Highlights 2020

Adobe: Making Digital and Print Storytelling Easier for More NGOs

During FY 2020, TechSoup’s partnership with Adobe expanded for nonprofits to create more impactful content to increase their reach.

More than 95,400 licenses were distributed via the TechSoup Global Network, in part due to updated eligibility criteria for Adobe’s nonprofit software program, which expanded to eligible organizations with budgets of up to US$10 million and an increase total licenses available for Acrobat Pro, Premiere Elements,and Photoshop Elements Bundle.

TechSoup also implemented the Adobe Creative Cloud for Education (Teams) for our courses program, using it to design TechSoup’s own assets, while offering the same product to nonprofits in the United States. Creative Cloud applications also expanded to nine countries. Premiere Elements and Photoshop Elements products are now available in 24 countries.

AMAZON WEB SERVICES: Scaling Nonprofits Without Investing in Physical Infrastructure

AWS helps NGOs build capacity while avoiding the need to invest in physical hardware and infrastructure. The Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform offers access to high-powered computing, storage, data warehousing, development, analytics, content delivery, and other services.

In FY 2020, the AWS program offered credits that can be used toward nonprofits' AWS costs, such as usage fees for accessing AWS on-demand cloud services. In addition to providing product credits, AWS and TechSoup are committed to educating nonprofits about cloud services to increase organizations' efficiency and reduce costs without sacrificing capability. AWS provides NGOs with no-cost technical guidance around digital transformation, nonprofit office hours for support, and free product trainings.

Stepping up in times of need, AWS also donated US$20,000 to TechSoup’s COVID-19 Recovery Fund to help grassroots nonprofits continue serving our most vulnerable communities through the pandemic.

APPS4CITIES: Using Technology to Increase Accessibility of Open Data in Ukraine

Access to accurate data and information is the key to ensuring citizens make the most of democracy. This is particularly true in Central and Eastern Europe, regions hardest hit by disinformation and anti-transparency campaigns.

TechSoup continues to support the open data movement through the Apps4Cities project, with funding from the National Endowment for Democracy. For four years, TechSoup Europe has been helping Ukrainian activists and officials harness the use of public open data to increase transparency and accountability.

Through workshops, local leaders learn how to conduct data audits, clean data, and create open data portals.

Working with TechSoup’s partner in Ukraine, GURT Resource Center, an online competition to develop ideas for public service tools using open data was held with more than 35 small- and medium-sized cities that belong to the open data community. Two of the ideas were chosen and implemented by our team of developers and open data enthusiasts. They allow local communities to monitor air pollution and education in their cities.

“We work with open data regularly. Participating in the “Dani Mist” project, we learned about the data audit methodology. It helped us to understand better what we need to consider when writing a technical task for developers, how to involve the audience, and how to correctly communicate with the community through social networks . During the project implementation, we decided to develop a system of monitoring and analytics of the air in Lutsk as well as a fast and convenient channel of communication with citizens in the form of a chatbot.” — Nataliia Khmel, Head of Information Technologies Department of Lutsk City Council. The group developed the winning air quality project.

Asana: Mission-Driven NGOs Improve Efficiency and Capacity

The Asana discount program provides nonprofits with a 50 percent discount on the Asana Business and Premium plans. In FY 2020, Asana expanded its philanthropy program dramatically with TechSoup’s help. It now enables thousands of nonprofits around the world to organize and manage their projects more efficiently.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, for example, used Asana’s templates to streamline more than 180 projects, eliminating redundant work and increasing efficiency.

Using Asana's software, Together We Rise increased its capacity so that nine times more foster children are being helped. Prior to implementing Asana, the organization only had the capacity to serve 10,000 youth annually.

Asana generously donated licenses to all the TechSoup Global Network partners.

Black Lives Matter: TechSoup Supports Racial Justice

We have to be willing to do the hard work to put an end to brutality, to racism, to inequities.

The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others have shocked and outraged people around the world. They are three names of hundreds, of thousands. Some known, some lost over the last 400 years. They are humans inside a history of systemic racism that enables discrimination and protects the violation of human rights. Systemic racism that silences the voices of so many.

TechSoup has been outspoken about condemning racial inequities, both internally and with the organizations we serve.

Internally, staff had difficult conversations that led to the formation of Building Respect, Inclusion, Diversity, and Global Equity (BRIDGE). This employee resource group held numerous events in FY 2020, focusing on a better understanding of the issues and ways each TechSoup staff member can personally make a difference.

Rebecca Masisak, CEO, and Marnie Webb, chief community impact officer, issued a public statement about TechSoup's accountability and responsibility to end the oppression of Black people.

TechSoup also continued to amplify voices of NGOs representing people of color on our social media channels including Black is Tech Conference, Equality Can't Wait, CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals, Hustle Crew, and Pledge 1%. And staff at TechSoup reached out to nonprofits working for racial justice to give them early access to the COVID-19 Recovery Fund.

