Overview

Eligible nonprofits get Google Workspace for Nonprofits at no cost: real mailboxes on their own domain, plus Calendar, Drive, and Meet. We recommend it to any organization on our legacy email forwarding service.

The process has three parts: get the organization verified by Google for Nonprofits, activate Workspace and verify the domain, then move email over from TeamSideline forwarding. Plan on 1–3 weeks end to end, most of it waiting on verification.

What the org gets: up to 300 users to start (2,000 on request), 100 TB of pooled storage, and shared drives. Google Workspace for Nonprofits edition

Before you start

The organization must be a registered charitable organization; in the US that means 501(c)(3) status. Google excludes government entities, hospitals and healthcare organizations, and schools or universities. Eligibility

Municipal parks and rec departments are government entities, so they do not qualify. They can still use Google Workspace but it is not free.

Have these ready before applying:

• IRS determination letter and EIN
• Organization's physical address and phone number
• Organization's domain (for example, yourleague.org)
• Login access to wherever the domain's DNS is managed (registrar or DNS host)
• A Google account to act as the admin. Use a role-based email the org controls, not a board member's personal Gmail, so it survives board turnover
• A list of current forwarding addresses from Communications > Mail Administration > Mailboxes, so each can be recreated in Workspace

Step 1: Get verified by Google for Nonprofits

1. Go to Google for Nonprofits and click Get started.
2. Sign in with the admin Google account. That account becomes the administrator of the org's Google for Nonprofits account.
3. Enter the country, EIN, organization details, and contact info, then accept the Google for Nonprofits Additional Terms of Service.
4. Submit. The request routes to Goodstack, Google's verification partner, automatically; there is no separate Goodstack application.
5. Watch for email from verifications@mail.goodstack.org, including spam and junk. Goodstack often asks for the IRS determination letter or proof the applicant is affiliated with the org.
6. Wait for approval. Most requests are reviewed in 2–14 business days. Get verified by Goodstack

If the system says the org already has an account, a past board member likely applied. Request access through the prompts rather than starting a new account.

Step 2: Activate Workspace and verify the domain

Start this step only after Step 1 is approved. A Workspace trial started early does not convert to the free edition on its own, and it suspends when the 14 days run out. Goodstack help

1. Sign in to Google for Nonprofits with the admin account.
2. Under Google Workspace for Nonprofits, click Get started.
3. When asked whether the org already uses Google Workspace, choose No. This starts a 14-day no-cost trial.
4. Complete the Workspace signup using the org's domain. Create the first admin user, such as admin@yourleague.org.
5. Verify the domain: Google provides a TXT record. 
6. Add the TXT Record at the DNS host (or if TeamSideline manages this for you, send an email to support@teamsideline.com so we can do it). Once we verify, then click Verify in the Google Admin console.
7. Back in Google for Nonprofits, under Google Workspace for Nonprofits, enter the domain and click Activate. Activate Google Workspace for Nonprofits
8. Google reviews the activation within about 3 business days and emails the Google for Nonprofits admin address with the result.

The Google for Nonprofits account and the Workspace admin account are separate logins. Note both.

Step 3: Create mailboxes, then switch MX records

Order matters here. Changing MX records moves all mail for the domain to Google, which ends TeamSideline forwarding immediately. Every address must exist in Workspace first, or mail to it will bounce.

1. In the Google Admin console (admin.google.com), create a user for each address on the forwarding list from Before you start.
2. Use role-based names (president@, registrar@, treasurer@) rather than personal names. When a board member rotates off, reset the password and hand the account to the successor.
3. For addresses that only need to reach a group, such as coaches@, create a Google Group instead of a user.
4. Email support@teamsideline.com so we can replace the existing MX records with Google's MX record. AND the SPF Record. The Admin console shows the exact value during Gmail setup. (or if you host your own DNS, you would do this step).
5. Send a test message to each address from an outside account. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to take effect everywhere.

Mail already forwarded to personal inboxes stays there. Workspace starts with empty mailboxes unless the org imports old mail separately.

Step 4: Retire TeamSideline forwarding

Once test messages land in the new Workspace mailboxes, clean up the legacy setup.

1. Let TeamSideline know in your open support ticket when your email is working and we will retire your legacy forwarding service.

Site email (registration confirmations, schedule updates, announcements) is sent from TeamSideline and is not affected by this change.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Google also offers free 1:1 setup help for orgs already on Workspace for Nonprofits, through the Workspace for Nonprofits AI & Productivity Program. Program details

TeamSideline Support can walk orgs through the process at support@teamsideline.com. Google owns verification and activation; we can't speed up either.

Sources

• Google for Nonprofits
• Get verified by Goodstack
• Activate Google Workspace for Nonprofits
• Quick Start Guide for nonprofits
• Google Workspace for Nonprofits edition
• Goodstack: trial ended but application approved