1. Learning Management Systems
Navigating the What, Why, and When for Nonprofits

2. Legal Disclaimer
The information included herein should never be used as a substitute for an organization’s technical and/or operational judgment and does not
represent an official position of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. or its affiliates. This information is provided on an "as is" basis without warranty of
any kind, express or implied.

3. What is a Learning Management System?
• A software application for the administration, documentation,
tracking, reporting, automation, and delivery of educational
courses, training programs, or learning and development
programs
• Has tools that let you track how users move through
the eLearning content.
• Has tools that let learners interact with the content and each
other— which is key
1

4. Why a Learning Management System?
Personalized Learning/
Learn at Own Pace
Experimental
Learning
Content
Standardization
Increased Productivity/
Gamification
Reduced Training Costs
(Materials, Equipment, Trainers)
Real-Time Access
& Updates

5. Possible Use Cases
Learning for Students or Other
Constituents
Training for Employees
or Volunteers
Need to Reduce
Training Costs

6. Use Case 1
• Ability to easily track and monitor a student’s progress at any time. Several Learning Management Tools
include reporting and analytics tools for instructors
• Students can access materials centrally at any point in time
• Learning Management Systems often include tools that can help facilitate social interactions and
collaborations through integrated forums or instructor notification features
• Opportunity to easily include a variety of media types such as videos, quizzes, audio, and text to keep
students engaged
Learning for Students or Other
Constituents
Your organization would like to offer your constituents online homeownership education and financial-wellness
courses. You are looking for a tool that allows you to integrate summaries, videos, slides, quizzes,
assignments, and various other features in a central location.
LMS Advantages

7. Use Case 2
Your organization relies on hundreds of volunteers that need to be trained to ensure that they understand basic
practices on safety and security and additional training is required for each role they may wish to fill. Currently,
your volunteers must be trained when they arrive at the volunteer site which significantly reduces the amount of
time they have for volunteer work.
• Training remotely helps improve efficiency and convenience factors for trainers and trainees
• Policy or procedure changes can easily be made and communicated to users
• Ability to track affirmations and certification for compliance purposes through assignments or assessment
tools
• May offer greater flexibility in accommodating employees and volunteers with assistive support needs
Training for Employees
or Volunteers
LMS Advantages

8. Use Case 3
Your organization is scaling its community advocacy workshops and needs to scale training to more advocates
while maintaining low costs without compromising on providing and delivering quality content. You also do not
expect to receive additional resources to hire additional trainers or purchase additional physical materials to
help facilitate these workshops.
• Standardized features of systems reducing manual effort maintain and updating materials, leading to time
savings
• Reduced need to have multiple trainers leading multiple workshops
• Reduced or eliminated costs of travel and physical materials for in person or classroom training
Need to Reduce
Training Costs
LMS Advantages

9. Choosing a Learning Management System
Security Functionality
Accessibility Efficiency &
Compatibility
 The LMS selected needs to be able to serve organizational
goals.
 Is there a need to certify or test the user?
 What is the ease of transferring existing content
into the LMS?
 Will the LMS need to work across a wide
variety of operating systems?
 Do you expect the LMS to be able to be
used across multiple platforms (Mobile, PC,
Tablet)?
 Do you need to protect individual profile data or
Personal Identifiable Information (PII) like ID numbers,
addresses, or names?
 Do you need periodic prompts for users to
change their passwords?
 What level of ID and password protection do you
need?
 Are there any accessibility requirements that
your users will need?
 Will you need the LMS to have specific assistive
technologies?
 Examples: Text-to-speech, Speech Recognition, High
Contrast Color Options, Screen Magnifier
DEFINE YOUR
REQUIREMENTS
Distinguish between Must-have and Nice-to-have capabilities
 What is the ease of creating new content in the
LMS?

