Frequently asked questions

Microsoft provides grants and discounts for eligible nonprofit organizations, including cloud services like Microsoft 365, Azure and Power Platform, Surface hardware, on-premises software, and digital skilling. Please note that not every program may be available in every country.

First, review our eligibility guidelines and then get started by applying for a product grant or discount.

TechSoup and its international network of 65 other partner organizations help Microsoft in facilitating software grants for nonprofits, charities, and NGOs in 236 countries and territories. This includes quickly and reliably verifying an organization's nonprofit status. Serving as a dynamic bridge between civil society and corporate donor partners like Microsoft, TechSoup provides transformative technology products, knowledge, and services that enable people to work together toward a more equitable world. Learn more about TechSoup.

Microsoft encourages you to work with a partner in your country whose mission is to serve other nonprofits in building organization and technology capacity, such as nonprofit partners TechSoup and Tech Impact.

Microsoft has partnered with TechSoup to create the Digital Skills Center for Nonprofits, which is a collection of training courses designed to help nonprofits make the most out of the Microsoft products they already have.

Currently, we do not have a hardware grant program. However, the resources below offer additional information as to how Microsoft and our partners provide low-cost computers and hardware to eligible nonprofits.

• Microsoft Surface
• Refurbished computer - submit an email to oemmar@microsoft.com
• TechSoup hardware

Microsoft provides nonprofit grants and discounts in over 200 countries worldwide. Product availability for nonprofits aligns with Microsoft commercial product availability with the exception of new Surface hardware offers which are only available in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States. Refurbished Surface devices are only available in the United States and Canada. Our goal is to deliver purchasing experiences that offer customers the flexibility to access nonprofits offers whether they choose to buy on their own, through Microsoft, or through our certified partners—flexible options include Enterprise Agreement, Cloud Solution Providers, and Open Value Licensing. To learn more about the specific products, services, and purchasing options available in your country, complete the verification process via our nonprofit portal.

Microsoft realizes that predictable pricing is critical to strategic IT planning. To provide nonprofits transparency and help with IT planning, our approach is to provide up to a 75% discount on core products for cloud and on-premises products, and up to a 60% discount on premium products. Exact pricing may vary by purchase channel due to value added partner services and additional support levels offered to nonprofits.

If purchasing through a Microsoft Partner, you will be offered value added services, which can include consulting services, deployment and migration services, management services, and providing training and support for your staff. Visit the Find a Partner page to learn more.

Because many nonprofits provide computer training labs and other public access computing opportunities, we offer software grants that cover standard public access lab licensing options for Office Standard, Windows Professional, Project, Publisher, Visio and Visual Studio. Nonprofits will be able to take advantage of this program through TechSoup or can work with their existing licensing partner to purchase discounted on premises software for device-based licensing.

Organizations must:

• Hold recognized, legal charitable status as defined in their countries, or be a Public Library or Public Museum;
• Have a mission to benefit the broader community;
• Attest to Microsoft's anti-discrimination policy;
• Only assign licenses to eligible staff;
• Only use the licenses for their organization and not license partner, affiliate, or sister organizations.

Please visit the eligibility page for more details.

Nonprofit grants are permitted only for paid nonprofit employees, and unpaid executive staff who act as leadership for the nonprofit. Nonprofit discounts are permitted for all nonprofit staff and volunteers. Nonprofit program participants, members and donors are NOT eligible for nonprofit licenses and subscriptions. Please visit the eligibility page for more details.

If your nonprofit has volunteers that you would like to invite to collaborate with your staff and employees as external guests, you can invite these external users to sign into your site and resources using a personal Microsoft account.

Alternatively, discounted offers are available if you want to provide full Microsoft 365 capabilities, including an organization email address, to your volunteers.

