Our favorite software discounts for nonprofit organizations

Updated August 27, 2021

Most software companies offer nonprofit discounts and freebies for 501(c)3 organizations. Some offer free licenses for nonprofits, others offer 15-30% off their regular prices. This can be a significant saving over time. Each company has its own rules and restrictions, and offers may change over time, so be sure to check out the links below to learn more.

We have a list of our favorites discounts here, and there are tons of others out there. If yours isn't on our list, do a quick Google search for the software name + nonprofit discount (e.g. "Canva nonprofit discount" or "Adobe nonprofit discount"). That's usually easier than trying to dig through the companies website for the info. They don't always make their discounts easy to find!

Who Qualifies for Discounts?

To qualify for nonprofit discounts, you'll need to prove you're a 501c3. You're typically asked to provide your tax ID and proof of your nonprofit status (e.g. IRS tax exempt certificate or letter of nonprofit status), so be sure to have that handy when you're requesting discounts.

A note on discounts for schools: Some software companies have educational discounts which are different than their nonprofit discounts. You can find these discounts by Googling the name of the software plus "educational discount" or "nonprofit discount".

Here are some of our favorite software discounts for nonprofits, with links to the company's nonprofit information pages.

Project Management & Team Communication

• ClickUp - free project management tool for nonprofits - ClickUp is our tool of choice for managing projects. Their free version is a fully functional project management system that's perfect for nonprofits. Upgrade to their premium version for additional features.
• Asana nonprofit discount - project management (list based)
• Trello non-profit discount - project management (card based)
• Slack for Nonprofits - team/staff communication
• DropBox - file storage and sharing. Nonprofit rate available when you contact sales.

Design & Business Software

• Adobe products nonprofit discounts - Adobe offers extensive nonprofit discounts on Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Acrobat Professional, and more
• Airtable nonprofit discount FAQs - database web application (like a sup'ed up spreadsheet). You need to submit a form to get the nonprofit discount.
• Canva Premium is free for nonprofits - easy to use digital design tool, which is especially useful for social media graphics
• Microsoft products discount eligibility - Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.
• Zapier for Non-Profits - allows you to set up workflow automation and notifications between web applications. They also have a blog post with more discounts: Zapier's list of nonprofit discounts

Website, Email, and Admin Tools

• Google Workspace for Nonprofits - Google has many perks for nonprofits, including a free Gsuite account. Also check out Google Ad Grants, which provides $10K/mo in AdWords.
• Kinsta premium WordPress web hosting discount for nonprofits- - Kinsta is our favorite company for website hosting. After trying many "budget" hosting companies over the years, we've learned many times over that paying a bit more for hosting prevents a lot of headaches (and more expenses) down the line. Kinsta offers a 15% discount for nonprofits. I suggest nonprofits sign up for one month hosting, then submit their nonprofit info to Kinsta's support team. Then switch your account to annual billing with your discount applied and a bonus 2 months.
• A2Hosting nonprofit discount - Our choice for budget hosting offers discounts for nonprofit. Nonprofits can open a support ticket to request the discount before setting up an account.
• Namecheap domain registration and management - technically namecheap doesn't have a nonprofit discount, but their regular prices are comparable to others with discounts, and they are much much easier to use.
• WordPress premium plugins - As a WordPress web design company, we could talk your ear off on this topic! Most WordPress premium plugin developers offer discounts for nonprofits. There are too many to list here, but definitely do a Google search before making a purchase  (Note to our clients - check with us before purchasing or renewing your plugin licenses, because many of them are included for free as part of your website care plan!) 

Also see our page about Domain Registration and Web Hosting

Social Media & Email Marketing

• Buffer for nonprofits - social media scheduling and monitoring
• Facebook for Social Good - has an entire resource library for nonprofits, including fundraising tools
• LinkedIn nonprofit information - business networking for hiring and recruiting
• Contact Contact - offers discounts to nonprofits who prepay (vs month to month)
• Mailchimp pricing for nonprofits - email marketing (discount at bottom of pricing page)
• MailerLite - Start with a free account and indicate that you're a nonprofit when you sign up. If you decide to upgrade, you'll get 30% discount on their paid plans.
• YouTube Nonprofit Program - resources and training for nonprofits

Payment Processing

• Stripe fee discount for non-profit organizations - online payment processing
• Paypal charity discount - both offer discounted transaction rates for nonprofits

And Tech Soup, which deserves its own section

• TechSoup software discounts and resources for nonprofits - TechSoup is the gateway to many of these discounts and lots more. Once you are verified via TechSoup, your confirmation number can be used for many other discounts including Quickbooks, Shutterstock, Symantec, Amazon AWS and others.
  BONUS TIP: You can get other discounted services and hardware from TechSoup, such as computers and IT help.

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