Democracy and freedom in civil society across the globe are linked to the issue of dismantling institutional racism. For FY 2021, TechSoup will continue to contribute to that change both internally and publicly, in whatever way it will provide the greatest value.

Cisco: Keeping Nonprofit Technology Secure to Increase Productivity

Cisco, which has been one of TechSoup’s key hardware partners for the past 16 years, supplies networking technology to NGOs to help them realize significant gains in productivity, scalability, and cost efficiency. The Cisco program through TechSoup Global Network distributes over US$10 million retail value in wired and wireless networking products to eligible nonprofits and charities in 19 countries.

In FY 2020, the Cisco Meraki line of wireless networking equipment was added, giving more nonprofits the opportunity to build a reliable and secure network and to manage it through a cloud-based system. Cisco Meraki became a valued solution as NGOs asked staff to work remotely because of COVID-19.

DIGILEAD: Supporting Nonprofit Leaders in Digital Readiness

NGO leaders want to improve operations, expand efficiency, and increase mission impact. To do so requires that they integrate technology into their overall organizational strategy.

To help nonprofit leaders, TechSoup (specifically, Fundacja TechSoup in Poland), in concert with other TechSoup Europe partners, created the DIGILEAD project. It focuses on NGO leaders who aim to apply digital transformation plans to increase their organization’s mission-based work and fundraising potential.

Funded by the European Union, the project produced educational resources, including “Advanced Methodology of Training for Nonprofit Leaders: Digital Transformation, ” which is available in Polish, French, Bosnian, and English. Also developed was a “Trainer’s Guide and Training Outline” to help others lead future workshops. More than 75 participants attended in-person training about digital transformation for nonprofits leaders and 68 individuals took part in the webinar “Digital Transformation of NGOs.”

The energy from the meeting with other nonprofits at various stages of the digital transformation made me realize at what stage my organization is and where I need to start.” — NGO leader, Poland

Partners for the educational resources include Les Ateliers du Bocage, SocialTechno, Fondacija Mozaik, and Haus des Stiftens.

Digital Assessment Tool: Customized Resources For NGOs Seeking Digital Transformation

TechSoup’s Digital Assessment Tool, under development, is a free online tool that lets nonprofits assess their digital capabilities and provides them with a customized list of nonprofit technology resources that can help them accelerate their digital transformation. The tool lets an organization design a clear path to its digital transformation by identifying specific skills, key processes, and appropriate technology solutions that will allow it to be more operationally effective and deliver greater impact.

Organizations will answer assessment questions in six core functional areas, and the tool will generate resource recommendations including software, hardware, services, courses, and content.

Funding for the development of this application was provided by five TechSoup corporate partners: VMware, Okta, Adobe, Box, and Cisco.

Phase 1 of the tool’s development was completed in FY 2020. It included developing an assessment framework and web application for nonprofits to conduct the assessment themselves. A limited number of nonprofits are now using the assessment application while a localized version for other countries is being developed.

TECHSOUP DISASTER RESILIENCY: TechSoup Expands Disaster Recovery Resources in Response to Pandemic

As "global pandemic" was added to the list of the kinds of disasters that nonprofits need to be prepared for, the TechSoup Global Network stepped up to add additional disaster response tools.

Building upon existing tools for disaster recovery available to the TechSoup community, many of the same recommendations previously developed for nonprofits to prepare for natural disasters, like hurricanes and fires, were also applied to pandemic response. These included tools and policies for remote work and communication plans for when operations are disrupted.

Additional disaster preparedness and response resources in FY 2020 included:

• A new TechSoup Courses learning track on Disaster Preparedness was launched with generous funding from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP).
• The COVID-19 Resource Page highlights those tools that support remote work and collaboration for nonprofit staff.
• TechSoup also launched the COVID-19 Recovery Fund to help small organizations that need support in rapidly adjusting their technology planning, work processes, and service delivery by providing micro-grants for use towards technology resources.

DocuSign: Streamlining Processes so NGOs Can Focus On Their Missions

With DocuSign, NGOs can easily untether themselves from paper-based processes so they can impact even more lives, more quickly.

Nonprofits often have used traditional paper for transactions and workflow, such as employee and volunteer onboarding. When the pandemic hit and required them to shift work to remote settings, DocuSign software helped them continue processing work.

In FY 2020, DocuSign product donations program expanded to reach the TechSoup Global Global Network in 236 countries and territories, and the U.S. program was enhanced to support nonprofits with budgets over US$1 million. Overall, in the past fiscal year, more than 2,600 organizations benefited from DocuSign’s program.

DocuSign also made a generous donation of US$10,000 to the TechSoup COVID-19 Recovery Fund, helping grassroots nonprofits continue to serve the most vulnerable communities through the pandemic. In addition, DocuSign hosted an employee gift-matching campaign for the Recovery Fund.

