Section 1
Registering and Qualifying Your TechSoup Canada Account

1.1. What can I do with a TechSoup Canada account?

An individual TechSoup Canada account provides you with access to create comments on our blogs and the opportunity to register your organization with us (for free!). With an individual account, you can:

1. Edit your Personal Profile details anytime you’d like, such as your username, password and contact email (password resets are sent to this email)
2. Register your organization

An organizational TechSoup Canada account provides you with all of the benefits of an individual account, as well as access to the Technology Donations Program and validation tokens (required for some of the programs we validate, such as Google for Nonprofits). With an organizational account, you can:

1. Edit your Personal Profile details anytime you’d like, such as your username, password and contact email (password resets are sent to this email)
2. Review your organization details* and see what products your organization is eligible for by viewing the list in the "My Organization" section of your account.
3. If you are eligible for the Microsoft Software Donations program, you can track your Microsoft allotment by viewing the "My Microsoft Donations Centre" section of your account.
4. See your order/request history
5. Generate and use validation tokens (for programs such as Google for Nonprofits)

*Need to update your nonprofit's information, such as your organization's email (licensing and installation instructions are sent to this email), budget or mailing address? Please contact us so we can update it for you!

1.2 How do I register my organization?

Please see the step-by-step instructions on our “How do I register?” page for details on what we need from charities, nonprofits and libraries in order to qualify their account.

1.3 What does it mean to qualify my account and how long does it take?

At TechSoup Canada, our team needs to verify your organization's legal status as a charity, nonprofit or library in order to assure our technology donor partners that their software and hardware donations are indeed going to the Canadian nonprofit sector, in accordance with their wishes.

Qualification takes 7-10 business days. The qualification process validates the individual and organizational information provided at registration, including nonprofit status, an individual's connection to the organization, organization location, mission and more. While our team reviews your information, your account status will be listed as “Not Started” and this simply means that the process of your qualification is still ongoing.

If we require additional information or documentation, our team will contact you at the email address you provided at registration and otherwise, you will hear from us at this address at the end of the qualification period.

1.4 What’s the difference between “qualified” and “eligible”?

Qualified, when referring to your organization’s status as a whole, means TechSoup Canada has approved your application and verified your organization's legal status as a charity, nonprofit or library. When you see “Qualified” listed next to a particular technology Donor Partner (such as Microsoft) in the My Organization section of your account, this means your organization is Eligible to receive these donations.

A Qualified TechSoup Canada account

Eligible refers to whether or not your organization can receive technology donations from a specific technology donor partner, such as Adobe, Microsoft or Tableau. Each TechSoup Canada technology donor partner has their own indivudal set of restrictions on how or who can use their product donations. Depending on your budget, mission and status as a charity or nonprofit, your organization may or may not be eligible to receive donations from each partner.

Your organization's eligibility status

You can view what programs your organization is eligible to receive anytime you’d like by logging into your account and clicking on the “My Organization” tab.

To learn more about eligibility, see our Eligibility and Program Guidelines page.

1.5 What is an annual operating expense and where can I find this information?

This is an estimate of what it will cost to run your organization for a year. This refers to all expenses of any kind (including staff, infrastructure, and any other expenditure), during this period. Please feel free to include financial documents that demonstrate this figure, along with your other documentation. For example, a charity’s annual operating budget typically corresponds to the organization’s T3010 Return (viewable on the Canadian Revenue Agency’s website), under Schedule 6: Detailed Financial Information, Line 4950.

1.6 I’m trying to register my organization and received a duplicate error message

Thanks for starting the registration process with us!

If you’ve received the message "It looks like this organization is already registered" and/or  "A record already exists with the same information" when you try to register your organization, we may already have an account on file for your organization. Remember, we’ve been serving Canadian nonprofits since 2004, so whoever registered your account may no longer work with you.

An example of a "duplicate account" message

We serve nonprofits nation-wide, so any organization with a similar name to yours (consider: “United Church” or “Boys and Girls Club”) might trigger this issue. In this case, please try to register your organization again with your location in the Organization name (e.g. use “United Church - Kitchener”, or “Boys and Girls Club - Halifax”).

