When do your licenses renew? What kind of free or discounted licenses do you have? What are your options?
Microsoft announced in the spring of 2025 that after July 1st two classes of nonprofit discounted licenses would be changing. Steve Longenecker, Community IT’s Director of IT Consulting, explains how the license discount and donation program is changing at Microsoft, and how to form a plan of action before your renewal date in this podcast with Carolyn Woodard on the Microsoft free nonprofit licenses update.
NOTE: The Microsoft policy is shifting frequently, and we are working to keep you updated. Please check for the most recent blog or podcast from us to ensure you have the most recent update.
Listen to Podcast
Like podcasts? Find our full archive here or anywhere you listen to podcasts: search Community IT Innovators Nonprofit Technology Topics on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, Pandora, and more. Or ask your smart speaker.
Microsoft Free Nonprofit Licenses Update
Steve Longenecker reviews the history of the Microsoft donation and discount programs for nonprofits and how they have changed over the years. Microsoft’s office suite is of course one of the industry standards and very reliable, reputable, and very affordable for nonprofits who qualify for discounts and donated licenses.
Steve then reviews the two types of licenses that are affected, and our advice for each.
Find more information in our Community IT blog post here: Changes to Microsoft Free Nonprofit Licenses
Some Key Takeaways:
- Check your licenses through your Microsoft admin portal
- Check the renewal date for these two subscriptions. Each likely will have its own renewal/anniversary date.
- Check the license types. Not every nonprofit will be affected by these changes; some will not be subscribed to the impacted licenses. Look for “donation” or “discounted.”
- Note that for the Business Premium licenses, Microsoft provides separate subscriptions (SKUs) for Microsoft 365 Business Premium (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) and Microsoft 365 Business Premium (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) Donation. It’s the latter that Microsoft is taking away at its expiration date.
- If you are currently using Microsoft 365 Business Premium licenses you were getting 10 free licenses. Any licenses over the first 10 that you are using are being billed at a discounted rate. When your licenses renew after July 1, 2025, NONE of them will be free.
- Microsoft says that your 10 free licenses will automatically expire on your renewal/anniversary date.
- In the weeks before the renewal/anniversary date, you should buy additional Microsoft 365 Business Premium (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) licenses at the nonprofit discounted rate to replace the free ones Microsoft is discontinuing. You should cancel your 10 free licenses. You may ask why you need to cancel the free licenses if they will automatically expire. Microsoft has gone back and forth so many times on how they will handle this transition that we want you to protect yourself. The last thing you need it to have those 10 licenses rolled over to the discounted SKU with a full year commitment charged to your payment method, so we recommend you cancel them to be sure.
- If you are a small nonprofit and have unused free Microsoft 365 Business Premium licenses, you should cancel all your free licenses with Microsoft before your renewal date. For example, if you only have eight staff you may still have signed up for 10 free licenses because they were free. Before your renewal date you should cancel all 10 free licenses and update your account because after July 1, 2025, you will be paying annually for ALL Microsoft 365 Business Premium licenses you have. You should only buy the number of discounted Microsoft 365 Business Premium (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) licenses you actually need.
- We are recommending waiting until the weeks just before the free Microsoft 365 Business Premium (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) Donation subscription’s renewal/expiration date because you will be paying for the discounted replacement licenses. You might as well wait until the “last minute” to start paying for them.
- For further clarity or support, contact your IT provider, IT staff, or Microsoft account manager.
- If you are currently using free nonprofit Office 365 E1 licenses for some staff, those also will expire on your renewal/anniversary date after July 1, 2025.
- Because Microsoft 365 Business Basic licenses are very similar to Office 365 E1 licenses, and are free for qualified nonprofits for up to 300 licenses, we recommend procuring Microsoft 365 Business Basic licenses, assigning them to the user accounts that have Office 365 E1 licenses, removing the Office 365 E1 licenses, and canceling the Office 365 E1 subscription before your renewal date to ensure no loss of service.
- Changing licenses can be done at any time before your renewal date, so you can go ahead and do it now rather than risk rolling over to paying for E1 licenses. You are replacing a free licenses with a free license so there is no reason to wait until closer to your renewal date.
- Steve walks through the steps he likes to take to change these licenses over for our clients. It is not difficult but not automatic.
- For further clarity or support, contact your IT provider, IT staff, or Microsoft account manager.
Presenters
As Director of IT Consulting, Steve Longenecker divides his time at Community IT primarily between managing the company’s Projects Team and consulting with clients on IT planning. Steve brings a deep background in IT support and strategic IT management experience to his work with clients. His thoughtful and empathetic demeanor helps non-technical nonprofit leaders manage their IT projects and understand the Community IT partnership approach.
Steve also specializes in Information Architecture and migrations, implementations, file-sharing platforms, collaboration tools, and Google Workspace support. His knowledge of nonprofit budgeting and management styles make him an invaluable partner in technology projects.
Steve is MCSE and Microsoft 365 Fundamentals MS 900 certified and is a certified Professional Google Workspace Administrator. He has a B.A. in Biology from Earlham College in Richmond, IN and a Masters in the Art of Teaching from Tufts University in Massachusetts.
Carolyn Woodard is currently head of Marketing and Outreach at Community IT Innovators. She has served many roles at Community IT, from client to project manager to marketing. With over twenty years of experience in the nonprofit world, including as a nonprofit technology project manager and Director of IT at both large and small organizations, Carolyn knows the frustrations and delights of working with technology professionals, accidental techies, executives, and staff to deliver your organization’s mission and keep your IT infrastructure operating. She has a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management from Johns Hopkins University and received her undergraduate degree in English Literature from Williams College.
She was happy to have this podcast conversation with Steve to help clarify the Microsoft free nonprofit licenses updates coming out.
Ready to get strategic about your IT?
Community IT has been serving nonprofits exclusively for twenty years. We offer Managed IT support services for nonprofits that want to outsource all or part of their IT support and hosted services. For a fixed monthly fee, we provide unlimited remote and on-site help desk support, proactive network management, and ongoing IT planning from a dedicated team of experts in nonprofit-focused IT. And our clients benefit from our IT Business Managers team who will work with you to plan your IT investments and technology roadmap if you don’t have an in-house IT Director.
We constantly research and evaluate new technology to ensure that you get cutting-edge solutions that are tailored to your organization, using standard industry tech tools that don’t lock you into a single vendor or consultant. And we don’t treat any aspect of nonprofit IT as if it is too complicated for you to understand. When you are worried about productivity, change management, and implementation of new technology, you shouldn’t also have to worry about understanding your provider. You want a partner who understands nonprofits.
We think your IT vendor should be able to explain everything without jargon or lingo. If you can’t understand your IT management strategy to your own satisfaction, keep asking your questions until you find an outsourced IT provider who will partner with you for well-managed IT.
More on our Managed Services here. More resources on Microsoft tools used by nonprofits here.
If you’re ready to gain peace of mind about your IT support, let’s talk.
Transcript coming soon
Photo by Ankush Minda on Unsplash