Organizations cannot share, transfer, rent, or resell nonprofit licenses or subscriptions with/to other organizations or individuals even if they are part of the same group. If the group has both nonprofit and for-profit organizations in its legal structure, nonprofit offers are only permitted for the eligible nonprofit organizations. Additionally, groups with centrally managed information technology (IT) systems are only eligible for one grant account. Please contact Microsoft to learn more about enterprise licensing options.

Nonprofits that meet the Academic eligibility rules can purchase available Academic licenses for students and faculty, but this Academic licensing will need to be procured and managed through a separate tenant.

To maximize the number of nonprofit organizations we can serve through our grants, Microsoft Philanthropies requires nonprofits to manage within 85% active usage of all granted Assigned Licenses. We actively review utilization of granted software and nonprofits that fail to manage within this 85% utilization requirement run the risk of disqualifying for any future grants from Microsoft.

Microsoft has partnered with TechSoup to validate nonprofit organizations, public libraries, and public museums. As part of the process, TechSoup reviews your organization's mission and activities. TechSoup uses publicly available and locally relevant information as well as information you will provide during registration and compares it with the eligibility criteria for Microsoft's offerings to nonprofits.

Microsoft recognizes the critical role that public libraries play in society, and so these customers will be provided access to nonprofit pricing even if they do not hold recognized nonprofit legal status (equal to 501(c)(3) status under the United States Internal Revenue Code). During registration, please add “Library” to the Org Name to ensure seamless processing.

We strive to make eligibility determinations as quickly as possible, and the process can take up to 10 business days. This timeframe can vary depending on nonprofit responsiveness to requests for additional documentation and country requirements.

Once a nonprofit organization is validated as eligible, Microsoft requires that grantees regularly complete an attestation to our donor rules to maintain eligibility. Microsoft will send a reminder when an attestation is due, but it is ultimately your organization’s responsibility to complete the required attestation. Failure to complete the required attestation may remove eligibility for Microsoft’s nonprofit programs unless/until you complete the required attestation. Additionally, you may be requested to review your current contact details and provide any required updates.

Please review the eligibility guidelines for your country. If you still have questions, you can contact us. Please select issue category "eligibility" and issue subcategory "why nonprofit was denied eligibility" in the form.

Microsoft values and respects individual and cultural differences and is committed to providing an inclusive environment that is welcoming and free from discrimination.

Therefore, organizations are not eligible to participate in the Microsoft nonprofit program if they have a policy or mission of discrimination in hiring, compensation, promotion, termination, retirement, training, programs, activities and/or services based on race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, political affiliation, union membership, or veteran status.

Microsoft expects organizations to honestly and accurately certify the anti-discrimination statement during the eligibility validation process. Microsoft does not require nor collect evidence of compliance with the anti-discrimination policy, nor does Microsoft make legal judgments of the accuracy of the certification or applicability of anti-discrimination law to your organization's practices. As always, however, Microsoft reserves the right to grant or deny an organization's application or participation at any time, for any reason.

Nonprofit organizations that have been validated as eligible can go to the Nonprofit Portal for instructions on how to purchase the nonprofit offers and assign users in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Nonprofit customers should use the standard support channel for Microsoft 365. Details on Microsoft 365 support options are available on the Microsoft 365 support page.

Eligible nonprofits have access to grants and discounts that apply to Microsoft 365 commercial offers. However, there are a select number of commercial products that do not have nonprofit discounts, therefore the published prices would apply.

Microsoft previously provided Office 365 E1 as the primary cloud grant offer for eligible nonprofit organizations. We now provide Microsoft 365 Business Basic and Microsoft 365 Business Premium as our primary cloud grant offers and continue to provide grants of up to 2000 licenses of Office 365 E1 via an Enterprise Agreement. Microsoft Philanthropies also provides limited grants of additional licenses for organizations, and larger nonprofits can submit proposals for strategic grants of Office 365 E1 licenses. Contact your Microsoft account team for more information.

Office 365 E1 and Microsoft 365 Business Basic have the same core productivity functionality, with the primary difference that Microsoft 365 Business Basic has a 300-seat cap.