If this yields the same result, please do not continue your registration. At this point -- it will only lengthen your registration process. Instead, send us an email to let us know you may have an existing account with us to which you need access. Please include the following information as best you can, so we can help you most quickly:

• Current Organizational Name:
• Current Organizational Email Address: (please provide a generic email address, such as admin@yournonprofit.ca)
• Current Physical Address:
• Business Number and / or Charitable Registration Number:
• Any Former Organizational Name(s):
• Any Former Mailing Address(es):

We will respond to your email with 2-3 business days with instructions for how to access your original account and any requests we have for verifying the information on file.

Once you’ve logged into your account, please let us know if any of the information in the My Organization section needs updating. To ensure your organizational history is not lost, we cannot simply overwrite your old account, by allowing you to register a new account.

Section 2
Accessing and Managing Your TechSoup Canada Account

2.1 I forgot my password and/or username

If you have forgotten your password, click on "Log in" on the top right hand side of the screen and select the "Forgot your password?" link. Remember, if you know your username, you will don’t need to email us to gain access to your account.

"Forgot Your Password?" link on the login page

Enter your username and click "Send me my password reset email". A one-time login link will be sent to the contact email on your TechSoup Canada account and you will be able to create a new password.

The "Send me my password reset email" link

If you don't remember your username, please email us. We do not allow online username retrieval nor can we give out your username over the phone for the security of you and your organization.

2.2 I’d like to update my organization information (address, budget, email, etc.)

If you’d like to update your individual/main contact information, such as your username, password and contact email (password resets are sent to this email), you can log into your account and edit it anytime you want!

1. Log into your account and navigate to your “My Account” page.
   
2. Click on “Edit my profile” to change your settings
   

If you’d like to update information for your qualified organization -- such as your organization email (licenses and order fulfillments are sent to this email), mailing address, etc. -- navigate to your "My Account" page, click on "My Organization", and click the button on the right of the page that says "Update my org's info".

2.3 My organization’s name/nonprofit status/activities have changed!

If there has been a change to some of your organization's information, such as your organization's legal name or nonprofit status, you can navigate to your "My Account" page, scroll to the bottom of the screen, and click the button that says "Update my org's info".

If your organization has merged with another nonprofit, or if your activities have changed -- email us so we can make the changes for you!

Section 3
General questions about the Technology Donations Program

3.1 I have a question about a donor partner program (e.g., Microsoft, Microsoft VLSC process, Adobe)

If you have a question that relates to a specific donor partner program, such as Microsoft (“I need help with VLSC!”), Adobe (“What is my Adobe password?”) and more, please refer to the donor partner’s FAQ page, located on the product page in the "Learn More" section.

For example, if you have questions about the Adobe Donations Program, you can navigate to the Adobe FAQ page from any Adobe product page by clicking on  the "Adobe FAQ" link in the "Learn More" section (see screenshot below):

The Donor Partner's FAQ link is located on the product page

Be sure to also read the product page of the item you’re interested in and check the donor partner's program details if you want more information about the product and program.

3.2 Why do you charge administrative fees? And why have prices changed?

The TechSoup Canada Technology Donations Program charges an administrative fee for each license requested. The fee is to cover the cost of administering the Donation Program (i.e. validating nonprofit documentation) and the efforts of the TechSoup Global Network advocating on behalf of the sector (i.e. bringing in new donor partners and expanding our service offering). As such, the admin fees are subject to inflation and currency exchange rates. Also, all of our hardware programs have shipping and handling costs included in the admin fee.

While administrative fees vary by product and by year, we make sure that charities and nonprofits still experience a savings of 80-95% off the donated products’ fair market value/retail prices.

Admin fees ensure that the TechSoup Canada Product Donations Program can continue to offer donated and discounted products as efficiently as possible, at the lowest possible cost.

3.3 Why do products names/Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) change?

Most likely it’s been updated! Our products and programs are regularly refreshed each year to reflect the latest software version provided by our Donor Partners. For example, antivirus programs such as Bitdefender are updated each year to keep up with the new types of security and online threats. Other programs such as Microsoft Office and the Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements Bundle (PEPE) are updated every so often to include new features (i.e. Office 2013 to Office 2016, PEPE 13 to PEPE 14, etc.).

If a product name or Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) cannot be found in our catalogue, it means that particular product has been discontinued and most likely replaced with a new product that the donor partner has offered. For example, Norton 360 by NortonLifeLock has been replaced by Norton Security and is therefore no longer available in our program. Another example would be the Adobe Creative Suite product, which is now replaced by Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions.