10. Learning Management Systems Comparison Matrix
TIP: Many LMS software companies offer reduced or special rates for non-profit organizations. It never hurts to ask!
Definitions
Basic information on the LMS
LMS tool
Takes into consideration time to market,
market, what type of skills are required to
required to implement and support, ease of
ease of user interface, ease of creating
content
Multi-platform
support: Mobile,
tablet, personal
computer
What is the extent of the products capabilities
capabilities to customize learning paths, tip
tip sheets, online videos, knowledge checks/
checks/ testing, self-directed learning, multi-
multi-lingual, gamification?
User tracking and reporting &
analytics
What are some of the
the cost
considerations
(licensing,
infrastructure,
support)?
Atutor
(Open Source)
Atutor is "an Open Source LMS,
used to develop and manage
online courses and to create
and distribute interoperable
eLearning content."
Higher complexity to implement and support,
simple interface
Web-based only Extensive customization options Available tracking
No cost for licensing or
support, possible costs
for infrastructure
EasyLMS
Easy LMS is all about "No
technical skills needed."
Low complexity, extensive support network,
easy to create content, extensive existing
content
Web-based only
Extensive customization options, integration with
other systems
Available tracking
Monthly fees for service,
infrastructure included
Edsby
"Edsby is the most
comprehensive digital learning
and data system available for K-
12"
Low complexity, extensive support network,
easy to create content, extensive existing
content
Web-based only
Extensive customization options, integration with
other systems
Available tracking
Contact Edsby for
licensing fees
Google Classroom
Google Classroom "aims to
simplify creating, distributing,
and grading assignments in a
paperless way."
Higher complexity to implement and support,
simple interface
Multi-platform
support: Mobile,
tablet, personal
computer
Extensive customization options Available tracking
No cost for licensing or
support, possible costs
for infrastructure
LMS PRIMARY
SOURCE
OVERVIEW COMPLEXITY FLEXIBILITY COMPLIANCE COST
FUNCTIONAL RICHNESS
Note: This is just a sample of hundreds of Learning Management Systems that exist on the market. Please research LMS options that may best fit your organization and use case.

11. TIP: Many LMS software companies offer reduced or special rates for non-profit organizations. It never hurts to ask!
Definitions
Basic information on the LMS
LMS tool
Takes into consideration time to market,
market, what type of skills are required to
required to implement and support, ease of
ease of user interface, ease of creating
content
Multi-platform
support: Mobile,
tablet, personal
computer
What is the extent of the products
capabilities to customize learning paths, tip
paths, tip sheets, online videos, knowledge
knowledge checks/ testing, self-directed
directed learning, multi-lingual,
gamification?
User tracking and reporting &
analytics
What are some of the
the cost
considerations
(licensing,
infrastructure,
support)?
Moodle
(Open Source)
Moodle states they are "the
world's most popular learning
management system".
Low complexity, extensive support network,
easy to create content, extensive existing
content
Multi-platform support:
Mobile, tablet, personal
computer
Extensive customization options Extensive available tracking
No cost for licensing or
support, possible costs
for infrastructure
Open edX
(Open Source)
Open EDX aims to "deliver
inspiring learning experiences
on any scale."
Low complexity, extensive support network,
easy to create content, extensive existing
content
Web-based only
Extensive customization options, integration
with other systems
Available tracking
Contact Open edX for
licensing fees
Schoology
Through their PowerSchool,
Schoology is "supporting over
45 million students in over 80
countries.”
Higher complexity to implement and support,
simple interface
Multi-platform support:
Mobile, tablet, personal
computer
Extensive customization options, integration
with other systems
Available tracking
Contact Schoology for
licensing fees
TalentLMS
TalentLMS is all about "ease
and convenience“ and promises
"effective eLearning".
Low complexity, extensive support network,
easy to create content, extensive existing
content
Multi-platform support:
Mobile, tablet, personal
computer
Extensive customization options, integration
with other systems
Available tracking
Monthly fees for service,
infrastructure included
Learning Management
System
OVERVIEW COMPLEXITY FLEXIBILITY COMPLIANCE COST
FUNCTIONAL RICHNESS
Note: This is just a sample of hundreds of Learning Management Systems that exist on the market. Please research LMS options that may best fit your organization and use case.
Learning Management Systems Comparison Matrix (Continued)

12. Change Management
While you are exploring different Learning Management Systems, it is important to secure buy-in from your
various stakeholders and have a change management plan for transitioning to the LMS:
• Identify your stakeholders and communicate why transitioning to an LMS will be advantageous to them. This
includes securing buy-in from:
 Senior leaders
 Managers/Instructors/Administrators
 Learners
• Involve end users in user testing and demo sessions as partners-in-change
• Create clear user guides and conduct training sessions on use of Learning Management System
• Share proof of success by collecting and reporting on data system usage and user feedback
• Identify product owner(s) for the LMS who will help set standards and promote best practices for users on
an ongoing basis

13. Questions?
Contact us at tech.for.social.good@jpmorgan.com