View this comparison of the features of Office 365 E1 and Microsoft 365 Business Basic for more details.

To maximize the number of nonprofit organizations we can serve through our grants, Microsoft Philanthropies requires nonprofits to manage within 85% active usage of all granted Assigned Licenses. We actively review utilization of granted software and nonprofits that fail to manage within this 85% utilization requirement run the risk of disqualifying for any future grants from Microsoft.

To maximize the number of nonprofit organizations we can help through our grants, we actively review utilization of granted software and ask that all nonprofits manage to within 85% active usage of granted Assigned Licenses.

You can see how people in your nonprofit are using Microsoft 365 services and identify who may not need a Microsoft 365 license at all. To generate activity reports in the admin center, follow these step-by-step instructions. You can export the report data to enable you to do simple sorting and filtering of all users for further analysis.

Microsoft Philanthropies defines active usage as a user using at least one Microsoft 365 cloud service within the past 90 days. These cloud services include Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Yammer, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft 365 Apps. (Note that usage of perpetual licensed Office apps, such as Office Standard or Office Professional, does not factor into active usage metrics.)

When you buy a subscription, you specify the number of licenses that you need, based on how many people you have in your nonprofit. This is the Total Licenses in your subscription management section of the admin center. After you buy a subscription, you create accounts for people in your nonprofit, and then assign a license to each person. Once a license is assigned to a user, this is the Assigned Licenses noted in the admin center, and all activity reports are calculated against these Assigned Licenses. Find more information about buying or removing licenses on this page. See an example of how Assigned Licenses are calculated here.

On September 1, 2022, the following nonprofit price updates* will go into effect:

• Enterprise: Office 365 E1: $2.50 (from $2), Office 365 E3: $5.80 (from $4.50), Office 365 E5: $15.20 (from $14), Microsoft 365 E3: $9 (from $8)
  • Limited grants of Office 365 E1 continue to be available through an Enterprise Agreement for eligible nonprofits. Contact your account team for more information.
• SMB products: Business Premium: $5.50 (from $5)
  • Note that up to 10 seats of Microsoft 365 Business Premium continue to be available as a grant. 300 seats of Microsoft 365 Business Basic continue to be available as a grant as well.
• Please note we are NOT changing pricing for Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft Business Standard, or the Frontline SKUs.

This reflects the significant value that we have added to Microsoft 365 over the past decade and maintains the 60-75% nonprofit discount level we have had in place since 2013.

This change builds on the product innovation we’ve delivered over the past ten years to meet the changing needs of customers. Since initial release, we’ve added 25 new apps and over 1400 features including:

• The introduction of Microsoft Teams as the only solution with meetings, chats, calls, collaboration, and the ability to automate business processes.
• We have added capabilities like data loss prevention (DLP) for documents and emails, Office messaging encryption, and attack surface reduction capabilities.
• And we have added new AI-supported capabilities that help automate tasks, find the information we need, and help us communicate in ways that are more accessible for everyone.
• We recently included unlimited audio-conferencing dial-in across all Microsoft/Office 365 suites for nonprofits and added Microsoft Defender security value into both Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Existing customers are not impacted until their next renewal on or after September 1, 2022.

Microsoft 365 Business Premium is an integrated solution that brings together the best-in-class productivity of Office 365 with simple device management and security to connect people and information in an intelligent new way. Eligible nonprofits can obtain a Microsoft 365 Business Premium grant for up to 10 seats, and then pay just $5.50 (USD)* per additional user per month. 

Microsoft 365 Business Premium was purpose-built for small and medium-sized organizations under 300 users who need a solution that provides their employees with the best-in-class productivity, collaboration, device management, and security solutions to safeguard organization data and assets across devices.

