Technology grants nonprofits can ask Microsoft for

Microsoft's nonprofit offers include both donated grants and discounted prices. A grant is a license or a credit Microsoft provides at no charge, inside limits it publishes. A discount is a lower price than the commercial list, and the organization still pays Microsoft. Mixing those up is how a board hears that something is free and later sees an invoice. The offers people write to us about most often are Microsoft 365 for staff mail and Teams, the annual Azure credit, and the published nonprofit terms for Microsoft 365 Copilot. Each of those has its own page. Microsoft's page is the source for current amounts. We will not restate a figure we have not just read there.

TRUE.org Cloud, the nonprofit, helps organizations find and request the offers Microsoft has made available. Microsoft licensing is provided by Acumor Solutions LLC dba TRUE.org, a Microsoft partner (Cloud Solution Provider), not by the nonprofit. Nobody here sells a donated license to someone else.

Microsoft's eligibility rules look for a nonprofit or non-governmental organization with recognized legal status in its country, comparable to 501(c)(3) status in the United States. Microsoft also describes organizations that do not qualify, and it can refuse an application. A validation partner checks public records and what you submit. Microsoft says that often takes a few days and can take longer.

Granted licenses, in Microsoft's rules, are for paid employees and unpaid executive staff, up to the user limits for that offer and country. Discounted licenses may be used by volunteers. People who only receive services, give money, or hold a membership are not eligible users. Licenses may not be shared, transferred, rented, or resold. Unused grant licenses are supposed to come off the tenant. Microsoft says it may audit.

Some Microsoft software grants, including grants of Windows, are published as available through TechSoup rather than through a Cloud Solution Provider. TRUE.org does not replace TechSoup and does not approve those donations. If that is the path Microsoft's page lists, we will point you to it.

Google runs its own nonprofit program for organizations that qualify under Google's rules. We can also talk about Google Workspace when that is the cloud a school or charity already uses. Google decides eligibility and what it donates. We do not publish Google's amounts here. The form still goes to hello@true.org. Include the country, the legal name, and whether you already have a Microsoft or Google domain.

We will help you see which published offer matches the staff who need it, set up or take over the Microsoft tenant, and train the people who have to live in it. A named person can stay for support and for the annual question of whether unused grant licenses are still assigned.

We will not tell a funder you have been approved before Microsoft says so. We will not dress a commercial subscription up as a grant. If the honest answer is that the organization does not fit Microsoft's rules, that is the answer we will send.