Game Changer: Training Europe’s Youth Leaders to Combat Intolerance and Hate Online

With funding from the European Commission, TechSoup Europe regional Global Network Partners developed the Game Changer project, which focuses on using new technologies to promote tolerance and respect. The project’s goal is to empower social change advocates to help youth increase their civic engagement and prevent polarization within communities with extremist narratives.

The project trained 26 young leaders from Poland, France, and Greece, dubbed Ambassadors of Change. These Ambassadors of Change created online campaigns for their peers that promoted tolerance, respect, and civic engagement.

“I saw that even small actions can affect others, that small gestures can do big things. I saw that everything is open to us, that we can act.” — Participant, Game Changer Project, France

Partners for Game Changer include Civis Polonus (Poland), Association Artemis (France), Impact Hub, and Logou Paignion (Greece).

Global Marketing Bootcamp: Increasing Marketing Expertise across the Global Network

In FY 2020, TechSoup launched marketing bootcamps with TechSoup Global Network (TSGN) partners in Africa and Latin America to support them in increasing marketing expertise to expand their reach.

For three months, TechSoup’s US-based marketing team and TSGN partners engaged in interactive weekly training workshops. Together, they shared best practices and offered constructive feedback on topics that included email marketing, online advertising, and campaign design. Sessions emphasized the value of advance planning, and partners gained experience in designing a regular cadence of communications and measuring marketing results.

During the bootcamp, each partner launched an independent, yet simultaneously run, marketing campaign for cloud adoption featuring Microsoft Cloud Solutions and TechSoup Courses and Services. As a result, TSGN partner Kenya Community Development Foundation increased the number of nonprofits on its mailing list by 150 percent in three months. TechSoup Courses enrollments in Africa increased in April by more than 300 percent.

All participating TSGN partners reported increased engagement and revenue for cloud products. In just the first two weeks of its campaign, the Centre for Social Innovation in Canada witnessed a 60 percent increase in administration fees compared to the same time last year.

In the upcoming year, TechSoup will expand this capacity-building offering with an additional focus on hosting online events. TechSoup’s emerging markets and partners in Asia, Africa, and Latin America will be included in FY 2021, with support from Microsoft.

Growth Capital Campaign: A Successful Launch for Investing in the Future of Civil Society

In November 2018, TechSoup launched a Growth Capital Campaign with the goal of raising US$11.5 million over three years. This campaign will allow us to increase the resources we distribute globally from $1.9 billion in retail value in 2018 to $4.8 billion in retail value billion by 2023. Our goal is also to nearly double our reach to serve 1.7 million organizations around the world. We currently serve slightly over one million NGOs worldwide. For every $100 invested, we will distribute over $47,000 of additional resources to the nonprofit sector.

Our Growth Capital Campaign has been quite successful in its first year. The Nonprofit Finance Fund will invest $4 million in TechSoup over the next two years. Microsoft Philanthropies made a $1 million investment. VMware Foundation committed $2.5 million in a recoverable grant. In total, we have raised nearly $8 million of our $11.5 million goal in the first eight months of the campaign.

In addition, we launched an innovative Direct Public Offering (DPO), which stems from our belief that TechSoup should be financed by people and entities of diverse economic means who care about supporting civil society. Our DPO allows nearly anyone to invest in TechSoup (with as little as US $50) and receive a financial return from 2% to 5%, while helping our organization grow its capacity to support more changemakers worldwide.

We believe TechSoup is the first nonprofit organization that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has qualified to do a Reg A+ Tier 2 offering. We’ve received considerable positive press about the DPO in publications like Barron's Penta, Forbes, Impact Alpha, and Devex. We hope it will be a model that other nonprofit social enterprises can use to raise growth capital in the future. During the coming year, we plan to share what we’ve learned from our experience.

Over the last 30 years, TechSoup has built the largest network of civil society organizations in the world. The NGOs we support serve billions of the most vulnerable people on the planet and address the world’s most pressing problems. Our Growth Capital Campaign will enable us to deepen our support for those we have been serving for decades, and help more NGOs in the years to come.

Hardware: COVID-19 Increases Demand for Computer Hardware

In FY 2020, the TechSoup Global Network connected more than 18,000 organizations around the world with donated and discounted hardware products valued at US$48.7 Million.

Much of that increase kicked off in March 2020, when the pandemic forced nonprofits to shift to remote work, driving a dramatic spike in requests for laptops, Wi-Fi hotspots, and VPN security appliances in March and April.

The Mobile Beacon program, which provides internet hotspots with low-cost internet service plans, was especially valuable to public libraries this year. They used the hotspots to establish “internet lending programs” through which their patrons (many in rural areas) could use the hotspot for internet access at home.

Partnerships with Dell, Lenovo, and HP grew significantly, serving twice as many nonprofits as last year. The refurbished hardware programs, now operating in 14 TechSoup Global Network countries, saw a 33% increase globally in the number of units distributed.