You can receive a nonprofit grant for up to 50 Windows Pro licenses by registering your organization through TechSoup, please note that TechSoup charges a nominal admin fee to cover costs to operate and maintain their grant program. This nominal fee directly supports TechSoup's free informational and training content and resources available to nonprofits. You may also obtain discounted Windows Pro licenses through a Microsoft partner.

Partner-assisted deployment is the recommended way to deploy Microsoft 365 Business Premium. Contact your Microsoft partner and ask them if they are offering Microsoft 365 Business Premium. Your partner is well-equipped to help you understand your options and make the best recommendations for deploying Microsoft 365 Business Premium in your organization. If you do not have a Microsoft partner, you can find one on our Nonprofits partner page.

Customers may acquire Microsoft 365 Business Premium with the help of a partner. A Microsoft partner can help modify the licenses to add the free offer into your assets.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the next generation of intelligent business applications in the cloud. Microsoft Dynamics 365 unifies CRM and ERP capabilities by delivering new purpose-built applications to help manage organizational functions, including Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Operations, Project Service Automation, Financials, and Marketing through Adobe Marketing Cloud (sold separately).

Sales Professional provides core relationship management that is used by organizations without complex processes. For more detailed information, view our plan comparison chart. With a more basic set of capabilities, it has a lower price point of $16.25 (USD)* per user per month, which is 75% off the commercial price.

You can choose from a selection of discounted Dynamics 365 applications, depending on the needs of your nonprofit. Visit the Dynamics 365 & Power Platform page to learn more.

No. But you can evaluate support options on our Dynamics 365 support page.

Microsoft Power Platform is an intuitive, extensible platform of low-code tools that empowers all users to collaborate and build transformational solutions. It includes Power BI, Power Apps, Power Virtual Agent, and Power Automate.

Eligible nonprofits can get Power Apps free for up to 10 seats (the “Per App” plan) and discounted pricing of $2.50 (USD)* per user per month for additional users, which is 50% off the commercial price.

Use the Power Platform Licensing Guide to see the differences between these two offerings. Power Apps Premium is $5 (USD)* per user per month for eligible nonprofits, which is 75% off the commercial price.

No. At this time, the 10 granted seats apply only to Power Apps per App.

Yes, the 10 granted seats of Power Apps per App can be accessed through the Direct Portal, Cloud Solution Providers (CSP), and Volume Licensing channels.

No. At this time, the 10 granted seats apply only to Power Apps per App.

Customers may add the granted seats to your contract and environment; please work with your Microsoft partner or account team. Customers may not reduce their Power Apps license commitments to leverage the grant.

To get started on your own, visit the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform web page. Alternatively, connect with your Microsoft account team or current Microsoft Partner, or complete this form to connect with a Dynamics 365 partner who can help you take advantage of this offer.

Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit uniquely brings together trusted cloud capabilities of the Microsoft platform aligned to the most common nonprofit organizational scenarios, including constituent and supporter management, award management, fundraising, volunteer management, program design and delivery, nonprofit operations, and data management. By unifying once disparate data from across the organization, nonprofits benefit from recommendations and insights critical to accelerating mission outcomes.

For more information, visit our Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit page.

Fundraising and Engagement for Dynamics 365 Sales – launched in October 2020 – is a purpose-built donor management and fundraising solution built on the Nonprofit Common Data Model (CDM). It is now a solution within the Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit offering.

Please visit the Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit section on Microsoft Docs.

Leverage the “Find a Partner” page to find a Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit partner in your area.

Yes. You need to have either a LinkedIn Sales Navigator Team or Enterprise license in order to leverage it within Fundraising and Engagement.

Yes. You can learn more about LinkedIn for Nonprofits by visiting the LinkedIn website. To understand eligibility requirements and discounts, please visit the LinkedIn FAQ page or you can contact the LinkedIn team for more details.

Nonprofits can use the Azure credits to purchase all Azure workloads created by Microsoft (excluding Azure Active Directory, which is licensed under Enterprise Mobility and Security). You can view the whole list of services on the Azure services page.

