The Challenge
A growing charity was relying on outdated on-premise servers, had no backup strategy, and staff were using personal devices without any security policies.
When we first visited their office, the CEO walked us through the building and pointed at a desk in the back room. Underneath it, wedged between a box of leaflets and a broken chair, sat a tower server running Windows Server 2012. It was warm to the touch. “That’s everything,” she said. “If that goes, we’re finished.”
She wasn’t exaggerating. This regional charity had grown from a small team to over 30 staff and 50 volunteers across three locations, but their IT hadn’t moved an inch. There were no automated backups. When I asked about their backup strategy, the office manager opened a desk drawer and held up a USB stick. “I try to remember on Fridays,” she told me. There was no central email either, just a patchwork of personal Gmail accounts and a legacy Outlook setup that only half the team could access. Volunteers were using their own phones and laptops with no security policies in place. And their IT support? That was one of the caseworkers who happened to be good with computers.
The charity’s leadership knew they were sitting on a problem. They just had a tight budget and no idea where to start.
We provided pro-bono consultancy alongside heavily discounted implementation, working within the charity’s constraints. We broke it into phases so nothing disrupted their day-to-day work with service users.
Phase 1: Email and collaboration
First things first. We migrated everyone to Microsoft 365 using the charity licensing programme, which gave them:
- Professional email addresses on their own domain
- SharePoint for document storage and collaboration
- Teams for internal communication across all three locations
The reaction was immediate. One long-standing volunteer told us she was delighted to finally have a proper email address with the charity’s name on it, rather than sending things from her personal account. And when we got Teams running across all three sites, the CEO sat in on a test call between the offices and just said, “Why didn’t we do this years ago?”
Phase 2: Data and backups
Next, we tackled the server under the desk.
- Migrated all data from the ageing server to SharePoint and OneDrive
- Configured automated cloud backups with version history
- Decommissioned the on-premises server, eliminating a single point of failure
The day we switched that server off felt like a small milestone. We recycled it properly and the office manager got her desk space back. More importantly, nobody had to remember the Friday USB routine ever again.
Phase 3: Security basics
This was the phase that mattered most for long-term protection.
- Enforced multi-factor authentication across all accounts
- Set up device management policies for both staff and volunteer devices
- Created an acceptable use policy and ran basic security training sessions
- Configured alerts for suspicious sign-in activity
We kept the training simple and jargon-free. A few of the older volunteers were nervous about it, but once they realised it just meant an extra code on their phone at login, they were fine. The caseworker who had been handling IT was relieved to hand over the security side of things entirely.
Phase 4: Ongoing support
We set up a lightweight support arrangement so they would never have to rely on “the person who’s good with computers” again.
Monthly check-ins to review any issues
Priority email support for urgent problems
Quarterly security reviews
Zero data loss incidents since migration (previously averaging 2-3 per year)
70% reduction in IT costs by moving to charity-licensed cloud services
Staff satisfaction improved significantly. No more “the server is down” mornings
Volunteer onboarding reduced from 2 days to 2 hours with standardised device setup
Compliance with Charity Commission data handling requirements
Why this matters
I have a soft spot for charity work. These organisations do some of the most important work in our communities, often running on goodwill, tight budgets, and not nearly enough sleep. A security breach or data loss can be devastating for them. Not just operationally, but for the trust of the donors and service users they depend on.
Every charity deserves solid, secure IT infrastructure regardless of their budget. That is why we offer dedicated charity IT support at reduced rates, and pro-bono consultancy for the organisations that need it most.
If your charity needs IT support, get in touch. We will find a way to help.