Software donation program expands to include Office 365

Bill Gates once said, “It takes more than great products to make a great company”. At Microsoft we have a deep passion for innovation and technology, but they’re not the sole reasons we get out of bed each morning. For the majority of Microsoft employees, it’s about the positive impact and opportunities that technology can contribute to helping people do more and be more.

It’s therefore with great delight that I can announce eligible Australian non-profit organisations and charities can now access Office 365, Microsoft’s best-in-class cloud based productivity and collaboration tools, free of charge or at highly discounted prices.

At Microsoft we see technology as a key enabler in helping non-profit organisations reduce administration and focus their resources on the delivery of frontline services, but it doesn’t stop there.

When viewed in the context of the broader software donation program, our goal is to enable non-profit and community organisations to modernise their IT infrastructures, infuse innovation and start on the journey of transforming their business models around the cloud. In the process, many are becoming more efficient by empowering their workforces to collaborate and get the job done more quickly and effectively regardless of their location.

Today there is a new world of work emerging around changing social, demographic, economic and technology trends and our aim is to help community organisations be part of it. Imagine what could happen if we empowered Australia’s entire community sector with the latest technology – the gains, I believe, would be stunning.

In FY14, Microsoft Australia donated more than $50 million of software to nearly 4,000 non-profit organisations, and we’ve kick-started FY15 with a $4m software grant to World Vision. The majority of these donations were delivered to smaller non-profit organisations through our community partner, Connecting Up.

With Office 365 for Nonprofits now part of the program, I look forward to more Australian community services and non-profit organisations experiencing the benefits of moving to the cloud, including anywhere access to Microsoft Office applications and web conferencing tools.

To find out more, check eligibility, and apply for a donation go to the Office 365 for Nonprofits page.

 

Anna Howarth, Citizenship Manager, Microsoft Australia

Tags: ,

Related Posts