Sg2009wc:techsoup
From She's Geeky Wiki
Title: How Nonprofits can use Tech Soup
Session: 4-L Bay Area Jan 2009
Convener: Rachel Holmen
Attendees:
Notes:
TechSoup has four main components, and while all are aimed at nonprofits, three of the four are open to ANYBODY.
- Very helpful user forum
- Webinars, articles, TONS of other info online
- Meetups at least monthly; annual (invitation-only) conference
- Software and hardware donations available to public libraries and 501-c-3 nonprofits (there will always be an administrative fee, but often it is extremely small)
To receive donations, some individual person associated with the nonprofit -- can be a volunteer, an outside consultant, or a paid staffer -- must create a personal account; then register the organization. DO NOT set up a second account without a good reason. (If you don't know the login information, phone us. If you don't know how to change the address, phone us. If you've changed email providers, phone us.)
A single organization can have more than one authorized user. A single person may be associated with more than one organization.
Send in the documents that are requested, no need for anything else. Follow instructions carefully -- if we ask for your current shipping address and the address shown on your 501 letter, do not include information about a third address of any kind for any reason.
Select your organization's type and subtype carefully; if necessary, consult with a TSS customer service person by phone. The choice will determine what donations you can receive.
The donating software/hardware vendors choose which kinds of organizations receive donations. Nobody gets everything. There will always be time limits on orders, quantity limits, and perhaps other limits as well.
If your organization cannot get something you'd like, don't take it personally, claim discrimination, or assume we don't believe your organization is doing good work.
Learn how to locate individual product pages on the website; research your donation requests carefully ahead of time.
If your organization has a complex process for pre-approving expenditures, pre-test your order by putting it into the shopping cart, and seeing if there are any restrictions at step 3 of checkout. If you don't understand the restrictions, phone customer service.