As for the past 16 years, TechSoup’s partner Cisco supplied enterprise-level networking equipment to organizations in 19 countries. With the addition of the Cisco Meraki line of wireless networking equipment, this year, more nonprofit members connected with a reliable and secure network.

An additional program, ViewSonic, was added this year. The Lenovo program expanded to the UK and the Dell program expanded to Canada.

Intuit: QuickBooks Brings Efficiency and Transparency to Nonprofits

Intuit and its QuickBooks products have been a vital tool for nonprofits that need accounting solutions in order to provide grant tracking, financial reporting, and IRS Form 990 data.

The pressure on nonprofits to provide financial transparency to their donors makes an error-proof accounting system all the more important. For one organization, this information has been vital to increasing efficiency as well. Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas uses QuickBooks to generate detailed reports at a moment's notice, helping the organization to stay accountable to its donors and grantmakers, while saving time. Prior to implementing the software, most things were done manually.

Nearly 43,000 QuickBooks licenses were distributed to nonprofit organizations in FY 2020.

Media Literacy Accelerator: Creating a Critical Approach to Information and Data

Even in solidly grounded democracies, distrust and radicalization is spreading at an alarming rate. It is fueled partially by Internet and communication technologies that are used as tools to spread disinformation, create chaos, and circulate biased opinions. TechSoup developed the Media Literacy Project to help civil society leaders understand the potential for technology usage to distort and manipulate facts. The project also highlights technology’s capacity to provide access to narratives reinforcing democratic standards.

Partners for the Media Literacy Project include RNTC, ePaństwo, CEPA, Zasto Ne, and Funky Citizens. The project has created an international community of trainers/experts and media literacy practitioners equipped with technical skills and knowledge, as well as a regional network of capacity-building partners in the Baltics, Visegrad countries, Western Balkans, and the Black Sea region. More than 225 individuals have taken part in the training and 63 master trainers have been educated.

“The training was extremely useful. We had a lot of practice and finally I got the clear idea of how to create a positive narrative and why we need positive narratives.” — Participant from the Black Sea region

The project also developed training materials, online resources, and a repository of technology tools and products to increase public interest in social activism, combat disinformation, build counter-narratives, employ fact-checking tools, and increase outreach in local media to create positive change in the media and online ecosystems.

Meet and Code: Closing the Digital Divide and Instilling Confidence in Youth

Meet and Code empowers young people by supporting hundreds of skills-coding events that are organized by nonprofits as part of the European Union’s annual Code Week.

In FY 2020, more than 1,200 events, proudly powered by SAP, took place. They gave students ages 8-24 the opportunity to attend workshops on using Scratch, Minecraft, HTML, C++, Python, or JavaScript; and classes introducing Arduino sets, Ozobots, and LEGO Mindstorm. More than 56,300 youth, representing 25 European countries, participated.

“I really liked the fact that I worked in a team and that I built something from scratch. It increased my self-confidence."
Sara, 14, Romania

TechSoup Europe coordinates the grant-giving process to nonprofits who host Meet and Code events, and manages the network activities in most countries. Founding partner and TechSoup Global Network member Haus des Stiftens gGmbH orchestrates events in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Meet and Code events can be transformative for participants but they often also are an eye-opening experience for NGOs that host a coding event. More than 80% of nonprofit organizations say that by participating in the event, they became more aware of the potential of new technologies overall and the benefits of using them in their organization's programming.

Megaphone: Organizers and Change Makers Develop Ideas to Fight Misinformation

Reducing the spread of misinformation, especially on social media, is a major challenge. Between “fake news” and social media platform algorithms, it is a struggle combat disinformation to improve democracy in civil society,

The second international MEGAPHONE event, supported by the NIOK Foundation, provided space for collaborative discussions and peer-to-peer learning. Activists, action groups, and CSOs from Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, brainstormed ideas for overcoming misinformation.

Topics ranged from building community on social media and ways to mobilize audiences to how to counter disinformation using podcasts, videos, and digital marketing.

I realized that we have a lot in common: the trends of change in our societies and publics, the tactics used by our foes, the insecurities we need to deal with in our professional life. I knew it before, but it is very useful to re-learn all this within a safe and supportive environment such as the Megaphone. - MEGAPHONE participant

Microsoft: Helping NGOs Embrace the Cloud

In FY 2020, TechSoup’s Microsoft program focused on supporting organizations that are making critical transitions into cloud solutions. This was ever more timely as COVID-19 forced millions of nonprofits to pivot to remote work; and find new and inventive ways of delivering their critical services at a time of greater need and demand.

As both a trusted nonprofit and resale partner to Microsoft, the TechSoup Global Network distributed more than 1.2 million software licenses in more than 200 countries.

After the pandemic hit, TechSoup added critical training materials to the Microsoft Digital Skills Center for Nonprofits, and made all courses for Teams, Microsoft’s online collaboration software, available for free to help nonprofits quickly adopt cloud solutions. These resources were made possible with support from Microsoft through TechSoup’s COVID Recovery Fund.

