On 1 July 2025, Microsoft changed what it gives to non-profits. The free Business Premium and Office 365 E1 licences that many charities relied on ended at each organization’s next renewal. Some only noticed when the renewal arrived.
That is the best reason to read a licensing guide. The programs are generous, and they move. Here is what Canadian charities and non-profits can still get, what to watch for, and where the small print bites.
The list at a glance
| Program | What is on offer | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | Microsoft 365 Business Basic free for up to 300 users. Business Premium at up to 75% off. About US$2,000 ($2,800 CAD) a year in Azure credits. | Free Business Premium ended at renewals after 1 July 2025. Business Basic has no desktop apps. |
| Google Workspace for Nonprofits. Up to US$10,000 ($14,200 CAD) a month of Google Search advertising through Ad Grants. | Search ads only, not cash. You need a good website and have to follow the program rules. | |
| Canva | Canva Pro features free for one team of up to 50 people. | The cap of 50. Seats beyond it are 50% off Canva Enterprise. |
| Adobe | Adobe Express at no charge. Acrobat Pro and Creative Cloud at a discount. | Acrobat is now arranged directly with Adobe. Reapply every year. |
| Salesforce | 10 free Enterprise Edition licences (Agentforce Nonprofit, or Sales and Service Cloud). | Extra users cost per month. Set-up is not free. |
| Slack | Pro plan free for up to 250 members. 85% off above that. | Verified through TechSoup. No refunds for fees paid before approval. |
| Others | QuickBooks Online, Asana, Okta and Amazon Web Services all run non-profit programs. | Check current terms before you rely on them. |
US dollar amounts are converted at the Bank of Canada daily rate of 1.4226 on 6 October 2026. Last checked 7 October 2026.
Verify once, and start early
Most programs begin with proof that you are a registered charity or non-profit. In Canada that usually means TechSoup Canada or Goodstack, depending on the vendor, and which vendor uses which has been shifting — Google now names Goodstack as its validation partner, while TechSoup Canada has long issued the validation token Canadian organizations use. Verification can take several business days, so do it before you need anything.
Microsoft is the big one, and the one that just changed
Eligible organizations can still get Microsoft 365 Business Basic free for up to 300 users: email, Teams, OneDrive and the web versions of Word and Excel. Business Premium, which adds the desktop apps and stronger security tools, is no longer free but is discounted by up to 75%. Microsoft also offers about US$2,000 ($2,800 CAD) a year in Azure credits, which can pay for website hosting and small applications.
Business Basic has no desktop apps. If your staff live in desktop Excel, price Premium before you move anyone.
Google gives you two things
Google Workspace for Nonprofits covers email, Drive, Docs, Meet and Calendar. Google Ad Grants is the headline: up to US$10,000 ($14,200 CAD) a month of search advertising, free.
Read that carefully. It is in-kind advertising on Google Search only, not cash. You need a high-quality website and you have to follow the program’s rules to keep it. A grant you cannot manage is a grant you will lose.
Design and documents: Canva and Adobe
Canva gives eligible organizations Canva Pro features free for one team of up to 50 people, with further seats at half price on Canva Enterprise. That covers social graphics, posters, annual reports and presentations, and for a group with no designer it is real money.
Adobe offers Adobe Express at no charge, Acrobat Pro at a discount, and Creative Cloud at a discount through TechSoup. Acrobat now goes through Adobe directly rather than TechSoup, and you reapply every year.
A free CRM, with a catch
Salesforce’s Power of Us program gives eligible non-profits 10 free Enterprise Edition licences. You choose between Agentforce Nonprofit, the product formerly called Nonprofit Cloud, and Sales and Service Cloud. It is a serious platform.
The catch is that the licences are free and the set-up is not. Past ten users you pay per person per month, and someone has to configure it, import your data and train your staff. Treat ten free licences as a starting point, not a finished system.
Team chat: Slack
Slack’s Pro plan is free for non-profit workspaces of 250 members or fewer, and 85% off above that. Verification goes through TechSoup. There are no refunds for fees you paid before approval, so apply before you pay.
Also worth checking
QuickBooks Online, Asana, Okta and Amazon Web Services all run non-profit programs of one kind or another, several of them through TechSoup Canada. We have not listed their terms here because we have not checked them this month, and these terms move.
Renewals are where the money leaks
Most programs have to be renewed, and some are reverified every year. Microsoft’s change landed at renewal. Adobe asks you to reapply annually. Put every renewal date in one calendar, with a name beside each, and read the program terms again when it comes round.
Two older leaks are still common: paying for software before checking whether a program exists, and assuming you do not qualify without asking.
The honest counterpoint
Free is not the same as cheap. A donated licence still needs someone to set it up, move your data in and keep it running, and those hours often cost more than the licence would have. Strings come attached too: caps, annual reapplication, and terms the vendor can change, as Microsoft just showed.
Donation programs also do nothing about the prices paid by everyone who does not qualify, which is a separate problem with how nonprofit software is priced.
We sell software, so weigh that. The test we would apply is simple. If the donation ended tomorrow, what would it cost you, and could you take your data and leave? If the answer is a scramble, the program is cheaper on paper than in practice.
Sources
Last checked 7 October 2026. Terms change, so confirm with each vendor before you apply.