3.4 What’s the difference between a Donated product and Access to Discounted Rates?

A donated product means the technology Donor Partner is distributing the software and/or hardware through the Technology Donations Program. Once members pay for the product’s administrative fee, they can access the product at no additional cost. An example of a Donation Program would be Bitdefender, Autodesk or Box.

Access to discounted rates means that the product itself is not in the Technology Donations Program. Rather, the technology partner has provided TechSoup Canada members a discount to the product. Members need to pay an administrative fee in order to access the discount, after which they can use the link or discount code provided by TechSoup Canada directly at the technology partner’s website. This means in addition to the administrative fee, members will need to go to the technology partner’s website, use the discount code and pay subscription fees directly to the Donor Partner (not TechSoup Canada). An example of an Access to Discounted Rates program would be Adobe Creative Cloud or Zoom.

3.5 What happened to ________ product that you used to have?

If you are looking for a product that is no longer available in our catalogue, chances are it has been replaced by another similar product (e.g., Norton 360 was replaced by Norton Security), or it has been discontinued. We do not currently offer any products in the Donations Program that are not explicitly listed in our Catalogue.

3.6 A product I wanted is out of stock. When will it be available?

Hopefully soon! As a donation program, we don’t have timelines on when products will be available again as it depends on our donor partner. We can guarantee that we will update the site immediately when we get new stock, and send short emails through our Product Alert mailing list as soon as products come back into stock. Signing up for Product Alert is your safest bet to stay on top of things

3.7 Can I use the software and hardware from TechSoup Canada as a raffle prize or as a gift?

You can't, sorry. The donations in our program are allocated and licensed to your organization directly, and cannot be transferred to an individual or another organization.

Our donor partners, such as Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk and others, understand that your organization is on a mission and they would like to help. They offer their software and hardware to our Technology Donations Program as a way to help you save money and equip your organization with the best, most up-to-date technology, so that you can redirect your resources on what matters: your mission. For this reason, your software and hardware products are donations to your organization (think of them as restricted funds!) and should be used solely by your organization.

3.8 Do you take hardware donations?

While we do partner with hardware refurbishers, such as CDI Computers, we ourselves cannot take hardware donations as TechSoup Canada is not a refurbisher and cannot accommodate hardware storage.

If you’d like to donate hardware, here’s a list of organizations that may be able to help:

Note: These organizations are not partners of ours and we are not able to officially condone or recommend them as such. The organizations listed below are those we have knowledge of and have been recommended to us by members like you. So please, use your discretion!

• Computers for Schools
• reBoot Canada
• Little Geeks
• The Electronic Recycling Association
• Ordi Vert (French)
• Buying United’s Technology section (it's on the United Church site but it's not limited to United Churches)
• Sky’s the Limit (for organizations with computer mentoring/tutoring programs with youth)
• Insertech (Quebec only)

Section 4
Program Rules and Eligibility

4.1 Why am I not eligible for ________ program?

Your eligibility for a specific technology Donor Partner (i.e. Adobe, Microsoft, Cisco) depends on whether or not your budget, mission and status as a charity or nonprofit matches the donor partner’s eligibility criteria. Since each TechSoup Canada technology Donor Partner has their own set of restrictions on who can access their products, your organization may or may not be eligible.

• ... you were over their budget limit
  (e.g. Bitdefender is opened to organization with budgets of $1.4 million or less)
• … your program activities aren’t in the scope of that donor partner’s area of focus
  (e.g. Tableau is not opened to faith-based organizations)
• … or maybe it’s only open to charities and not to nonprofits without charitable status
  (e.g. Cisco Donations Program is only opened to charities)

If you feel your organization’s information needs to be updated, feel free to email us. Please send any supplemental documentation you have about your requested update so we can complete it for you!

If your organization is not eligible for specific donors or the TechSoup Canada program as a whole, please refer to our More Nonprofit Deals page for a list of free or discounted software and services available to nonprofits and charities outside of our program.

4.2 How can I become eligible for a product that I’m currently ineligible for?

Since your eligibility for the product depends on whether or not your budget, mission and status as a charity or nonprofit matches the Donor Partner’s eligibility criteria, we recommend that you review your organization’s current details and make sure everything is up-to-date (budget, mission, legal status, etc.).

