Discontinuation of M365 Business Premium Grant Deeply Disappointing,Harmful to Small Nonprofits
As a Microsoft CSP partner supporting multiple nonprofit organizations, I am extremely disappointed by the decision to discontinue the Microsoft 365 Business Premium grant. This change disproportionately affects small nonprofits that rely on these tools to fulfill their missions with limited resources. The justification that this is about “alignment” or “sustainability” is disingenuous. Let’s be honest—this is a revenue-driven decision that undermines Microsoft’s long-standing commitment to empowering nonprofits. Removing access to essential tools like Office desktop apps and Intune from the grant program forces small organizations into paid plans they cannot afford, jeopardizing their operations and security. Microsoft has built goodwill in the nonprofit sector over the years. This move erodes that trust. I urge you to reconsider this decision or at least provide a longer transition period and more flexible options for small nonprofits. Please do better. The nonprofit sector deserves more than a corporate cost-cutting maneuver disguised as a strategic realignment.
applying a renewal Azure grant
Just a heads up that if you are approaching a renewal of your Azure grant, things have changed in the past 6 months, and you need intervention from Support to apply that renewal credit to your existing billing. The email you'll get from 'Microsoft Azure' (after approval) makes that clear -- and it is not a self-service within Azure Admin. The "approval notice" for a renewal that shows up in the Nonprofit Portal does not explain any of this, and in general the existing documentation is out of date. Msft began phasing out the Sponsorship Portal (and, in parallel, subscriptions under the older MOSP agreement) last December, in favor of a newer platform. To apply your renewal to the existing subscription, Support told me they first need to convert your subscription to the new platform, then apply the grant. I think it will appear as "Azure credits" in various places in the Azure Admin center -- and my guess is you might not see the new grant reflected in the balance shown in the older Sponsorship Portal. If you need to do this, you might get frustrated trying to file a support request in Azure Admin, but the response to my request sent via Nonprofit Support was prompt and helpful. Interested to hear from anyone else who has gone through the process in recent months. good luck -- StewAre you happy and successful with Dynamics?
I'd love to chat with a mid-sized nonprofit (in the 20-50 staff range +/-) that is up and running with Dynamics (whether or not they are using F&E), using it across more than one department, and generally satisfied with how things are going. I'm curious how much customization is in place, how much iteration has happened since go-live, what your tech stack looks like, how much is managed internally by an admin vs externally by a partner/managed services, and the LOE for getting an admin up to speed and/or expectations for ongoing partner support (cost, hours per month, etc). To be totally transparent, we have found Dynamics more difficult to work in than expected and would like to understand from others whether our expectations are realistic or not. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to chat!
Clipchamp disabling "share in the cloud" toggle button
Good afternoon Is there a way to disable the "Share in the cloud" toggle button in Clipchamp and set it to no by default? This is for using Clipchamp video editor in a primary school; we do not want the pupils to be able to share their videos to the cloud. Thank you Andrew
Question for small nonprofits
If you work for a small (5-20 people) nonprofit or charity organisation, what types of information are you capturing using Excel spreadsheets (or paper)? This might include your volunteers, program participants, donors, assets, clients, etc. What other data are you managing? Have you tried finding off-the-shelf solutions to help you with managing it?
Will Microsoft’s Fundraising Template App Be Supported Long-Term?
Since Microsoft retired the Fundraising and Engagement app, they’ve introduced template apps for partners and customers to build solutions. Over the past year, we did lot of customizations on top of the Fundraising and Engagement app, and we’re now considering moving these customizations and needed functionality to the ‘Fundraising’ template app. However, we’re concerned about long-term stability. Can Microsoft confirm if there’s any risk of these templates being retired or delisted? This would help us and others plan with greater confidence.
Offers/Discounts for Volunteers of Non-Profit
Now that I've set up our non-profit organization with Microsoft's non-profit grant, which includes 10 licenses of Microsoft 365 Business Premium, I'm wondering about what Microsoft 365 discounts are available to volunteers, especially Office software. It's not clear to me what offers/discounts are available for them. Can someone advise?
