1Password

WHAT IT DOES

• Centralized password management. One secure vault for all of your organization’s logins — donor CRM, email, social media, banking, fundraising platforms. No more shared spreadsheets, sticky notes, or texting passwords.

• Access control. Grant and revoke access by person and by role. When a staff member leaves, you turn off their access in one place instead of changing 50 passwords.

• Shared vaults for teams. Different vaults for different teams or functions — so your development staff sees what they need and your finance team sees what they need, without everyone having access to everything.

WHY WE RECOMMEND IT

• We use it ourselves. 1Password is part of our organizational infrastructure. It’s foundational cybersecurity that nonprofits often delay because it doesn’t feel urgent — until it is.

• This isn’t about choosing between options. It’s about having any solution in place. If your organization doesn’t have a centralized password vault, that’s a problem. 1Password is the one we’d recommend to solve it.

• Widely trusted. 1Password is consistently rated as one of the most secure and well-designed password managers available. Strong compliance credentials and a reputation that gives boards and funders confidence.

BEST FIT

• Any nonprofit without a password vault. This is a must-have. If you have more than 2–3 people using shared systems, you need centralized password management.

• Organizations with staff turnover. The ability to revoke access instantly when someone leaves is the single most practical security improvement most nonprofits can make.

• Orgs handling sensitive data. If you manage donor information, beneficiary data, online giving accounts, or multiple social channels, the risk of an avoidable breach isn’t theoretical.

WHEN THIS ISN’T THE RIGHT FIT

• You already have a password manager. If you’re using LastPass, Bitwarden, or Dashlane and it’s working, switching probably isn’t worth the disruption.

HOW IT FITS THE LANDSCAPE

• The standard recommendation. Among nonprofit tech consultants and cybersecurity advisors, 1Password is consistently one of the top recommendations for small and mid-size organizations.

• Nonprofit pricing available. 1Password has a history of nonprofit and education discounts. Many nonprofits are on discounted plans — ask or go through partners.

BOARD-READY CASE

• Direct risk reduction. A password vault eliminates the most common and most preventable cybersecurity risk for small organizations — shared, reused, or unmanaged credentials.

• Staff transition security. When someone leaves, their access is revoked in one place. No more hoping you remembered to change every password.

• Compliance posture. Increasingly, funders and partners ask about cybersecurity practices. Having a centralized vault is a baseline expectation.

DISCLOSURE

Full transparency: if you sign up through this page, Proimpact earns a referral fee — and that’s exactly how we keep all of our content, workshops, and community resources free for nonprofit EDs. We only recommend tools we genuinely believe in.