NetSquared: GROWING A COMMUNITY OF LIVE AND REMOTE DIGITAL EDUCATION EVENTS

NetSquared, TechSoup's global network of volunteer-led nonprofit tech meetups, brings live educational support to grassroots nonprofits globally. Attendees of the free community events discover what technology is available to them and learn to implement technology solutions. By supporting grassroots volunteer trainers, NetSquared provides hands-on guidance and mentorship to nonprofit leaders in 113 cities across 41 countries.

NetSquared is making an impact. More than 75% of attendees have shared knowledge gained from an event; and attendees report that membership in the community helps them make better IT decisions, increase productivity, and make connections to develop their careers.

With the pandemic, NetSquared’s traditional focus on in-person events meant that our core offering had to be put on hold. This has resulted in a marked decrease in the number of attendees. We transitioned to online events, maintaining one-third of our usual activity.

NetSquared worked to revamp the program, bringing our branding and events into stronger alignment with TechSoup, inviting the active participation of the TechSoup Global Network partners, and supporting in-person and online event formats.

NGOsource: Strengthening the Way U.S. Funders Make an Impact

NGOsource is the first and largest global repository of international NGOs deemed equivalent to U.S. public charities. A project of the Council on Foundations and TechSoup, NGOsource forever changed the landscape of giving for U.S. funders and their international grantees by solving the longstanding problem of costly, duplicative due diligence exercises required of private foundations and donor-advised funds.

This repository model enables faster, less expensive, and more compliant giving. It saves grantees valuable time and resources, while providing them with localized support and an accessible, multilingual technological platform.

NGOsource continued to experience rapid growth in FY 2020, reaching the milestone of nearly 10,000 equivalency determinations (EDs) in seven years. During FY 2020, 2,271 unique NGOs received EDs, in 128 countries, for 231 unique grantmakers.

NGOsource has been a key resource for many grantmakers during COVID-19 in particular because it enabled grantmakers to rapidly access eligible international NGOs, and process general support grants with fewer restrictions on the funds. Having an ED permits NGOs to receive funds with less oversight, fewer restrictions, and no legal obligation to submit narrative or financial reports.

NortonLifeLock: Ensuring NGOs Keep Data Safe and Secure

Norton’s line of consumer product offerings has been available to TechSoup members since April 2004. During the acquisition of Symantec Enterprise by Broadcom in 2019, NortonLifeLock reaffirmed its partnership with TechSoup as an independent entity. Its security products continue to be available in the catalog.

These products prevent threats like viruses, malware, and spyware from infecting nonprofits’ critical computer systems and damaging and harvesting their data.

Nearly 10,500 organizations worldwide have received NortonLifeLock through the TechSoup Global Network in FY 2020. For East African Community Services (EACS), the program has made a difference in ensuring the security of personal data. Prior to implementing NortonLifeLock on its servers and computers, EACS’ systems were inundated with sophisticated Trojans and other malware, which caused concern about data breaches.

In FY 2020, more than 12,000 NortonLifeLock licenses were distributed.

Okta: Equipping NGOs with Tools to Protect Critical Systems

TechSoup’s strategic partnership with Okta began in 2017 when we first validated nonprofits as part of the Okta for Good program. Okta’s security offerings help nonprofits stay secure with single sign-on (SSO), advanced identity, and access management solutions.

In FY 2020, the TechSoup Global Network partnered with Okta for Good to expand to more than 141 new countries and territories, and to bring a critical security platform to nonprofits.

Okta also further demonstrated its commitment to supporting TechSoup’s work through grant support for the development of TechSoup’s Digital Assessment Tool.

Pandemic Response: TSGN Rises to the Challenge of the Global Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic forced NGOs across the globe to navigate the challenges of working and providing services remotely. TechSoup was no exception as we rapidly moved our own operations around the world to remote environments to ensure minimal interruption to our mission.

Around the world, the entire TechSoup Global Network (TSGN) rose to the challenge as well. In Italy, TechSoup Italia quickly moved all training online and established a popular weekly live chat. Our German partner, Haus des Stiftens, responded by conducting a pandemic-focused webinar, training 1000 attendees how to move to remote work. In Hong Kong, the 180 staff members of our network partner HKCSS distributed 1 million face masks across the city.

TechSoup immediately deployed a battery of new training and resources to help. We began with a series of webinars; and established more interactive forums, guides and how-tos that can be easily accessed on a COVID-19 specific landing page.

“TechSoup has been providing some of the best webinars I've attended since this pandemic started. The information is thought provoking and not a sales pitch -- just a wealth of resources and best practices.” — Anonymous webinar attendee

In order to meet the needs of organizations as they respond to this ever- changing crisis,TechSoup established the COVID-19 Recovery Fund to cover the administrative costs of acquiring necessary technology, implementing solutions, and accessing training for their staff members. Through the fund, led by generous contributions from VMware, Microsoft, and the Brach Family Charitable Foundations, and supported by additional corporate partners,TechSoup is increasing support for small U.S. organizations that lack the technology tools and support they need to take their services online.

