In Part 2 of the Securing Google Workspace for Nonprofits webinar podcast, Carolyn Woodard and Steve Longenecker, Director of IT Consulting at Community IT, move from foundational configurations into the question every nonprofit eventually asks: do we need to pay for a higher tier of Google Workspace to get real security?

The short answer is: probably not right away. Steve walks through the third-party tools that should come before a tier upgrade for most nonprofits: formal security awareness training, third-party backups, advanced email protection, and cloud monitoring. 

He explains when a paid Google Workspace tier does make sense, particularly for organizations handling financial or healthcare data, legal holds, or complex app integrations. 

The conversation closes with a lively Q&A session drawn from attendee questions and poll results, covering oversharing in Google Drive, data loss prevention, password strength visibility in the admin console, and how to give staff secure, convenient ways to do their jobs without creating unsecured workarounds.

Haven't listened to Part 1 yet? Find it in your podcast feed.

This episode covers:

• Why third-party tools for security awareness training, backups, and advanced email protection are the right next layer for most nonprofits, before considering a paid Google Workspace tier.
• When upgrading to a paid tier does make sense: handling sensitive financial or healthcare data, e-discovery and legal holds via Google Vault, or managing frequent third-party app integrations.
• Nonprofits still receive significant discounts on paid Google Workspace tiers -  you just won't get them for free.
• You can find out which staff members have and haven't set up two-step verification before you enforce it so no one gets locked out unexpectedly.
• Making security convenient matters as much as making it mandatory: if IT makes it too hard for people to do their jobs, staff will find workarounds.

Resources Mentioned:

• Google for Nonprofits Security Checklist — Google — https://support.google.com/nonprofits/answer/9251886
• Google Workspace Security Checklist for Small Organizations — Google — https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/security/security-checklist-for-small-businesses-1-100-users
• Google Workspace Security Checklists (all sizes) — Google — https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/security/security-checklists
• Cybersecurity Readiness for Nonprofits Playbook — Community IT Innovators — https://communityit.com/cybersecurity-readiness-for-nonprofits-playbook/
• Nonprofit Data Retention with Ian Gottesman — Community IT Innovators Podcast — https://communityit.com/podcast-nonprofit-data-retention-with-ian-gottesman/
• Cybersecurity Resource Hub — NTEN — https://www.nten.org/learn/resource-hubs/cybersecurity
• Nonprofit IT Management Community — Reddit — https://www.reddit.com/r/nonprofitITmanagement
• Webinar: AI Maturity Model for Nonprofits - Community IT Innovators - https://communityit.com/webinar-ai-maturity-model-for-nonprofits/

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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 [email protected]
• on LinkedIn 
• on reddit/r/nonprofitITmanagement
• on the Community IT website

Thanks for listening.