Gainesville Nonprofit — Microsoft 365 Migration & Security Overhaul

An established Gainesville nonprofit serving the local community had accumulated technology debt over many years of operating on tight budgets. Staff were using a mix of personal Gmail accounts, a shared Google Workspace account, and an aging Windows Server that had not been updated in three years.

There was no consistent backup solution — the executive director had discovered during a board meeting that the organization's donor database existed only on a single aging laptop. The board's finance committee had raised cybersecurity concerns after reading about ransomware attacks on nonprofits nationally.

Grant applications increasingly required organizations to demonstrate basic cybersecurity controls — something the nonprofit could not honestly certify. A board member connected the executive director to Simply IT.

Simply IT began with an emergency backup of all critical data before any changes were made. Simply IT then applied for Microsoft 365 Nonprofit licensing — qualifying the nonprofit for deeply discounted licenses that cut per-user software cost by approximately 60%.

Migration of all email, files, and data from Google Workspace and personal accounts to Microsoft 365 was completed over a 48-hour weekend window with zero data loss. SharePoint was configured as the document management system with proper folder structure and access controls.

The aging server was decommissioned. Automated backup was deployed. MFA was enforced on all staff accounts. Simply IT provided the executive director with a cybersecurity posture summary document that the board accepted and has since been included in grant applications.

The nonprofit achieved a modern, secure, cloud-based technology environment at a significantly lower cost. The 60% reduction in software licensing freed up budget for program spending. The board's cybersecurity concerns were fully addressed.

The organization has since successfully referenced their technology posture in two grant applications. Simply IT continues to provide managed IT and security monitoring for the organization.