, Google for Nonprofits, and many other tools use to confirm your charity qualifies for free or discounted access.

Tools

Get QuickBooks Online through TechSoup and set it up for nonprofit bookkeeping — a clean chart of accounts, fund tracking, and a connected bank feed so your books are audit-ready.

Tools

Add Microsoft Clarity — a free, no-limits analytics tool — to the charity’s site to see heatmaps and session recordings of how visitors actually use it. Pairs with Google Analytics.

Tools

Create a free Google Analytics 4 property and connect it to the charity’s website so you can measure visitors, traffic sources, and the actions that matter — the foundation of impact reporting.

Tools

Roll out AI to the team at the organization level: Gemini that comes with Google Workspace, Copilot as a Microsoft 365 add-on, ChatGPT Business/Enterprise (nonprofit pricing via Goodstack), and a Claude Team or Enterprise workspace.

Tools

Create the charity’s one Zeffy organization: register with the charity email, connect the bank account for payouts, build the first donation form, and invite your team as individual MFA-secured users.

Social Presence

VolunteerMatch merged into Idealist in 2025. Register the charity on Idealist and post volunteer opportunities that actually attract help — using what you learned from the volunteer’s side in the personal guide.

Tools

Verify the charity’s domain in Google Search Console so you can see how the site appears in Google, submit the sitemap, and catch indexing problems — with FFC adding the DNS verification record for you.

Tools

Create the charity’s Google Tag Manager container so analytics tags can be managed in one consent-aware place — GA4, Clarity, and future tools — without editing the website each time.