Helping out with modernization.
Volunteering often starts small. In my case, it started with my youngest son. He’s a fencer at a local fencing club with over 100 years of history and a lot of heart.
As I spent more time around the club, I noticed something. Despite all the passion a lot of the behind-the-scenes work was still being done the old-fashioned way. Hundreds of emails being sent back and forth to manage a simple “Try Fencing” event. One person receiving all the signups, manually transferring names onto a paper form, then cross-checking availability with a separate list… and all of this coordinated through a shared email alias that blasted the same messages to eight or nine other people at once. Board members and coaches alike.
Honestly, just watching it happen made my head spin a little.
Later I found out that after each event, all the participant data also had to be entered into a digital system just so the club could report back to the county and apply for grants.
Somewhere along the way, I couldn’t help but think: “There has to be a better way to do this….”
Helping a local club go digital.
I offered to help. I started volunteering at the club to learn a bit about how things worked behind the scenes to really understand where the challenges were.
Once I had a better sense of how everything was running, I introduced the idea of Microsoft’s “Tech for Social Impact” non-profit program to a board member and explained how it could help. We applied together, and the great news is that the application was approved!
I have to admit, I was pretty excited when we got the confirmation.
Now the real work begins. Helping the club move into the cloud with Microsoft 365.
It’s not just about using new technology for the sake of technology. It’s about making their daily operations smoother, reducing the administrative burden on the volunteers, and ultimately allowing everyone, especially the coaches, to focus more on the fencers.
Why digitalization matters for non-profits.
For small non-profits like this fencing club, digitalization can make a big difference. It’s about efficiency, cost savings, and freeing up precious time that would otherwise be spent sorting paperwork or wrangling inbox chaos.
With limited budgets and volunteer-driven operations, every minute and every resource counts. Manual processes, like maintaining paper sign-up sheets, chasing email threads, or updating handwritten rosters, might work for a while, but over time they create bottlenecks. Mistakes happen more easily. Important tasks fall through the cracks. And ultimately, a lot of energy gets pulled away from the organization’s real purpose.
By moving to cloud-based tools like Microsoft 365, the club can simplify and automate many of the tasks that used to eat up valuable time. Sign-ups can flow directly into organized lists. Communication happens in real time, without endless back-and-forth emails. Grant reporting can pull from structured, easily accessible data instead of digging through piles of notes.
It’s not just about making things a little easier. It’s about modernization that lets the club grow, adapt, and stay focused on what really matters: teaching, training, and inspiring new generations of fencers.
And honestly, having fewer paper forms floating around sounds like a win for everyone involved.
What’s Next?
Over the coming months, I’ll be helping them set up their new Microsoft 365 environment. That includes:
- Setting up their Teams platform for collaboration
- Migrating to Exchange Online for email
- Configuring SharePoint and OneDrive for document management
- Configure Intune and Autopilot
- Setting up Microsoft Bookings so newcomers can easily self-register for classes, saving the staff time and reducing the amount of manual coordination needed
- And a few other “trimmings” to make it all fit together smoothly…
But rolling out technology is only half the journey. Once the systems are in place, I’ll also be working closely with the club and volunteers to train, mentor, and support them, helping them feel confident and independent in managing everything on their own. I know this implementation will take some time, after all, it’s a non-profit, and it’s run by volunteers who generously give their evenings and weekends. Sometimes you need to use baby steps to get where you are going.
The goal isn’t just to build a better system. It’s to build a stronger, more self-sufficient club. One that, hopefully, will continue to grow for another 100 years.
If you get a chance to volunteer, do it!
Volunteering is one of the best ways to give back to your community. When you get the chance to combine that with something you’re genuinely passionate about, like helping organizations succeed with Microsoft 365, it feels even more meaningful.
It’s funny, you don’t realize how much you take certain tools for granted until you see how much impact they can have on a smaller organization.
For me, this project is a big win. A way to use my skills to make a real difference, not in some distant place, not for a big corporation, but right here in the local community my family is part of.
And, who knows, maybe I’ll start fencing as well, they say it’s never to late to start!
