With the Auth0 Nonprofits program, your nonprofit can deliver digital authentication and authorization to your donors, members, volunteers, and community. From improving stakeholder experience through seamless sign-on to making multi-factor authentication (MFA) as easy as a click of a button – your nonprofit’s login box must find the right balance between user convenience, privacy, and security. Nonprofits need to be able to deliver convenient user experiences while managing and securing stakeholder identities. This is where Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) comes in. 

Why CIAM matters for nonprofits

Whatever your mission, CIAM is the digital infrastructure that lets you securely and conveniently engage with your communities. 

An effective CIAM solution provides: 

• User registration: to allow your users to sign up (e.g., through a login box) and create the behind-the-scenes user record for all community users

• Authentication: to ensure the community members logging into accounts are who they say they are, using one or more factors

• Authorization: to help organizations provide community members with the appropriate level of access to information and resources once they’ve logged in

• Identity management: to enable stakeholders and administrators to make updates and changes to users’ data and access.

In an Identity context, “friction” refers to anything that slows down a person’s interactions with your service. Some friction during these interactions is necessary to establish trust and provide security controls, but the more friction involved in an interaction, the greater the user’s frustration.

In other words, CIAM is at the heart of enabling and securing the digital interactions that have become so essential for nonprofits to meet the many needs of their end-user community. 

The accessibility imperative

While friction is an inconvenience for many users, for others, it can present significant impediments that prevent them from accessing your services.

Unfortunately, accessibility is often prioritized far below other factors, resulting in designs that some consumers struggle to use. Consider disabilities like vision, cognitive impairment, or limited motor function, and imagine trying to navigate a cumbersome authentication flow that requires the user to remember a long, complex password. Or imagine how a user unfamiliar with technology would respond to a message asking them to download an app and configure push notifications or how a user for whom English is a second language would navigate a complicated signup procedure.

With a modern CIAM solution, it should be easy to create accessible authentication flows that reduce friction, allowing nonprofits to reach all community members to navigate digital applications and access services.

Safeguarding user and organization data

Nonprofits often handle large volumes of sensitive user data, including personally identifiable information (PII) of community members — many of whom are already vulnerable or persecuted — and financial details (e.g., credit card information from donors).

Unfortunately, they often lack the resources to invest in a strong cybersecurity posture. In combination, these two factors make nonprofits prime targets for cybercriminals.

Implicit within the four essential features of CIAM is that a modern solution should include strong defenses that prevent unauthorized users from accessing user accounts and data, including taking over user accounts to access services or other privileges fraudulently.

Why Auth0

Integrating an existing CIAM solution, like Auth0, is a fast, secure, and cost-effective way to meet your nonprofit’s Identity needs.

• Saving time - Auth0 allows organizations to quickly implement the required functionality while freeing internal technical personnel to focus on other needs.

• Saving money - Building Identity functionality requires considerable expertise. Once built, Identity capabilities need to be maintained and extended while technologies continue to evolve, which introduces an added and ongoing cost burden.

That’s why we’re proud to offer eligible nonprofits 50% off self-service and enterprise Auth0 plans, so you can leave all of this to us. 

Helping nonprofits just like you

As the leading independent Identity partner, we strive to be a catalyst for nonprofits enacting change at the intersection of humanity and technology.

Auth0 offers:

• Up to 25,000 monthly active users on Auth0's free plan

• Over 60 social and Identity provider connections to make it easy for community users to register and sign in

• Easily customizable and brandable sign-up and login interfaces and flows so community users recognize your brand and enjoy consistent and convenient experiences

• Broad support for open standards that contribute to interoperability and security, including OIDC, SAML, FIDO, OAuth, and more

• Extensive compliance with regulatory requirements that apply to nonprofits, from HIPAA for health information to PCI for financial data

• Enterprise-grade security features to help protect your organization and your community

We’re with you every step of your Identity journey, from getting started to meeting your evolving needs. 

See for yourself

Want to experience the difference Auth0 can make for your mission and community?

If your nonprofit doesn’t have internal development personnel, Auth0 has nonprofit service delivery specialization partners (BeyondID, Cloudworks) who can offer further assistance through their own special programs.