At Nonprofit Hub, we use Google for everything—and I mean everything. From our calendars, to our email accounts, to important documents and spreadsheets, Google is our best friend. And why wouldn’t it be? Google gives you virtually unlimited storage, easy sharing and compatibility with tons of apps and websites all for FREE.
While lots of other great sharing platforms exist, we like Google because pretty much anything you’d ever need to do on a computer falls under its big, convenient umbrella.
No, this isn’t an ad (but Google, if you’re reading, we’d gladly take your money); we just genuinely think their services work best for us, and it might for your organization, too!
Accessibility
One of the coolest things about using Google Drive is that all of your work is linked to a single account. That means you can access any of your files anywhere, whether you’re on your work computer, phone, laptop or tablet—as long as you have your login info and an internet connection, you’re set. This can be a lifesaver, as you no longer have to deal with transferring information between flash drives or emailing documents from computer to computer.
Collaboration
Pretty much every Google Drive platform (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar) allows you to work on documents simultaneously with your coworkers. If you share a document with multiple people and you all have it open at the same time, you can see the changes people are making in real-time, instant message with them and collaborate on projects without needing to meet in person. These features are particularly useful when editing drafts of articles, emails or any other piece of writing.
Compatibility
Google Drive also allows you to download documents in multiple formats, like PDF or its Microsoft Office equivalent, which means:
Docs→ Word (.docx)
Sheets→ Excel (.xlsx)
Slides→ PowerPoint (.pptx)
This makes it easy to share files with anyone, even if they don’t use Google Drive.
Google Drive also collaborates with apps like Slack, Canvas and various photo editors so you can upload your content without ever having to export them to a different format.
Organization
Another reason why Google Drive is great is that it gives you the ability to personalize how your information is sorted. You can click the “Drive” tab in your Google account to see all of your content together—whether it’s from Slides, Sheets or Docs, everything will show up in the same place.
Or, you can display documents from individual apps on their own page.
You then have the option to sort your information by what’s recent, what’s been shared with you, etc. This gives you a lot more flexibility in how your content is displayed than your average private server.
Storage
Finally, with Google Drive, you get 15 GB of space for free—significantly more than Dropbox (10 GB) and Box (2 GB). But if this still isn’t enough, you have the option of upgrading to 100 GB for just $1.99 a month.
Google Drive gives you a convenient portal to create, share and store everything your organization needs in one place, with the ability to access it from anywhere in the world. If your nonprofit is looking for a new way to manage and organize your work, this could be your answer!
