Has anyone moved their chapter’s domain name to Google? We currently have hearinglosspen.org registered in GoDaddy.com and are looking at moving to gmail within Google Workspace. We don’t want to lose the domain name in order to keep our email addresses. 

https://help.tithe.ly/en/articles/3275983-setting-up-google-workspace-for-nonprofit-using-your-domain

Thank you Ann for the link. I will go read it next. 

I assume you mean apply through TechSoup? Not yet. I thought we needed an email address on Google first? This feels like a chicken and egg problem. What to do first? I figured “move domain to google, create new google ID, then apply to TechSoup with that Google ID to buy Google Workspace, then create new emails within for board members”. 

I’m flying blind. Maybe the info is in the link you provided? 

Jaynie Kind
Peninsula Chapter

Jaynie

Are you changing your domain registrar or changing the website host?

Your chapter's domain name belongs to you as long as you pay for it. It does not have to change with your host. The host is the company that provides the space and service for your website. As an example, one chapter purchased its domain name through GoDaddy (registrar). Their site was hosted through WordPress.com. They then decided to move their hosting to Bluehost and eventually made Bluehost their domain registrar (moving it from GoDaddy.) Through all this, Gmail provided their chapter's email service. 

Here is a link to an article on applying and initial setup for Workspace.

Google for Nonprofits YouTube Channel

Google Domains has an article on transferring your domain name to Google Domains. Again, you do not have to switch domain registrar to "keep" your domain name. It is yours until you stop paying for it or transfer the rights to someone else. Keep in mind that changing your domain registrar also entails issues with your website such as Domain Name Servers (DNS) which normally is not an issue. I was involved with a registrar change where there were SSL security issues that required assistance from the host. 
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Alan Katsura
akatsura@...
Moderator HLAA Tech Group

Thank you Alan, I think I’m beginning to understand that there’s no need to move our domain name to Google. That’s good to know.

After also reading the link Ann Thomas sent, it appears that our chapter just needs to be sure we qualify on TechSoup and get Google Workspace, then create email addresses in gmail. 

Right now I have emails being forwarded from GoDaddy’s email (Outlook on the web) to our key board members personal emails. 

The part I’m fuzzy on is once we set up Google Workspace email addresses to look like those on Godaddy ( info@..., membership@..., etc.) how to get emails to not go through GoDaddy but directly into GoogleWorkspace, and from there I can have emails forwarded to key board members. 

Still learning…and thanking everyone for sharing their knowledge,
Jaynie Kind
Peninsula Chapter

Thank you Alan for both Google Links. I’ll check them out. 

And I won’t worry about moving our domain name, that’s one less thing to worry about. 

Learning lots of new things today!
Jaynie Kind
Peninsula Chapter