Yes. However, there may be a select few regions that are unavailable for this offer. For more details on locations within each region, please visit the Azure regions page.

Your subscription will convert to a "Pay-As-You-Go" offer, meaning you pay for what you use. See more details on the Azure Pay-As-You-Go page.

Yes. As long as your nonprofit remains eligible, you can reapply each year.

30 days from your expiration date, you will receive an email with renewal instructions. Note: If you exceed the $2,000 (USD)* cap, after your complete the renewal you will need to put in a support case to move your subscription back to the sponsorship. Otherwise you will continue to be billed.

No. The credit can only be used towards Azure services published by Microsoft.

No. You can use the $2,000 (USD)* at your discretion over 12 months.

1. If you have an Azure subscription and have set up your nonprofit account, you can submit a case within the Nonprofit Portal once you login. If you have not yet created an account, you can go to the Nonprofit Portal to get started.
2. If you can’t access the Azure portal, submit a case on the Microsoft Azure support page.

If your question is related to eligibility, please contact us.

No, but you can reapply for the offer the following year.

Yes.

No. It is an Azure credit, not a monetary grant.

"Developer" Azure support is included. For substantial or significant mission critical workloads, it is recommended that organizations purchase a more advanced support plan.

We need a credit card on file in case you go over $2,000 (USD)*. The card will not be charged if you stay under $2,000 (USD)*.

Go to the Azure Sponsorships page and select "Check Your Balance."

No. ExpressRoute is not an Azure workload but a means to connect into Azure. You will need to work directly with one of our ExpressRoute partners.

No, reservation discounts do not apply to Azure Nonprofit subscriptions.

Azure Active Directory Premium (AADP) is separate from Azure and as such you cannot utilize the Azure grant to purchase AADP licenses.

Azure Active Directory comes in four editions: Free, Basic, Premium P1 and Premium P2. More information on license versions and pricing can be found in the nonprofit portal.

Learn more about Enterprise Mobility + Security editions

• Credit card – Yes. You can merge the subscriptions through a support case. Contact Azure billing support once both subscriptions are in place.
• Enterprise Agreement (EA), Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE), Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), Open Volume License Program, EAP/ECI – No. You cannot merge the subscriptions.

However, while you will not be able to apply the funds to an existing subscription of this type, you can connect services deployed in your existing subscriptions to those deployed to your new subscription. This connection can either be made over public endpoints, or for services inside a virtual network via a private VPN connection.

See instructions and considerations here: Configure a VNet-to-VNet connection by using Azure Resource Manager and PowerShell.

Yes. If you have an existing work or organizational account, please use it to sign up for the offer (can be the same one you use for Office 365). See instructions below:

1. Important: Create a Microsoft account or select an organizational account that will be used for your subscription. We recommend using an account that multiple people can access to (i.e azureadmin@nonprofit.org)
2. If using an existing organizational account, ensure it has been registered with Microsoft, or register it with Microsoft on our account page.
   • You cannot use an account already being used on a separate licensing agreement (EA, CSP, etc.)
3. Follow the instructions on the Nonprofit Portal.

By claiming your Azure grant, you agree that you will not facilitate, engage in, or participate in any use of Azure services, for crypto currency mining, denial of service attacks, spamming, or illegal activity, and/or any use that could cause harm to Microsoft or others, and will enforce strong internal controls to prevent the same. Microsoft may from time to time contact you regarding your use of your Azure services and you will upon such request provide reasonable documentation regarding your use. If Microsoft believes for any reason that such Azure services are being used for any prohibited purpose, Microsoft may, in its sole discretion, suspend or terminate your access to the Azure services.

Microsoft provides software grants primarily through our partner, TechSoup. Visit our eligibility page to view eligibility guidelines and then apply to get started with your grant.

Organizations that do not meet the eligibility requirements are encouraged to explore our many software licensing options.