If your organization’s details are up-to-date and you’re still ineligible for the product you want, let us know by email how this product can help your nonprofit. TechSoup Canada and the TechSoup Global Network are continuously advocating on behalf of the nonprofit sector. With your help and testimony, we may be able to work with our partners to open their eligibility to as many groups as possible. Adobe, Microsoft, Citrix and Intuit are just few examples of donor partners that have recently expanded their eligibility so that more nonprofits, charities and libraries can participate in their program. While we cannot guarantee that your nonprofit will become eligible, we do our best to advocate on behalf of the sector!

If your organization is not eligible for specific donors or the TechSoup Canada program as a whole, please refer to our More Nonprofit Deals page for a list of free or discounted software and services available to nonprofits and charities outside of our program.

4.3 Why has my eligibility for certain products changed?

Since eligibility requirements are determined by our technology donor partners, they can change at any time. Some eligibility changes are positive, such as partners expanding their programs so that more nonprofits, charities and libraries can participate in their program (examples include Adobe, Microsoft, Citrix and Intuit) however some eligibility changes may entail more restrictions, making previously eligible organizations to be ineligible. Because each circumstance and donor partner eligibility requirement is different, we suggest members to refer to our Eligibility and Program Guidelines page to see the most up-to-date eligibility requirements for each donor partner.

4.4 I need more licenses than I can request with my account - what can I do?

If you need the licenses for a branch of your organization that doesn’t have an account with us, please email us and let us know you need a Branch Application letter. We may be able to create an account, with its own allotment, for your second location, depending on a few factors.

If you are a national organization with offices in many provinces, please email us with some information about your organization. We have a centralized way of creating accounts for your offices, and we’d love to have you on board. This could allow all your locations to have their own allotments, greatly increasing your capacity to use the program!

If your organization has a very large budget or a large number of staff, you may not be eligible for some of our donor programs, or might not be able to get all the licenses you need. We’re sorry about that. There are other ways to get discounted software for nonprofits and charities that might be helpful for you! We also hope you’ll use your TechSoup Canada account to stay in touch with our learning centre, blogs, webinars and other nonprofit tech content.

4.5 How do monthly/yearly subscriptions work with TechSoup Canada?

If you have ordered a subscription to a product, such as an antivirus program (Bitdefender, NortonLifeLock), design programs (Adobe Creative Cloud) or virtual conferencing programs (Zoom), you may need to pay a subscription fee directly to the donor partner for the period of your subscription. Each subscription product is a little different, so you should review the product details before placing your request. At the end of your subscription, you can either renew the service or cancel it.

As a reminder, our Access to Discounted Rates products will also require you to pay a subscription fee directly to the donor partner in addition to the TechSoup Canada admin fee. For more details on Access to Discounted Rates, please refer to Section 4.4 of this FAQ, “What’s the difference between a Donated product and Access to Discounted Rates?”

Note: There is no annual fee for being a member of TechSoup Canada.

4.6 Do I renew through you or the donor directly? Can I get a deal again?

It depends! Bitdefender, and Sumac Silver are all products you request again each year from us, rather than renewing the original donation. Other products automatically renew your subscription unless you opt-out, such as Creative Cloud.

Section 5
Placing Orders

5.1 How do I place an order?

First, make sure you’re logged into your TechSoup Canada account, as only members of qualified organizations can place orders. If your Organization Status is not Qualified, we may have emailed you for some further clarification on your account. Once you’re logged in, click on the “Browse Catalogue” button to view our products. You can filter by donor partner (i.e. the company that makes the product), product category and subcategory (i.e. Finance > Accounting software). When you see a product you’d like to order, edit the quantity of this product you would like to order, click on “Add to cart” to add it to your cart. You can view the items in your cart at any time by clicking on the “My Cart” link at the top, right-hand side of the site. Once you have finished selecting items, you can proceed to checkout.

A Note on Cisco Orders

The Cisco donation program requires an additional step in the ordering process. Cisco requires more information from your organization, so before you place an order for Cisco products, you will be asked to provide additional information. Your order will not be processed until this information is reviewed. All Cisco orders are subject to approval. In the event that your order cannot be accepted, you will receive immediate notification via email.

