Set up shared cloud storage for your charity
Organizational setupEmail & Workspace · about 20 min · Charity owners and admins organizing the team’s files
The personal guide scans documents into your own drive. This guide moves them into shared organizational storage — a Google Shared Drive or Microsoft SharePoint/OneDrive for Business — so files belong to the charity, not a person.
Files belong to the charity, not to a person’s account
A shared/Team drive means documents survive any one volunteer leaving, and access is granted by role. The charity’s records — formation papers, the IRS letter, finances — must never live only in an individual’s personal storage.
- 1
Create the shared drive
On Google, create a Shared Drive; on Microsoft, use the charity’s SharePoint site / Team files (created with the Microsoft 365 organization setup).
- 2
Build the folder structure
Mirror the personal guide’s structure at the org level: Formation & IRS, Board, Finances, Brand/Logos, Website. Move the documents you scanned personally into the shared drive.
- 3
Set permissions by role
Give each person access appropriate to their role (e.g. board members see Board and Finances; designers see Brand). Keep sensitive folders limited.
Share a link from the shared drive rather than emailing copies, so there’s always one current version.
Common questions
Why not just keep everything in my personal Drive?
Because the charity’s records would then depend on your account. A shared/Team drive keeps documents owned by the organization, accessible by role, and safe when people come and go.
Where do the documents I already scanned go?
Move them from your personal drive into the matching folders in the shared drive (Formation & IRS, Board, Finances, Brand). From then on, scan straight into the shared drive.
Next setup guides
Stuck on any step? Text Clarke Moyer at (520) 222-8104 — every step is meant to be simple, so if something doesn't match what you see, ask.