As of January 1, 2022, the way that customers transact software licenses is changing. Microsoft still provides software grants primarily through our partner, TechSoup, who can help you understand how to access software grants and help you decide the best steps for you, whether that’s new licenses or online services subscriptions.

And, as of April 4, 2022, our software grant program is changing. To ensure that nonprofits can use the latest operating system and access our Microsoft 365 Business Premium grant, we offer a nonprofit grant for up to 50 Windows Professional licenses. Additionally, in markets where Azure is not yet commercially available, we offer nonprofit grants of Windows Server and SQL Server licenses.

License limits do apply. Please check with our software grant partner, TechSoup or their local partner, for additional details in your country. Note: These limits do not apply to cloud subscriptions.

TechSoup charges a nominal admin fee to cover costs to operate and maintain the grant program. This nominal fee directly supports TechSoup's free informational and training content and resources available to nonprofits.

Yes. Microsoft provides software grants through TechSoup to nonprofit organizations in 236 regions and territories.

As of April 4, 2022, Microsoft grants up to 50 licenses of a full version of Windows Professional 11 through TechSoup. This version of Windows also provides down-level rights to Windows Professional 10 for devices that do not meet the Windows 11 hardware requirements. Nonprofits can purchase additional licenses at a discount through Microsoft partners.

First, review our eligibility guidelines and then get started by applying for a product grant or discount. When your nonprofit organization is validated as eligible, sign in to the Nonprofit Portal, view your available offerings, and click on the icon for volume software discounts to send a Microsoft certificate of eligibility to a reseller. This will provide the reseller information needed to offer nonprofit pricing.

With the new volume software discounts process, resellers no longer manage the eligibility review process. The process is now managed for Microsoft by TechSoup. Nonprofit organizations should visit the eligibility page to review our guidelines and apply for validation. Once validation is confirmed, sign in to the Nonprofits portal to send a Microsoft certificate of eligibility to a reseller. This will provide the reseller information needed to offer nonprofit pricing.

If an organization loses its status as an eligible nonprofit organization after licensing products, it may continue to use the products for which it is licensed, but it may not submit a new order for licenses at the pricing levels Microsoft offers to nonprofit organizations. The organization may renew expiring Software Assurance for licenses purchased while it qualified as a nonprofit organization by submitting orders for Software Assurance under any other Microsoft Volume Licensing programs for which the organization qualifies as of the order date.

Typically, our grants to nonprofits are in the form of software, cloud services and subscriptions. Eligible nonprofits can access our donations and discount offers that are available globally via the nonprofit portal. Please note that we do not accept unsolicited requests for cash or in-kind grants (including devices and hardware) which are invitation only.

If you did not find the information you were looking for, please contact us.

The Microsoft Digital Skills Center for Nonprofits is a collaboration between TechSoup and Microsoft that combines product training content from Microsoft with TechSoup’s deep understanding of how nonprofits use technology. We currently have over 70 courses focused on Microsoft 365 products, Teams, Power BI, Power Apps, and many more. Courses are available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Arabic.

The Microsoft Digital Skills Center focuses on “microlearning,” delivering specific bite-size portions that are easy to absorb and use. These courses can double as on-the-job support materials and all are available on demand, at a pace that fits each user’s needs.

Completion of each learning path is formally recognized through a certificate, co-branded by Microsoft and TechSoup.

Course offerings have a nominal administrative fee that helps TechSoup, a global nonprofit themselves, support the ongoing creation, management, and delivery of the content. Costs remain low, with fees starting at $3 (USD)* for some 100 level courses.

This training is available to all staff members and volunteers supporting nonprofits, charities, and NGOs around the world.

Courses are available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Arabic.

Microsoft has partnered with TechSoup to create the Digital Skills Center for Nonprofits, which is a collection of training courses designed to help nonprofits make the most out of the Microsoft software they own. Local Microsoft offices regularly hold training events to help nonprofits better use technology and discuss how technology can help improve their organizations.

Find more digital skills resources on our Trainings, courses & resources page.