Your Cisco equipment will be shipped to the address we have on file for your organization within 8 weeks of the date we receive your payment. Your SMARTnet support contract will be activated approximately 5 weeks after your entire donation shipment has arrived at your location. This information will appear on your request history once it has been activated.

5.2 How much and how often can I order?

You can order anytime and as often as you’d like, as long as it’s within your allotment for that program. Please see our “How Much Can I Order?” page for more information on allotments and order cycles.

5.3 How do I pay for my order? Can I pay by cheque?

We recommend paying by credit card. Online payment is the best way to ensure that you get the product you ordered, as order requests are processed after we receive the payment (i.e. paying online ensures that your order fulfillment starts on the same day).

During checkout, choose the payment method credit card via PayPal. You will be routed to Paypal’s site to complete payment upon order submission. A PayPal account is NOT required. Select “Pay with Debit or Credit Card” as shown below:

You also have the option to pay via your PayPal account if you have one.

If PayPal rejects your credit card, it’s most likely because the billing address entered does not match what your credit card company has on file. Please try processing your payment again, but make sure the billing address you enter matches your credit card statement.

Due to COVID-19, we are not accepting cheques for the time being. If your organization is tax-exempt, please call us before placing your order. We will be happy to assist you.

What happens if none of these options are feasible? Consider using a prepaid credit card. They are widely available at retailers, grocery and convenience stores. You can purchase a prepaid Mastercard and VISA cards in increments from $20 - $200, activate and use them.

5.4 Do you invoice for product/can I pay now for an out of stock item?

As a donation program, we can't invoice for product or accept payment for an out of stock item. Sign up for Product Alert to get notifications on when products are in and out of stock!

5.5 What if I need a refund or an exchange?

For software, we unfortunately cannot exchange or refund your products -- even if it’s a case of ordering the wrong product. Because all of our software products are fulfilled via e-mail downloads, we consider these products installed and in use as soon as the request is approved and the administrative fee is received.
The only exception is for the Microsoft Donations Program: if you have not installed any of your donated licenses, contact us immediately. Please note however, this exception does not apply to the Get Genuine program. While we cannot guarantee a refund for Microsoft Orders, once we receive an email with an explanation of why the organization would like a refund (from your organizational email address), we can begin the process. If your request is approved, your refund may take several weeks to come through. Refunds will be issued by the method from which the order was made (credit card, PayPal, or cheque).

For hardware, please see Cisco’s FAQ and CDI Computer’s Program Guidelines for more information on how to return your order.

5.6 How do I make a return request for shipped products?

Please email us with 'Order Return Request' as the subject line, and include the following information in the text of your email:

• Organization Name
• Request Number - this is the five digit number on your invoice
• Reason for Return

We will assess the possibility of refunding your product based on the program guidelines. Refunds will be issued by the method from which the order was made. If you paid by credit card, we will refund the credit card on which payment was made. If you paid by cheque, we will issue a cheque refund -- this may take 4 to 6 weeks to process.

5.7 I'm a branch or affiliate, how can I order for my office with my organization’s account?

Please email us and let us know you need a Branch Application letter. We have a centralized way of creating accounts for branches associated within your organization, and we’d love to have you on board. This would allow all your locations to have their own allotments, greatly increasing your capacity to use the program!

5.8 I got an error message "A restriction error was returned by the restriction engine"/" "Oh snap! There seems to be an issue with your donation request" when I try to check out?

This means that you’ve either:

• Exceeded your allotment for that donor partner program. If this is the case, please refer to our How Much Can I Order? page, double check if you’re within your allotment base on your account’s Request History section for each partner and remove the extra products from your cart
• Or you placed a Microsoft Get Genuine order along with other products (remember, requests for Get Genuine cannot contain any other products!). If this is the case, you’ll need to either remove Get Genuine and request it in a separate order, or remove the other products so you only have Get Genuine in your cart. Before completing a Get Genuine order make sure you are away of the particular restrictions for this one Microsoft product, allowing only one request for the lifetime of an organization.

If none of the scenarios above apply, please contact us. One of our Account Managers will assist you in the ordering process.

