Microsoft extends Office 365 benefit to nonprofit volunteers

Microsoft on Thursday announced a new Office 365 benefit, offering enterprise-sized nonprofit customers free additional Office 365 F1 seats for their volunteers.

The new Office 365 benefit enables nonprofit customers who have Enterprise Agreements with Microsoft to receive 10 free Office 365 F1 seats for their volunteers per licensed Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 seat. Office 365 F1 includes applications for email, calendars, team collaboration, messaging, intranet, file storage and sharing. Nonprofits with 250 or more users in their organization are eligible for the Enterprise Agreement. The offer starts Jan. 1, according to the company.

Microsoft Cloud Solution Providers will be able to offer the Volunteer Use Benefit to customers directly via the Cloud Solution Provider Channel in spring 2020, according to the company.

The news comes after the company's announcement in September offering nonprofits free Microsoft 365 Business for up to 10 users. Thursday's announcement extended this Office 365 benefit to nonprofit volunteers.

This is not the first time Microsoft has donated or provided services for free. Some of their collaboration software programs, such as Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams, are available to qualified nonprofits. "But it does mark a significant expansion of access for nonprofits who already pay for Office 365. Keep in mind that Microsoft has long had steep discounts for students and educators, as well," said Nicole France, principal analyst and vice president at Constellation Research.

The recent move is motivated by several factors, she said. "One is certainly 'keeping up with the Joneses' or Salesforces, as the case may be, in terms of publicizing and extending support for the nonprofit sector," France said.

Another factor has to do with the way Microsoft wants to be perceived by current and potential employees, especially millennials, France said. "We know that this demographic group in particular -- an increasingly important one, in terms of recruiting and retention -- is strongly motivated by an employer's mission in the world, not just its commercial business. I suspect this is a significant part of the rationale for giving the nonprofit sector some additional love and attention."

Lastly, she said, the offering addresses the pressing need for nonprofits to provide appropriate tools to their large numbers of volunteers.