RANGE: Connecting Families in Need With Free Meals During the Pandemic

Food insecurity reached an all-time high in FY 2020. It’s estimated that 1 in 4 children will face hunger during the pandemic in the United States.

Range, a mobile app developed by Caravan Studios, shifted its focus from free summer lunch locations for students to fighting hunger during COVID-19. It shows all free meal locations in the beginning of April. Typically, service providers and families use Range to find locations in the summer only, with data provided by the Summer Food Service Program of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

However, since COVID-19 hit some states earlier than others, changes to the way food resources were provided were often led by school districts, not state and county leadership.

This shift in the provision of resources led to better outreach — districts could robocall, email, and text parents about sites. However, some sites were not included in the USDA data set right away, which meant that some sites didn't appear in Range or other food site resources. In these cases, the Caravan Studios team began scouring school district websites, state websites, and even Instagram posts to find as many sources as possible to include.

Caravan Studios also began posting information on a wiki page in addition to inputting data into Range.

SAFE SHELTER COLLABORATIVE: Helping Agencies Find Shelter Faster for Survivors

Through a secure, browser-based dashboard, the Safe Shelter Collaborative uses community-informed technology to provide faster access to agencies that need to secure, safe shelter for survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault in the United States. Led by TechSoup's Caravan Studios division, the Safe Shelter Collaborative brings together organizations and individuals — such as shelters, victim-assistance specialists, funders, and community members — who want to help survivors find a safe place to stay when they need it most. It is funded by the Office for Victims of Crime, a part of the U.S. Department of Justice.

In FY 2020, 153 agencies in 17 states used the Safe Shelter Collaborative to find shelter faster for survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault. In addition, when a shelter bed is not available, participating agencies can seek donations toward the cost of hotel rooms for survivors from individual donors via the SafeNight mobile app. Donors simply download the SafeNight app to their mobile phones, select an agency to support, and respond to alerts for donations. Since its inception in 2013, more than US$53,000 has been donated through the SafeNight app.

In FY 2020, program team members launched a community listening project, which collected information about usage of the Safe Shelter Collaborative and current needs, which fueled improvements to the technology and program.

Tiered Due Diligence, in Partnership with the Start Network: Transforming Due Diligence for the Humanitarian Sector

Since 2018, TechSoup has partnered with the Start Network, an international network of aid agencies working to transform humanitarian action through innovation, fast funding, early action, and localization. The result is “STEP” (Start TechSoup Evaluation Process), a multilingual digital due diligence framework providing a 360-degree view of an NGO’s compliance processes while providing a pathway to strengthening internal capacity.

The STEP Framework is comprehensive, assessing an NGO’s strengths and weaknesses across nine categories, including risk management, finance, and humanitarian best practices. The process helps identify an organization’s ability to manage risk, deliver on grant funding, and effectively serve its community. In addition, the framework provides tailored recommendations and accessible resources to aid in implementing any recommended changes.

STEP is transformative for several reasons: it turns due diligence into an exercise that benefits the vetted organization as much as it does the funder (or other requesting entity); it provides an avenue for NGOs of all sizes and backgrounds to be vetted and made visible to donors (rather than relying on a pass-fail vetting determination that ultimately excludes smaller, local NGOs); and it is being deployed across multiple regions and languages, giving NGOs the option to respond in their own languages, and to be vetted by evaluators within their own regions.

In 2019, TechSoup began the next project phase, supported by Humanity United, to fully understand the risk management and organizational strengthening needs of NGOs operating in Africa and South Asia. In early 2020, the framework was piloted in India, Pakistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Over the coming year, TechSoup will begin deeper engagement with the TechSoup Global Network partners to ensure rapid expansion of the program while utilizing the partners' local expertise within each region.

TECHSOUP AFRICA: Bringing the Cloud, Courses, and TechSoup Services to African NGOs

TechSoup Africa includes four local TechSoup Global Network partners who have delivered more than US$57 million in technology donations and discounts to local nonprofits: Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF), Phambano Technology Development Centre (Phambano), Professional Development Foundation (PDF), and West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI). In FY 2020, they responded quickly to support nonprofits dealing with the impacts of COVID-19, enhanced their marketing capacity and reach, and enhanced cloud awareness and learning throughout Africa.

Based in Kenya, KCDF supports local community development initiatives through grants and capacity-building programs. In March, KCDF speedily localized a free TechSoup Course dedicated to pivoting to remote work, making it more applicable to nonprofits throughout Africa and modifying the modules to reflect a variety of African experiences.

