Senior staff at Community IT share what happened in nonprofit IT in 2025: AI and non-AI. What tips and advice have you missed?

Top Nonprofit IT Stories of 2025

As is our tradition, we asked some of our senior staff to talk about the most important nonprofit IT stories of 2025. This year, Carolyn gave them two categories – something in AI – or something that might not have gotten as much attention because it wasn’t something in AI.

AI continues to be a really big story. It has been described as the water we are all swimming in, whether we like it or not. It’s going to be impacting all of us, and transforming every sector that nonprofits care about, in the coming years. Education, environment, government, health, privacy and advocacy, immigration, the economy – its easier to ask what issue will not be transformed in 2026 by AI because the answer is none.

And in addition to transforming the communities nonprofits care about, perhaps more immediately AI will be transforming the day-to-day work nonprofit staff do, in new and quickly evolving ways. Community IT will continue to be a trusted partner as you make AI decisions and learn AI tools for productivity and added value.

In addition to reflecting on AI or giving advice on AI tools, many of our staff members gave practical tips on changes to look for in 2026, from budgeting for increasing costs of laptops because of increasing costs of RAM storage (caused by AI needs!) to the increased security of Microsoft 365 login protections, to data protection considerations and updates to look out for, including Microsoft Archive.

Data security and the value of data to nonprofits will continue to be of high importance in 2026, as will the evolution of cybersecurity.

Finally, we know 2025 was very challenging to our nonprofit sector. With all of the changes our friends and colleagues are negotiating, we hope we can help nonprofit IT be the least difficult to manage.

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Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at cwoodard@communityit.com
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.

Are you the tech helper in your family? In your office?

Community IT intern Jack Woodard on lessons learned over years of helping less-tech-savvy people learn the technology they need to do what they need and want to do.

Takeaways on How to Be a Tech Helper

Be patient

• People who are having trouble with tech get very frustrated, and they also get very down on themselves for not being able to understand it. They aren’t setting out to be annoying or hard to deal with, but they can get very defensive or just have a lot of trouble following what you are asking them to do, especially if they have difficulty seeing or hearing.
• People having trouble with tech have a lot of anxiety around doing the wrong thing – especially with all the scams out there. But they also want to be participating – they don’t want to miss out. So taking all that into account when you interact with any staff member or family member is good practice to help meet them where they are.

Be a teacher, not a doer

• If the less-tech-savvy person in your life is struggling to use tech, doing it for them will reinforce that they are not capable. Instead, do a lot of listening. Identify the real problem (it may not be what they think is the issue.) Then walk the person through how to do it by asking them to do it while you stand by ready to help.
• Describe what they need to click on. Don’t use a lot of jargon.
• Have the person take notes, especially if they don’t use this particular app or do this particular thing every day. The next time they need to do it, they can refer back to their written instructions.
• If they are upset by updates that change things, consider teaching them to use keyboard shortcuts where available, because these change less frequently.
• Help them get organized and put the apps and tools they use most frequently where they can find them quickly at a glance. Organizing is deeply personal – so don’t impose your way of doing things on them. As a tech helper, follow their lead!
• Walk through each step with them. Most people will continue to do something “the way they learned how” indefinitely. Use that to your advantage if you want them to do it a new way. Make sure they have learned the steps and they will probably be able to repeat them time after time.
• Don’t forget accessibility features. Many people who struggle with tech may be hard of hearing or have difficulty seeing. Modern tech has lots of features to help, like strong contrast, screen readers, and hearing aids that can be connected to other devices directly.
• Microsoft Accessibility Knowledgebase
• Google Workspace Accessibility for Users (can also find the Accessibility Guide for Administrators)
• Mac Guide to Accessibility

Community IT seeks to provide trusted advice and guidelines for nonprofit tech helpers around the holidays and throughout the year. If you have questions on staying safe with technology, especially in the age of AI, it is better to ask someone than struggle alone.

_______________________________
Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at cwoodard@communityit.com
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.

What scams are circulating and how can you protect yourself and your organization?

Nonprofit Cybersecurity expert and Community IT CTO Matt Eshleman runs through common scams and new tactics that we are seeing at nonprofits and simple steps you and your staff can take at this time of year to be better protected.

Takeaways on Nonprofit Cybersecurity for the Holidays

Common scams

• “Your package couldn’t be delivered” … this email tries to get you to click on a link or respond in some way, using social engineering/helpfulness/urgency to trick you into helping a colleague or sorting out a problem with a package.
• “The Executive Director needs to purchase holiday gift cards for staff” … a variation on the “gift card” scam oriented towards the end of the year, holiday parties, gifts for donors or volunteers.
• Pop-up “your computer has been compromised, call this number” scam … often the pop-up can’t be closed (you should shut down and log back in, and alert someone on your actual IT help desk team.)

New Scams

• Spam bombs… followed by a helpful call from “the IT help desk” ... this scam will inundate your inbox with hundreds to thousands of spam email an hour. This scam tries to get the victim anxious at the spam attack and relieved when “the help desk” notices an increase in spam and reaches out to help.
• AI deep fake voice and video scams… growing in presence as the tools to create deepfakes become more available and affordable.

Protections Against Holiday Scams

• Stay suspicious, particularly at the end of the day before a holiday break and the week before that break.
• Be particularly suspicious of in-bound calls and new contact information at any time of year, but particularly around the holidays. Do not give your log in credentials or other information to someone who called or texted you, claiming to be from IT or your bank.
• Review your incident response plan, particularly your phone tree, before the holidays. Make sure you know who to call to report a suspicion or problem, and make sure that your point of contact has a substitute for when they are out of the office for the holidays. Who is “on call”?
• Have strong cybersecurity already in place. Strong passwords, MFA requirements, physical MFA keys for staff who are particularly targeted like your Executive Director and CFO, staff training on the importance of cybersecurity to protect your organization – maybe even a quick training on holiday scams to watch out for … taking proactive steps will give you peace of mind during your holidays.
• Do not be tricked into using a work-around. Always use your established procedures.
• Do report something, using your incident response plan. If you did click on something suspicious at 5pm on a Friday, use your response plan to report it immediately to the person on call for your cybersecurity.

Community IT seeks to provide trusted advice and guidelines for nonprofit cybersecurity safety around the holidays. If you have questions on cybersecurity assessments, staff training, incident response plans, or other cybersecurity topics, reach out and schedule a conversation or assessment with Matt.

_______________________________
Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at cwoodard@communityit.com
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.