Section 6
Tracking, Shipping and Order Fulfillment

6.1 When will I receive my product(s)?

Products usually take 2 - 3 business days to fulfill, as your request needs to be sent to the donor partner, who then prepares your license for download. Once your order has been processed by our donor partner, we will send you a fulfillment email with directions and any required links or login information to download, install, and activate your product!

Remember to check the organizational email address for your account (which can be viewed in your account, under the “My organization” tab), and check your Spam/Junk filter if your email does not arrive in your inbox within this period.

6.2 What if I didn’t receive my fulfillment email?

If you’ve checked your Spam/Junk filter and it’s been more than 5 - 7 business days since your order was processed, please email us and let us know which product you’ve ordered -- or better yet, provide the Request number for that order.

You can view your orders and request numbers by going into your account and clicking on the “Request History” tab, or by looking for the 5 digit number on your Invoice:

Click on “View order” to see your Request number, which can also be called the Order Number.

6.3 Can I get a hard copy of my software on a disc or CD-ROM?

No -- sorry! All of our software donations are electronic download-only, making our program a little greener and helping you get your software faster. Why electronic delivery only? We and our donor partners take sustainability to heart, and in our efforts to go green, we are committed to minimizing packaging and waste reduction.

6.4 Where can hardware products be shipped to?

Currently our hardware programs can only deliver to mailing addresses in Canada. Our donor partners can’t deliver hardware products to P.O. Boxes, so if you use a P.O. Box as your official address, please provide us with an alternative one for the purpose of shipping (if this alternate address is not listed on the documents you’ve provided or your website, please send us another document to validate this address).

Note: Our donor partners use UPS or Canpar for shipping hardware; your address must be able to receive courier deliveries.

6.5 How soon will I receive a shipped hardware product?

Please allow 4 - 8 weeks for your product(s) to be shipped to you. Generally for hardware requests, we will receive and approve your request within 3-5 business days, then the donor partner will process your request (8-10 business days) and ship your product via UPS ground service (5-10 business days). However, some of our donor partners will ship your products from different locations around the globe - so please allow up to 8 weeks for delivery from the time you place your order.

Section 7
About TechSoup Canada support

7.1 What kind of support do you offer?

Our account management team can support you from your account creation process, all way to your product download and installation. Anything beyond that is past our level of expertise! If you have specific questions about your product, such as configuration, feature sets and product support, we recommend that you contact the donor partner directly.

7.2 Do you provide training/consulting?

Not in the same way a consultant does! We follow the philosophy of “teach someone to fish, and you’ll feed them for a lifetime”, so our goal is to create content that will equip you and your colleagues with the knowledge to help yourselves!

We create and curate content on nonprofit technology through our Learning Centre (blogs, webinars, case studies and e-newsletters) and through Community events (in-person workshops via NetSquared Toronto and speaking engagements at conferences). If there’s a specific topic you’d like us to cover in our content or you’d like to invite us to speak at your event, see our Get Involved page for more details.

Section 8
About TechSoup Canada’s Validation Services

8.1 Office 365 Nonprofit

Office 365 for Nonprofit is a cloud application that provides you and your staff with web-based access to familiar Office applications, plus professional email, instant messaging, calendar, video conferencing, and access to your documents from anywhere. Microsoft has donated and discounted a range of subscription plans, so no matter how big or small your organization you can find an affordable plan that meets your needs.

Have questions about Office 365 Nonprofit? We created a dedicated page to answer common Office 365 questions.

8.2 Google for Nonprofits

The Google for Nonprofits Program offers qualified organizations access to free versions of paid Google products, such as Google Apps (email hosting, Google Drive, Docs etc.), AdWords and more. These tools can help nonprofits find new donors and volunteers, work more efficiently, and get supporters to take action.

Have questions about Google for Nonprofits? Please see our dedicated page to answer common Google for Nonprofit questions.

8.3 Validation Tokens

A validation token is a unique code that a person uses on behalf of a nonprofit that has been validated by TechSoup Canada. The token is used to access products and services intended for nonprofits.

Have questions about your token and what you can use with it? Please see our Validation Token FAQ page.

8.4 NGOSource

NGOsource is a project that aims to make it easier for U.S. grantmakers to give grants to organizations in Canada (and around the world) by evaluating whether a Canadian organization is equivalent to a U.S. public charity.

Have questions about NGOSource? Check out the NGOSource website for more details about the program.