Here’s the thing;
A nonprofit organization is more or less like any small and midsize business (SMB) out there.
While the goals may be different, a nonprofit’s strategies to pursue its goals are more or less similar to an SMB.
Nonprofits, at their core, encounter the same organizational problems as small businesses and leverage similar software to solve these challenges.
For instance, a nonprofit organization, just like an SMB, needs to keep up with its finances and crucial contact data. Both organizations are likely to use accounting or Customer Relation Management (CRM) software for this.
Still, a nonprofit will require a more specialized piece of software like cash grant management, fundraising, crowdfunding, matching gifts, and board management software, to mention but a few.
However, nonprofits, unlike SMBs, can get software at a discount price. By leveraging nonprofit software discounts, your organization can get helpful collaboration tools without leaving a hole in your budget.
In this post, we’ll look at the various tech discounts and incredible offers for nonprofits provided by TechSoup, an organization we’ll talk about in detail later.
We’ll also tell you how to join TechSoup.
Let’s get cracking;
The Special Software Needs for Nonprofits
A significant percentage of most small businesses launch with at least one employee in their IT department. In most cases, this person knows a thing or two about software.
On the other hand, a small nonprofit organization may not have the resources to employ an IT expert, let alone have a fully-fledged IT department.
The remedy is to leverage various collaboration tools to keep the IT side of things up and running. On top of that, they require substantial support to help them choose and implement the right software.
According to TechSoup, most organizations with a charitable status typically have at least twenty-five tech-related challenges.
But that doesn’t mean that these issues should cripple your organization. Instead, TechSoup recommends dealing with these needs one at a time. That way, you can eventually deal with all your IT challenges.
At times, this could be as simple as creating a website.
You see,
A nonprofit has to run fundraising campaigns, and having a website is a critical part of the process.
On top of that, websites for non-governmental organizations need to be optimized for SEO and user experience. A well-optimized website can help with donor outreach and, by extension, boost your organization’s fundraising and engagement efforts.
Apart from onboarding donors, the other common problem nonprofits face is donor management. Again, you can leverage the wide range of specialized software to help you manage and engage with your donors to keep them interested.
With the right software, you can solve yet another pain point that most nonprofits struggle with; donor retention.
According to statistics, 50 percent of donors only give to an organization once. Only a handful are willing to offer regular donations.
And, because nonprofits rely on funding to survive, having donor management software is crucial.
Charitable organizations can organize and schedule donor outreach with such intuitive tools, optimizing their fundraising and engagement effectiveness. That way, you can engage with donors without spamming them.
TechSoup Global Offers Nonprofit Discounts and Education
For starters, TechSoup global network is a popular nonprofit that helps charitable organizations overcome their tech matters through software discounts.
TechSoup understands that most nonprofits start with a barebones structure. Many of them launch with a skeleton staff, minimum budget, and zero business experience – and that’s where the TechSoup Boost comes in.
The TechSoup global network seeks to bring professionalism into how nonprofits conduct business through nonprofit software discounts and education. That way, nonprofits can streamline and formalize their processes. Let’s break it down further:
Software Discounts
The TechSoup global network is well known for its product donations program.
More specifically, the organization bridges the gap between large software vendors interested in social responsibilities and eligible organizations.
Here’s how it works:
Vendors supply software grants to TechSoup.
TechSoup sets eligibility guidelines, validates nonprofits, and provides software to them at massive discounts.
How huge is the discount?
At times, a low as 5 percent discount of the retail cost! Instead of going to vendors, that money goes to the TechSoup global network to support its operations.
TechSoup has received over 8 million product donations and has helped nonprofits save over $7.2 billion, averaging $17,000 for every nonprofit.
The product donations program is undergoing a significant shift, especially now that software services are transitioning to cloud products.
Because it costs more to provide a cloud service, TechSoup Boost is evolving into a discount program based on whatever the company can negotiate with the vendor.
Put differently, due to these changes, the software percent discount may vary from one product to another instead of getting the product at a fixed percentage of the retail cost.
Some software that you can get at special pricing include:
Adobe Creative Cloud
Avast Business
Evernote Business
Microsoft 365
Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements
Technology Education
Discounts for nonprofits may not work for small organizations that can barely afford IT resources or hiring technical staff.
These nonprofits also require support to help them implement and learn how to use the software.
TechSoup offers an academic discount for these charitable organizations. The training program includes articles, webinars, and a collection of TechSoup courses.
More specifically, the TechSoup collection of training courses aims to create awareness about the importance of spending time on software training and implementation for nonprofit organizations.
The Bottom Line
Getting software licenses can be challenging for nonprofits, especially in their early days. Access to training is also equally important.
However, you can leverage TechSoup’s software discount for nonprofits to ensure that you have the tools that you need to streamline your operations.
The company offers affordable and easy to access software for nonprofits that meet the eligibility guidelines.
The next steps?
Start by joining TechSoup to access software grants that can help your nonprofit. While joining is free, it ushers you into a vast world for tech discounts eligible nonprofits,
It is important to note that TechSoup exclusively deals with 501(c)(3) nonprofits and public libraries.
Why is this crucial? …because TechSoup will enquire about your organization and what you do. That way, the company can confirm that, indeed, your organization meets the eligibility guidelines.
Even though the process takes a few days, you only have to complete it one time. Once you’re authenticated, you can access any discount for nonprofits and nonprofit grants that TechSoup has to offer.
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