How designermakersCIO streamlined collaboration and governance with ONLYOFFICE DocSpace

The charity organization designermakersCIO from UK must balance impact with lean operations. That’s where ONLYOFFICE DocSpace comes in. Read this story to explore why they chose ONLYOFFICE, how they use it day to day, and the measurable benefits they’ve seen – from tighter document security and easier collaboration to a reduced administrative load and faster decision-making.

About designermakersCIO and designermakers21

designermakersCIO is a charity based in Diss, Norfolk, UK, on a mission to champion craft as a vital expression of human creativity. The following values guide every program and decision: integrity, inclusivity, excellence, and community.

Their home is the designermakers21 center which brings in visitors from across the region to learn from resident makers, watch public demonstrations, and browse (or buy) a wide range of high-quality craft work. The charity facilitates:

• artist studios, galleries, and workshop spaces for a community of makers;
• workshops and open-access events that develop traditional and contemporary craft skills;
• educational opportunities designed to inspire creativity across East Anglia and beyond.

The organization’s charitable objects focus on promoting, improving, and advancing education in arts and craft through hands-on learning. With trustees overseeing governance and operations, reliable digital collaboration is essential for keeping projects and compliance on track.

The challenge: secure, collaborative work without extra overhead

Before adopting ONLYOFFICE, designermakersCIO faced a familiar nonprofit challenge: how to share, edit, and approve documents among trustees without constant email chains, version confusion, or security risks. They wanted:

• a non-proprietary, collaborative office suite;
• strong security assurances for legally sensitive documents stored online;
• simple access for trustees without the need to send large email attachments;
• a way to collaborate on drafts, comment, and track changes;
• the ability to roll back edits if an error slips through.

With limited administrative support, any tool they adopted had to be simple to learn and light on maintenance while supporting the full document lifecycle.

One of the trustees knew about ONLYOFFICE DocSpace and recommended it as a fit for the charity’s needs. During evaluation, security was the deciding factor. Storing compliance and governance documents online required clear, credible answers about data protection and access control. ONLYOFFICE delivered the assurances they needed, while also offering a familiar, feature-rich editing experience built for collaboration.

ONLYOFFICE DocSpace in day-to-day use

designermakersCIO centralizes trustee documents in ONLYOFFICE DocSpace so every board member can access the latest versions without hunting through emails. This simple shift has removed a major source of friction.

Here’s how the trustees work together inside DocSpace:

• Centralized storage for board materials. Trustees keep essential documents such as policies, minutes, plans, and compliance files in shared rooms. Everyone knows where to find the latest version.
• Collaborative drafting. They co-edit draft documents in real time, use tracked changes, and add comments on content and syntax. This speeds up policy development, funding applications, communications, and meeting documents.
• Targeted attention with secure links. When a document needs review, a trustee can share a link rather than attaching a file. This reduces inbox clutter and ensures everyone views the same version.
• Version history and rollback. If an error is introduced, they can revert to an earlier version. This gives the team confidence to collaborate freely without the fear of losing work.
• Access without an admin bottleneck. Because there’s no secretary or paid admin, each trustee can self-serve, so finding, reviewing, and updating documents when needed, which keeps projects moving between meetings.

The result: less time spent managing files and more time focused on delivering value to makers and the community.

Marco Rayment, Trustee, Treasurer:

ONLYOFFICE has opened up a world of possibilities for the board of Trustees; collaborative editing has meant we can build essential documents without having to hold face to face meetings. We can share compliance documents securely and pre-meeting documents can be accessed by all Trustees prior to meetings. We now have more time to concentrate on the things that matter.