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Emails & Google Workspace
Via Google for Nonprofits, OCF is able to create free email boxes and Workspace accounts for hosted Collectives, with access to Google apps like Gmail, Docs, Drive, and Calendar.
Access to many Google services is free, but it costs money to set up email boxes with your own custom domain and get full access to Google Workspace. This is what we're able to offer Collectives for free.
You need to own your own domain name. If you don't have one yet, please go to your domain registrar of choice and purchase a domain. You can pay for this from your Collective's budget by submitting a reimbursement expense.
If your domain is already associated with another Google Workspace account, you need to remove it before we can add that domain to OCF's Workspace. This may cause a gap where emails to that domain will bounce during the transition.
Do we need a custom domain name?
Yes, your Collective needs to have its own domain name (e.g. coolCollective.com).
Can I set up free Gmail boxes myself?
Although being hosted by a 501(c)(3) gives your Collective access to that status through OCF, Google doesn't allow fiscally sponsored projects to sign up on their own, so OCF needs to set it up through our account. If you want to manage your own emails, we suggest signing up for free Gmail accounts, or paying for Google Workspace or another email service.
What's included with the account?
Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, and Google Docs.
The functionality to record meetings is not available in Google Workspace for Nonprofits.
What if someone forgets their password?
Email us the details and we can reset it for them. Same goes for any other email admin issue.
We already have emails, but want to sign up so they can be free.
That's fine! When we activate your new email boxes, emails sent to your existing email address will start coming to the new inboxes instead. Your past messages, contacts, etc will not be in your new inbox (but there are ways to export data from your old account to your new one).
What if we leave OCF?
If you set your domain name up yourself, you always retain access to change the DNS settings to a different email provider, including your own Workspace. If we set up the domain for you, we can transfer ownership to you when you leave, and you can set it up with any email service you wish. While you can't take your message history and contacts with you directly, you can export the data and import it to your new system.
Last modified 22d ago