From Ghana, WACSI serves 17 countries and reinforces the capacity of civil society in West Africa through capacity development, knowledge management, and policy advocacy. This spring, WACSI designed and implemented a COVID-19 Resilience project, sponsored by Wilde Ganzen, a partner based in the Netherlands. The project provided research and technology support for 100 organizations faced with the need for sudden remote work from Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia.

Phambano, based in South Africa, aims to be the go-to solution for technology capacity building in civil society organizations across Southern Africa. In June, Phambano hosted the virtual event Making Cents Count: Using Technology to Maximize Your Financial Management, Fundraising and Operations, which features some of the digital tools that enable nonprofits to work remotely. It received a great deal of positive feedback and was streamed live on TechSoup’s NetSquared South Africa Facebook page.

TechSoup Americas: Meeting Nonprofits' Needs with Cloud-Based Remote Work Solutions

The six TechSoup Global Network members that make up TechSoup Americas have delivered more than US$8 billion worth of technology donations and discounts to nonprofits. The partners include ATN (Brasil), Centre for Social Innovation (Canada), CDI Chile, Cemefi (Mexico), MAKAIA (Colombia), and TechSoup.

In FY 2020, TechSoup Americas launched its regional-impact-focused website TechSoupAmericas.org showcasing its reach, collaboration, and network power. The site is available in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Americas partners developed a regional marketing strategy for digital transformation by participating in a three-month Americas marketing bootcamp and a six-month cloud solutions campaign that continues into FY 2021.

CDI Chile rebranded its technology marketplace as TechSoup Chile. ATN Brasil, MAKAIA in Colombia, and Cemefi each made significant progress in launching and developing cloud solutions, among other offerings.

When the pandemic hit, partners shifted operations and brought their events online to continue offering support. Cemefi, for example, organized more than 30 webinars to provide support and resources to NGOs. Webinars also included how to adapt to social distancing and sheltering in place, with topics ranging from mental health, tools for remote work, and fundraising.

TechSoup Asia-Pacific: TechSoup Asia-Pacific Expands Partnerships and Services

In FY 2020, TechSoup Asia-Pacific expanded its offerings to include a wide range of Microsoft cloud subscriptions. To date, more than 15,500 cloud licenses have been provisioned to NGOs in 12 different countries across the region. In addition, support services have also been made available, such as Office 365 setup assistance, email migration, and remote Office 2019 installation.

In the past year, TechSoup Asia-Pacific deepened its partnership with Blackbaud. Six additional countries in Southeast Asia are now eligible for exclusive discounts for eTapestry, the fundraising platform of Blackbaud. Blackbaud also co-hosted a half-day fundraising workshop in Singapore that was attended by more than 40 NGOs.

During the early stages of the pandemic, TechSoup Asia-Pacific hosted several free webinars designed to help local NGOs adapt to working remotely. Attendees topped more than 1,100 for some of the online events which provided education, resources, and support for the sector.

TECHSOUP COURSES: Expanding to Help NGOs to Pivot to Remote Work

Excitement marked the early part of FY 2020 as the TechSoup Courses team accelerated the production of courses for nonprofits. The more than 60 new courses included topics on remote work, digital skills, fundraising, social media marketing, storytelling, and CRM selection.

Working with Colombian partner Makaia, 12 courses were translated into Spanish for launch in TechSoup Americas. That added to our global course offerings, which have already reached organizations in Africa (in partnership with KCDF), Australia (with our partner Connecting Up), and Europe (through TechSoup Europe).

Through a generous grant from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, Disaster Preparedness became a course track, a live workshop, as well as a series of live, online Ask-The-Expert sessions.

When the pandemic hit, many of the TechSoup Courses developed for Disaster Preparedness and for the Microsoft Digital Skill Center for Nonprofits proved to be critically important because they provided training needed for staff and volunteers to pivot to working from home. Courses and live online sessions on remote collaboration tools such as Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and Planner saw enrollments increase by the thousands. In response to COVID-19, Microsoft made a generous donation to offer nonprofits MS Teams courses free of charge until the end of the year.

As a result, FY 2020 saw nearly 90,000 enrollments in courses from 138 countries worldwide.

TechSoup Services: Meeting the Need for Technology Advice, Implementation and Support

TechSoup Services help nonprofits get the most out of the technology they already have or plan to acquire by providing advice and assistance with technology implementation, migration, and ongoing management. From emergency tech support to strategic planning to fully managed IT services, our offerings are designed to meet the needs of all types of organizations.

TechSoup often bundles TechSoup Courses with its IT services to ensure that nonprofit staff are well trained on the tools adopted by their organizations.

Today, more than 50 global service offers are available, either directly from TechSoup Global Network Partners or through our five global regional centers. Services include software licensing advice, implementation support for popular products such as Microsoft 365 and Box, as well as consultations on digital marketing and website security. In FY 2020, more than 5,000 nonprofits took advantage of a service offering in the U.S. alone — double the number we helped in FY 2019.

