Even as COVID-19 subsides, non-profit organizations will be more inclined to use virtual technologies to conduct their programming and business.

This blog considers the merits of a non-profit using Zoom, subsequent blogs discuss:

1. Freely Zooming in on Non-Profits (This Blog)
2. Setting Up Zoom (TOO MANY OPTIONS!)
3. Zoom for the Newbie
4. The Alpha Zoom & Other Tricks
5. Tony White’s Presentation Notes and Tricks on Using Zoom

But first, signing up for Zoom.

Zooming in on Elephants

Zoom is by far one of the most popular video applications and the above graphic clearly shows this… sort of. Missing from the comparison are Microsoft Teams and Google Meets. If you invited these two monsters to the party, Zoom would go from being the elephant to just another mammal in the room. Nevertheless, Zoom has brand recognition and thus is fixed in the consciousness of the market place [1, 2].

Larger organizations probably already own a Video service so much of the following will be a refresher. If your small non-profit is still borrowing an account, read on about how to purchase and use resource.

The Cost of a Zoom with a View

The cost of Zoom is not outrageous, about $200 per year [3]. it becomes cheaper the more licenses an organization buys. There is also a freebie option that most people and organizations should sign up for. Free meetings are limited to 40 minutes in length. In a perverse way, this time limit is a good thing – it can keep meetings short and sweet. Some of the pricing options include:

• FREE: Restricted to 100 participants and meetings less than 40 minutes.
• PRO: Restricted to 100 participants, group meetings less than 30 hours, $200 annually.
• BUSINESS requires the purchase of 10 or more licenses with a cost of $2,700+ annually.
• LARGE MEETING: 500-person add on/month (e.g. for an AGM), $67 monthly.

Zoom is thought of as a meeting venue. It is much more than that and has productivity features that an organization may want to evaluate if all staff members have a Zoom account. Of course, if you need this functionality then you may also want to evaluate what you already own via Microsoft Teams or Google Office.

Use One Email – But Don’t Tell Zoom

Access & Concurrent Use. After taking out your credit card, the next thing you will need is an email. If Zoom is for personal use, enter your preferred email (e.g. “Bob.Suruncle@ItsME.com“). If you are a small organization, using it primarily for meetings, consider setting up a dedicated Zoom email, for example: zoom@smallnon-profit.org. The upside is that the $200 can then be shared across multiple people in a time-sharing fashion. The downside is that this first account is the administrator’s account. You had better trust who you are sharing the details with before doing so. In addition, you will not be able to run concurrent or over-lapping meetings (e.g. meeting one is from 0900-1000h and meeting two is from 0930h-1030h on the same day).

If you have trust issues or multiple meetings, spend the extra $200 and buy more licenses. The first one can be the administrator and second+ for more general usage.

Is Zoom Time-Sharing Allowed. At this point you should know that this advice might be in contravention of the Zoom licensing. That is the bad news. The good news is that Zoom is getting something out of the deal, and your organization is becoming familiar with the tool which increases the cost to switch to a different application. If you are a small organization Zoom will probably never know, but there are no guarantees in life [4].

The Privilege of Zoom

Zoom is science fiction. Imagine it is 1961 and you talked about how you worked all day in your home office, met with people from across the globe and shared critical documents securely. It is worthy of the Jetsons [5]. Most Canadians can manage a Zoom call. If they don’t have a computer at home, the likely have a tablet or smart phone with enough oomph to participate. Most, but not all.

Can or Will NOT. Within the membership or clients of a non-profit there are likely to a minority that cannot or will not participate in a virtual meeting. Starting with the latter, these may be curmudgeons or, techno-phobic, for reasons of religion (do the Amish Zoom?), etc. This group is likely small and you will need to decide what they bring to your organization or client base on a case-by-case basis how to work around them.

Techno-poverty. The former group, those who cannot, is of more relevance. To start, not every family has a computer or their device may be borrowed from a school or under-powered. For example, the relatively new laptop I am writing on is great for most things but its graphic and sound cards are so anemic to be useless for web-conferencing.

If you are using Zoom to deliver programs or want to include all of your members (e.g. poor, elderly, etc.), then you will need to consider this issue. For example:

• Give a computer away. If the success of a family counselling session is technology-dependent, the $200-300 for Chrome book is probably worth working into the budget. This can raise their technical-literacy. Insert concerns about theft, technical support, misuse, loss, etc. here.
• Encourage device-sharing. Relatives, friends, libraries and other community resources can be used to share devices. This is preferred for the casual need of technology and where confidentiality is less critical.
• Partner and Collaborate. If your program is technology dependent, are there local schools or companies that may be willing to partner to provide and support the technology? This of course opens up a whole new level of complexity but may be worth pursuing [6].

Long Live Virtual Meetings

COVID-19 is creating an acceptance of of virtual meetings even in the most cyber-phobic non-profits. Like everything else, this is a good/bad thing. It is good that organizations can spin up a quick meeting and efficiently dispatch business without having to travel. It is bad in that one more element of human connection in the brave new world of social media-interactions is being lost. Ideally organizations will find a happy place and recognize tools such as Zoom for what they are – tools to be managed effectively.

If you want to become more proficient and professional in your Zooming, there are many resources on line. I have not described the benefits of a green screen, dedicated lighting, microphones, etc. Have I missed a Zoom trick? Leave me a note and provide your suggestion.

Notes and Further Reading

1. Gartner has a different take on the Video Meeting market place. If you have a Gartner account, see: “Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions; Published 12 October 2020 – ID G00451190“. If you don’t have a Gartner account, a bit of web-searching may help. The key take-away from this report is that Zoom is a leader in both Vision and Execution. However, CISCO and Microsoft are almost tied with Zoom in this respect.
2. There are numerous comparisons available on the web. One such comparison recommended is this one: Zoom vs Google Meet vs Microsoft Teams vs Webex Meetings vs BlueJeans – Techzine Europe.
3. All amounts are in CAD and based on pricing information at the time of writing, available: Zoom Video Conferencing Plans & Pricing | Zoom – Zoom.
4. I looked at Zoom’s Terms of Service and certainly there is nothing that clearly says ‘thou shall NOT’. Nor is there anything that says, we are cool with time-sharing your account but here are the risks. Feel free to read the legalize if you suffer from insomnia: Zoom – Legal & Compliance Resources.
5. The WHAT-sons? Obviously, you missed out on your Saturday morning TV. You can catch up here starting with: The Jetsons – Wikipedia.
6. One such organization is the Electronic Recycling Association.