Microsoft Free Nonprofit Licenses Update with Steve Longenecker

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.

Steve 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. 

Some Key Takeaways:

• Check your licenses through your Microsoft admin portal
  • Check the renewal date
  • Check the license types -look for "donation" or "discounted"
• 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 nonprofit annual rate. When your licenses renew after July 1, 2025, NONE of them will be free.
  • Microsoft says that your 10 free licenses will be automatically cancelled on your renewal date.
  • You don’t need to do anything to make this happen. However, we recommend actually cancelling your donation licenses about 2 weeks before your renewal date. That will ensure (we hope) that you don't get charged somehow if Microsoft automatically converts those free licenses to discounted licenses. 
  • About 2 weeks before your renewal/anniversary date, you should purchase the equivalent number of discounted Business Premium licenses.
  • Your finance team needs to be aware that going forward, your payment method on record will be charged an annual renewal fee for ALL your Microsoft 365 Business Premium licenses. 
  • We recommend using the free licenses until about 2 weeks before your renewal date, then purchasing the equivalent number of licenses you need. Why pay for the new licenses early? Save your money until the free licenses are about to expire.
• If you are currently using free nonprofit Office 365 E1 licenses for some staff, those also will roll over to discounted licenses on your renewal 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 and unsubscribing from Office 365 E1 before your renewal date. 
  • 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. 
  • 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.

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Thanks for listening.