Client: Nonprofit Organizations: Akron Community Foundation & MAGNET
The Challenge: Limited IT resources, growing user needs and a need for increased cybersecurity were deterring organization executives from focusing on the nonprofits’ missions.
The Solution: The nonprofits partnered with Keystone Technology Consultants to gain responsive, fully managed IT support that streamlined operations, enhanced cybersecurity and freed up their teams to focus on mission-driven work.
Nonprofits Leverage Managed IT With Keystone to Gain Greater Cybersecurity & Free Up Executives’ Time
Nonprofits often face budget constraints, growing technical needs and increased pressure to secure sensitive data.
Akron Community Foundation and MAGNET – two mission-driven organizations in Northeast Ohio – were facing these common challenges in their respective nonprofits.
Akron Community Foundation (ACF) is a nonprofit organization that helps generate enduring philanthropy through distributing funds. ACF does this by connecting donors to local nonprofits. The nonprofit helps distribute more than $15 million in donations, which can be shared through scholarship funds, grantmaking or affiliate funds.
MAGNET is a nonprofit organization that supports advanced manufacturing in Northeast Ohio. With about 70 employees, they do that by providing consulting services for engineering, sales, marketing and supply chain, as well as providing talent support (i.e., workforce development in the manufacturing sector).
While the missions of the two nonprofit organizations were different, the IT challenges were similar. Dealing with IT issues and projects was a roadblock to accomplishing their missions.
Both nonprofits needed to find a way to expand their IT team without incurring a hefty expense.
The Challenge: Maintain Cybersecurity with Limited Resources
Employees at nonprofit organizations wear a lot of hats.
While both ACF and MAGNET had a designated IT person on staff at one point, the limited internal IT personnel didn’t have the bandwidth to handle the needs of the growing nonprofit organizations. Nor did the nonprofits have the budget to hire a robust in-house IT team.
This became more complicated when the in-house IT professionals left, leaving a space that was filled by non-IT team members.
IT work was distracting from what these nonprofits did best: providing services and building relationships with their communities.
Staying on top of software updates and resolving IT issues, such as network, server and Wi-Fi outages, was too much of a burden on one person.
Plus, cybersecurity was a major concern for the nonprofits. They both had a high sensitivity for protecting donor information and financial data.
ACF
For ACF, the process of transitioning the constant influx of users into the system (including interns and seasonal staff) was time-intensive. They had outgrown their internal IT capacity and needed help scaling securely and maintaining uptime while managing significant growth in staff and donations.
MAGNET
For MAGNET, the loss of their in-house IT manager left their CFO handling IT responsibilities without technical experience and amid critical network upgrades.
The nonprofits needed a way to establish a smooth-running network that could help resolve IT issues quickly so that they could focus on relationships and services.
They needed a partner to help them get there – and they found that partner in Keystone.
The Solution: Offload IT Responsibilities to an Expert Partner
ACF was looking for a partner that could lighten the load on ACF staff. They needed a partner who was a great communicator and understood their mission.
MAGNET was focused on finding a partner that could provide technical expertise that could enable smoother-running networks and upgrades.
Keystone proved to be a hands-on partner for the nonprofits. Instead of relying on the back-and-forth of email support tickets, Keystone is quick to hop on a call so that they can resolve issues faster. The IT professionals at Keystone are personable and take time to answer the nonprofit employees’ questions.
With increased cybersecurity, both nonprofits have benefited from the added protection of having Keystone on their team. They have access to robust cybersecurity protections, including BitLocker, Huntress and secure file-sharing.
The fixed monthly price makes Keystone more affordable for nonprofits and helps simplify budgeting.
ACF
In ACF’s case, Keystone has been a crucial partner. Keystone created a disaster recovery solution plan to protect critical data. ACF’s staff describes Keystone as “approachable.” While the Keystone IT experts do most of the problem-solving, they have also trained and educated ACF’s team so they can solve some of the smaller issues on their own.
MAGNET
MAGNET initially partnered with Keystone through a co-managed IT plan. However, when its in-house IT professional left, MAGNET switched over to full management IT, trusting Keystone to handle all of its IT needs. Because of the existing partnership, the transition went smoothly.
Keystone has helped take big upgrade projects off of executives’ plates, including managing a Wi-Fi upgrade for MAGNET’s building.
The Results: Increased Cybersecurity & More Time to Focus on Their Respective Missions
With Keystone handling their IT needs, ACF and MAGNET have a trusted partner that supports their humanitarian efforts. They have been able to focus their energy on providing the goods and services their respective nonprofits excel at. Executive leadership has more time because they don’t need to put out IT fires.
The nonprofits now have a reliable IT infrastructure that scales with nonprofit growth, improved staff satisfaction and reduced tech-related disruptions.
ACF
At its core, service and people are what really matter to ACF. That’s why it was essential to have an IT partner who could clearly communicate and secure sensitive donor and financial data during crisis events. Keystone has repeatedly proven that they were the right partner to fulfill this need.
When a laptop was stolen from an employee’s car, the employee contacted Keystone’s 24/7 service on a Saturday, and Keystone responded within 15 minutes, shut down the laptop and searched for vulnerabilities. The quick responsiveness and continued monitoring prevented any breached systems and data leaks.
On another occasion, Keystone helped ACF quickly restore files that were lost when SharePoint went down.
MAGNET
With Keystone, MAGNET has recognized the smooth-running network they set out to achieve. They have reduced downtime and improved ticket responsiveness. MAGNET’s staff knows to contact Keystone first when they have an IT issue and trust they’ll receive an immediate response.
Also, because of Keystone’s extensive knowledge and work with nonprofits, Keystone was able to facilitate a Microsoft Teams license for MAGNET, helping save them more. Beyond IT, MAGNET has a partner that looks out for the overall success of their organization.