VALIDATION SERVICES: Connecting More NGOs With New Technologies To Push Missions Forward

This year, NGOs were challenged by COVID-19 to adopt new tools to continue working toward their missions as they pivoted to working remotely. TechSoup Validation Services also saw more companies wanting to help nonprofits through their philanthropy programs.

In FY 2020, Validation Services clients — including Okta, Airbnb, Disney, Google for Nonprofits, Benevity, Sage Foundation, Slack, PayPal, Benevity, eBay, and Pluralsight — provided donations, discounts, volunteer hours, and employee giving to nonprofits in 236 countries. PagerDuty, Sparkol, Flexport, Elastic, Zoho, New Relic, and Logmein started partnerships with TechSoup, and used Validation Services to make their offers available to NGOs. These new partnerships bring cloud-based tools for sales, logistics, infrastructure management, and remote meetings. Validation Services enables clients to target and give to the NGOs that can best use these technologies.

The validation platform was also used to connect organizations to our COVID-19 Recovery Fund, TechSoup’s Meet and Code project, and other initiatives to help more NGOs and civil society organizations in need.

VMware: Driving Digital Transformation for NGOs

VMware launched it’s program in the TechSoup catalog at the beginning of FY 2020 introducing Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro. In December 2019, vCenter and vSphere were also added. This rapid program expansion allowed more than 220 U.S. nonprofits to receive the benefits of a cloud-first approach to digital transformation at their organizations.

More than 394 licenses were distributed as part of the program.

VMware made a significant donation of US$500,000 to the COVID-19 Recovery Fund, to help small organizations that need support in rapidly adjusting their technology planning, work processes, and service delivery as a result of the pandemic. In addition, VMware was a key funder for TechSoup’s Digital Assessment Tool.

WORKER CONNECT: A Voice for Immigrants During the Pandemic

Worker Connect, a project of TechSoup’s Caravan Studios, gives voice to vulnerable migrant construction workers in the Gulf region and connects them to services.

The service includes a mobile app that allows workers to anonymously report issues in a variety of categories, including food, housing, and transport. It also has a dashboard where worker welfare staff can analyze the data that workers provide and can act on workers’ concerns.

In FY 2020, COVID-19 increased the severity and breadth of issues workers faced. As worker welfare staff shifted to working remotely and construction work continued, the Worker Connect app was the only connection workers had to people who could address their issues. Increasingly, workers are using the app to report specific issues related to their health and safety during the pandemic.

In FY 2020, the program team began collaborating with Funky Citizens, an NGO in Romania, to explore how the Worker Connect platform might assist health workers at the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis in the region by exposing corruption and misinformation.

World Economic Forum at Davos: TechSoup Gives a Voice to NGOs for a Cohesive and Sustainable World

TechSoup was honored to accept an invitation to the January 2020 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The meeting is the world's premier platform for cross-sector dialog on global challenges, trends, and agendas. The 2020 meeting, marking World Economic Forum's 50th anniversary, focused on harnessing technology to accelerate progress toward the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

CEO Rebecca Masisak, and other TechSoup Global Network members, joined and led a series of workshops and speaking events. They were able to provide a unique, sector wide and grassroots-up perspective of civil society. The group used the forum to highlight the sector's needs and the possibility to engage all of civil society — not just those who can afford to participate in Davos — through an entity like TechSoup.

"We are committed to engaging with world leaders and expressing the voice and value of global, grassroots civil society, which remains largely unrepresented at such a forum. It is critical that we do so, harness and engage the talent, breadth, intelligence of our entire community in order to build toward the SDGs." - Rebecca Masisak, CEO, TechSoup

Masisak participated on panels including "Human Rights and Technology Design" and "Frontier Technologies for Sustainable Development" and was a lead debater in the New York Times Oxford debate on Big Tech and Regulation. To best represent the 1.2 million NGOs TechSoup serves, TechSoup chaired two working groups on civil society.

TechSoup and the Global Network will be developing its relationship with the World Economic Forum, leading the working groups Civil Society and the Future of Work and Digital Infrastructure for Civil Society and participating in more events at the intersection of technology, government, and philanthropy in FY 2021.

Zoom: The Year “Zoom” Became A Verb

At the beginning of FY 2020, Zoom was a rising star in the online video conferencing space, quickly becoming a necessity of the nonprofit sector due to its generous nonprofit program through TechSoup.

In March 2020, as more nonprofits shifted to working remotely due to the pandemic, that rising star turned into a rocket ship. Worldwide requests soared, from an average of 200 per month to nearly 7,500 in that month alone.

Zoom has been steadfast in its support of its nonprofit customers even as general demand also soared. Through the TechSoup Global Network, Zoom has made it possible for nearly 21,000 organizations in 76 countries and territories to remain operational and work through the barriers brought by COVID-19.

Nonprofits made more than 23,300 total requests since the program launched in 2018.