Running a nonprofit board from Microsoft 365

A nonprofit board can run on Microsoft 365. Set up one team in Microsoft Teams for the board, add directors as guests, keep every document in that team's files, and send each packet as a single link. It stops working when you need votes between meetings, follow-up on action items, or a record of who approved what.

What Microsoft gives a nonprofit for free

Eligible nonprofits get Microsoft 365 Business Basic as a grant, free for up to 300 users. As of November 2026 it includes the web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, Teams for chat, calls and meetings, and 1 TB of cloud storage per user. SharePoint adds shared storage for the organization: 1 TB plus 10 GB for each license.

Two limits matter for a board. Basic doesn't include the desktop Office apps. Those start with Business Standard, at $3.50 per user per month on nonprofit pricing. And Microsoft says the granted licenses are for paid employees and unpaid executive staff, so directors usually don't get one unless they also work at the organization. They join as guests, which costs nothing.

The setup

1. Create one team called Board

Make it a private team. Each team comes with its own SharePoint site, which is where the files are stored. If your staff don't use Teams, you can create a SharePoint site directly and follow the same steps.

2. Add directors as guests

Microsoft says anyone with a business or consumer email account can be a guest, and a guest needs no extra license. Before you start:

• Guest access is an organization-wide setting, so your Microsoft 365 administrator may need to turn it on first.
• A director who signs in with Gmail or another outside address may be sent a one-time passcode by email instead of using a password.
• It can take up to 12 hours after you add someone before they can get in.

3. Use a folder layout anyone can guess

In the team's Files tab:

• 01 Governance: bylaws, articles of incorporation, IRS determination letter, board policies
• 02 Meetings: one subfolder per meeting, named by date, like 2026-11-18 Board meeting
• 03 Approved minutes: final PDFs only, one per meeting
• 04 Finance: budgets, audits, Form 990s
• 05 Committees: one subfolder per committee
• 06 Board roster: current directors, terms, contact details, conflict-of-interest forms
• 07 New director materials: what a new director should read first

4. Start every file name with the date

A name like "2026-11-18 Agenda" sorts into date order on its own. "Agenda FINAL v3" leaves people guessing which file is current.

5. Send the packet as one PDF with one link

Combine the agenda, the last minutes and the reports into a single PDF, put it in that meeting's folder, and email directors the link a week ahead. Don't rely on a post in the Teams channel. Directors who are guests may not check Teams between meetings.

6. Separate draft minutes from approved minutes

Draft in Word inside the meeting folder. Once the board approves them, save a PDF to Approved minutes. Treat that folder as the board's official copy.

7. Track action items in one place

An Excel sheet in the Files tab can work: the item, the owner, the due date and the status. Review it at the start of every meeting.

8. Remove directors properly when they leave

Removing someone from the team does not remove their guest account. Microsoft notes that a guest's account stays in your organization's directory until an administrator removes it. Add that step to your offboarding list.

Where it stops working

Signing in is the hard part for directors. Staff use Microsoft 365 every day. A director with a Gmail address may open it only around meetings, as a guest, and may already have a Microsoft account from their own job. Getting stuck between two accounts can be enough to make a director give up and ask for an attachment.

Nobody gets chased. The action item sheet only works if someone opens it and sends the reminders. In a small nonprofit that is often the executive director or their assistant.

Votes between meetings have no home. Microsoft Forms or a poll in Teams can collect answers, but that alone doesn't make it a valid board vote. In many states a board can act outside a meeting only by unanimous written consent. Check your bylaws and state law before counting a poll as a vote, and read our page on board votes by email. This is general information, not legal advice.

There is no record of who approved what. Version history shows who edited a document. It doesn't show that the board approved the minutes on a given date or that the chair signed off on the agenda.

It can't tell you what is missing. One nonprofit leader told us that nonprofits often don't know what they don't know. A folder won't mention that two conflict-of-interest forms never came back or that a state filing is due next month.

When Microsoft 365 is enough

I'd stay on it if your staff already work in Teams, the board is small and meets quarterly, votes between meetings are rare, and one organized person keeps the files in order.

I'd move when directors keep asking for the packet as an attachment because they can't get in, or when the same action items stay unfinished meeting after meeting.

If you outgrow it

Karma Compass has a Free plan. It includes unlimited board members, unlimited document uploads, voting, RSVPs with quorum tracking, and four meetings a year. Directors RSVP, vote and open the packet from links in their email, with no account or password. If a director accepts the meeting invitation in Outlook, Compass records that as their RSVP.

The Pro plan is $99 a month for the whole board, whatever its size. It adds drafted agendas and minutes, and five playbooks: checks that run on a schedule and flag things like missing conflict-of-interest forms, board terms about to end, or minutes still waiting for approval. One of them reminds action item owners before their work is due. If you move to Pro, our team will help you bring your board documents over from SharePoint or OneDrive.

Staff can keep their files in SharePoint and use Compass only for the board's meetings, votes and follow-up.

See what the Free plan includes

Sources

• Microsoft 365 plans and pricing for nonprofits: the Business Basic grant, what it includes, who granted licenses are for, and Business Standard pricing. Read 12 November 2026.
• SharePoint limits: organization storage of 1 TB plus 10 GB per license. Read 12 November 2026.
• Guest access in Microsoft Teams: who can be a guest, licensing, one-time passcodes, the 12-hour delay, and removing guest accounts. Read 12 November 2026.