Nonprofit IT Discounts
Nonprofit IT discounts in 2026: what TechSoup, Microsoft, and Google actually give you.
A 40-person nonprofit that captures every eligible offer pays about $2,640 a year for Microsoft 365 Business Premium at the $5.50 nonprofit price, a discount Microsoft puts at 60 to 75 percent, and $0 for Google Workspace for Nonprofits. This guide lists what each program offers as of September 2026, what changed on July 1, 2026, and how ETTE captures the offers for clients as part of managed IT.
What Changed
Two dates that changed nonprofit licensing.
On July 1, 2025 Microsoft ended the free 10-license Business Premium grant and the Office 365 E1 grant. Organizations still on them lose the licenses at their next renewal date. The Business Basic grant of up to 300 free licenses continues.
On July 1, 2026 Microsoft raised nonprofit prices in step with commercial increases. Business Standard moved from $3.00 to $3.50 per user per month, Microsoft 365 E3 from $9.00 to $9.75, E5 from $22.80 to $24.00, and F3 from $2.00 to $2.50. Business Premium stayed at $5.50. Google's nonprofit tiers did not change: Workspace for Nonprofits is still $0 per user.
Side by Side
TechSoup, Microsoft, and Google compared.
Scroll sideways on small screens to see all three programs.
| TechSoup | Microsoft for Nonprofits | Google for Nonprofits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A nonprofit that validates eligibility and brokers donated and discounted products from many vendors | Microsoft's own grant and discount program, claimed through the Nonprofit Hub after validation | Google's program for eligible nonprofits; Workspace is the offer that matters for IT |
| Cost to join | Free. An admin fee is charged per product requested | Free registration; offers unlock after validation | Free; verification through Google's validation partner |
| Free tier | Donated products for the admin fee only | Microsoft 365 Business Basic, up to 300 licenses: web and mobile Office, Teams, Exchange email, 1 TB OneDrive per user | Google Workspace for Nonprofits at $0 per user: Gmail, Meet, Drive, 100 TB pooled storage, up to 300 users (2,000 by request) |
| Paid tiers, per user per month | Varies by vendor; discounted offers are paid to the vendor after validation | Business Standard $3.50, Business Premium $5.50, Microsoft 365 E3 $9.75, E5 $24.00, F3 $2.50, all paid yearly; Copilot add-on $25.50 | Business Standard $3.50 annual ($4.20 monthly), Business Plus $6.16 annual ($7.40 monthly), Enterprise editions 70 percent or more off |
| Security in the paid tier | Depends on the product | Business Premium: Defender for Business, Defender for Office 365 Plan 1, Intune Plan 1, Entra ID P1 conditional access, Purview information protection | Business Plus adds Vault retention and eDiscovery and 500-participant Meet; Enterprise Plus adds DLP, S/MIME, data regions |
| Other technology benefits | Refurbished hardware and discounts across security, design, and accounting vendors | $2,000 in Azure credits per year; Dynamics 365 and Power Platform discounts; LinkedIn and GitHub for Nonprofits | Pooled storage scales to 5 TB per user on Enterprise editions |
| Validation time | Qualification averages two days per TechSoup; partners may request documents | Days to weeks; register before you need it | Days to weeks; email notice when verified |
| Who is excluded | Set per vendor program; TechSoup enforces each partner's rules | Set per offer on Microsoft's eligibility page | Government entities, hospitals and healthcare organizations, schools and universities |
| ETTE registers you during onboarding | ✓ Smooth Start, first 30 days | ✓ Smooth Start, first 30 days | ✓ Smooth Start, first 30 days |
Prices and program terms were checked against Microsoft's nonprofit offers page and its July 1, 2026 licensing update, Google's Workspace for Nonprofits comparison page, and TechSoup's qualification documentation on September 7, 2026. Vendors change these programs; confirm current terms before purchasing.
Microsoft 365
Which Microsoft license each role should get.
Business Premium at $5.50 for anyone who touches donor, client, grant, or financial data, and for anyone with admin rights, because that is where Defender for Business, Intune, and conditional access live. Business Basic (free) or F3 ($2.50) for staff who only need email, Teams, and web Office.
Do not move the whole organization to free Basic to keep a zero on the invoice. The controls you give up cost more than $5.50 a month at the first incident. For a 40-person organization, 25 Premium licenses and 15 Basic licenses come to $1,650 a year. Copilot at $25.50 per user is an add-on for a few heavy writers, not a default.
Google Workspace
When the free tier is enough.
Google Workspace for Nonprofits already carries Business Standard features and 100 TB of pooled storage, which covers most nonprofits under 300 staff. Pay for Business Plus at $6.16 when you need Vault for legal holds or grant record-retention rules, or 500-participant meetings. Move to an Enterprise edition only for data loss prevention, S/MIME, or data-region requirements written into a contract.
Government entities, hospitals and healthcare organizations, and schools cannot use the program, so a fiscally sponsored clinic or a charter school should plan on commercial or education pricing instead.
TechSoup
What to request and what to skip.
Register before you need anything. TechSoup reports that qualification averages two days, but Microsoft and Google run their own validations on top, so a request made the week a grant renews will not land in time. Create validation tokens in your TechSoup account for the partner programs that ask for them.
Donated products are almost always worth the admin fee. Discounted products need a street-price check first. Order against your technology roadmap, not the catalog: licenses claimed because they were cheap and never deployed still carry fees and still complicate your tenant.
What ETTE Does
Licensing capture is part of onboarding.
During the 30-day Smooth Start that opens every managed engagement, ETTE registers or verifies your organization with TechSoup, Microsoft's Nonprofit Hub, and Google for Nonprofits, reassigns licenses so each role has the right tier, and reconciles counts as staff change. The savings usually offset a meaningful share of the managed IT fee, which starts at $125 per user per month remote-only and $150 fully managed, with nonprofit pricing on both.
Common Questions
Nonprofit IT discounts FAQs.
Partly. Microsoft 365 Business Basic is still granted free for up to 300 licenses. The free 10-license Business Premium grant and the Office 365 E1 grant ended on July 1, 2025, and organizations holding them lose the licenses at their next renewal. Paid nonprofit tiers continue at a 60 to 75 percent discount.
$5.50 per user per month, paid yearly. It was not changed in Microsoft's July 1, 2026 nonprofit price adjustment, which raised Business Standard to $3.50, Microsoft 365 E3 to $9.75, E5 to $24.00, and F3 to $2.50. Business Premium includes Defender for Business, Defender for Office 365 Plan 1, Intune Plan 1, and Entra ID P1.
Yes. Google Workspace for Nonprofits is $0 per user per month with 100 TB of pooled storage and up to 300 users, expandable to 2,000 by request. Business Standard is $3.50 per user per month on an annual commitment ($4.20 monthly) and Business Plus is $6.16 ($7.40 monthly). Government entities, hospitals and healthcare organizations, and schools are not eligible.
Joining is free. TechSoup charges an admin fee on each product you request, which on donated products is the whole price and is small next to retail. TechSoup reports that qualification reviews are completed in two days on average. Register before you need anything, because Microsoft and Google validations run on top of it.
Yes. During the 30-day Smooth Start onboarding ETTE registers or verifies your organization with TechSoup, Microsoft's Nonprofit Hub, and Google for Nonprofits, assigns each role the right license tier, and reconciles license counts as staff change. Managed IT starts at $125 per user per month remote-only and $150 fully managed, with nonprofit pricing on both.
Next Step
Stop paying commercial prices for nonprofit software.
Bring your current license list to a 30-minute call and we will show you what each role should be on and what it costs.