Setting Up Microsoft 365 for Your Club

Overview

Rotary clubs in Australia can get Microsoft 365 Business Premium free for up to 10 users through the Microsoft nonprofit donation program. This gives your club professional email (yourname@rotaryclubname.org), shared calendars, Teams for meetings, SharePoint for document storage, and OneDrive for personal files.

The District IT team can help set everything up. This guide explains what is involved so your club knows what to expect.

What your club gets:

• Professional email addresses for board members and key members
• Shared mailboxes for club roles (club@, treasurer@, secretary@, president@) with no extra licence cost
• Distribution lists (members@, board@) for group email
• Branded email signatures with Rotary colours and your club logo
• A SharePoint site with a standard folder structure for administration, finance, membership, projects, events, marketing, and foundation
• Microsoft Teams with channels for general discussion, board business, projects, and social
• OneDrive personal storage for each user
• Full Microsoft Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)

Step 1: Check eligibility

To qualify for nonprofit Microsoft 365, your club must be a legally recognised nonprofit. In Australia, this means one of:

• A Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) endorsed by the ATO or listed by name in the tax law
• A charity registered with the ACNC (Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission)
• An income tax-exempt not-for-profit as defined by the ATO

You will also need:

• Your club's ABN
• An organisational email address (not a personal Gmail or Hotmail). If you do not have one yet, the District IT team can help
• A club president or secretary to be the applicant (Microsoft requires a named contact)

Step 2: Apply for nonprofit Microsoft 365

In Australia, nonprofit Microsoft 365 is accessed through Connecting Up, the authorised intermediary for Microsoft nonprofit subscriptions. Apply through Connecting Up rather than directly to Microsoft: standalone civic and fraternal clubs are often knocked back on a direct Microsoft application, but the Connecting Up nonprofit pathway is the route that works for Rotary clubs.

1. Go to connectingup.org and register your organisation
2. Upload the documents that confirm your nonprofit status (see Obtaining Microsoft 365 Nonprofit for the exact list)
3. Connecting Up verifies your eligibility (typically a few business days)
4. Once verified, request your Microsoft 365 Business Premium licences (10 free)

Step 3: Set up your custom domain

Once you have the M365 tenant, the next step is connecting your club's domain (e.g. rotaryclubname.org) so your email addresses look professional.

This involves:

1. Adding a verification record (TXT) at your domain registrar to prove you own the domain
2. Adding email records (MX, SPF, DKIM) so mail flows through Microsoft 365
3. Setting your custom domain as the default

The District IT team handles the technical DNS setup. Your club just needs to provide login access to your domain registrar (e.g. Crazy Domains, GoDaddy, VentraIP) or add the records yourselves with our guidance.

Step 4: Create user accounts

The IT team will create accounts for your board members and any other members who need one. Each user gets:

• A professional email address (firstname.lastname@rotaryclubname.org)
• A temporary password (must be changed on first login)
• A Microsoft 365 licence

An administrator account (administrator@rotaryclubname.org) is also created for tenant management. This account is not tied to any individual and stays with the club permanently.

What we need from you:

• A list of board members with their names, roles, personal email addresses, and phone numbers
• A list of any other members who need accounts
• Who should have admin access to manage the tenant going forward

Step 5: Set up email

Beyond individual accounts, the IT team sets up:

• Shared mailboxes for club roles (e.g. club@rotaryclubname.org, treasurer@rotaryclubname.org). These do not use a licence and can be accessed by multiple people. When a role changes hands, we update who has access. No passwords to hand over and no email history is lost
• Distribution lists for group email (e.g. members@rotaryclubname.org sends to all members, board@rotaryclubname.org sends to the board)
• Email signatures with Rotary branding, your club logo, and each member's name and role. These are deployed as roaming signatures so they appear across Outlook desktop, web, and mobile

Step 6: Set up SharePoint

Your club gets a SharePoint site for storing and sharing documents. The IT team provisions it with:

• Rotary colour theme (blue and gold)
• A standard folder structure covering administration, finance, membership, projects, events, marketing, and foundation/grants
• Permissions so all club members can access documents

Step 7: Set up Teams

Microsoft Teams replaces the need for Zoom or other meeting platforms. The IT team sets up:

• A club Team with channels for general discussion, board matters, projects, and social
• Meeting policies (lobby bypass for members, cloud recording)
• Guidance on setting up your recurring weekly club meeting as a Teams meeting

Security essentials

Once your tenant is set up, these security practices keep it safe:

• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is turned on by default for all users. Do not turn it off. MFA means that even if someone's password is stolen, they cannot sign in without the second factor (usually a phone prompt)
• Limit Global Administrators to 2 people. This role can change anything in the tenant, including deleting it entirely. The administrator@ account plus one trusted club member is enough. See Managing Admin Access for how to assign roles
• Do not give admin roles to guest accounts. Guest accounts use personal email addresses and are harder to secure
• Review guest accounts regularly. Only invite people who genuinely need access to your club's resources

Keeping your licence active

To avoid this:

1. Set a calendar reminder for 30 days before your renewal date
2. Make sure at least two people in the club know the renewal process
3. Renew through Connecting Up, the same channel you applied through

If your licence has already expired:

1. Re-apply for the nonprofit grant through Connecting Up
2. Once the new grant is approved, claim the licences
3. Contact the District IT team to reassign licences and verify everything is working

Your data (emails, documents, Teams messages) is retained for a period after the subscription expires, but you cannot access it until the licence is restored.

Annual changeover

At the start of each Rotary year (1 July), the IT team can help update your tenant to reflect new office bearers:

1. New accounts created for any incoming board members
2. Roles updated on existing accounts
3. Shared mailbox access transferred to new role holders (e.g. the new treasurer gets access to treasurer@)
4. Distribution lists updated with new membership
5. Email signatures redeployed with updated names and roles
6. Old accounts disabled for members who have left (their licence is freed up for someone else)

Contact the District IT team before or after your changeover meeting with the updated board list and we will take care of it.

Getting help

If your club is interested in getting Microsoft 365 set up, or if you are partway through the process and need assistance:

• Email the District IT team: support@rotary9660.org.au
• Check the Help Portal for guides on using M365 once it is set up: help.rotary9660.org.au

The IT team will walk your club through the entire process. Most setups take 1 to 2 sessions once the nonprofit application is approved.