Microsoft’s Tech for Social Impact (TSI) is the philanthropy division of Microsoft that supports not-for-profit organisations by providing intelligent and integrated cloud solutions. This helps not-for-profits thrive and enables more progress on critical issues, increasing the social impact of the organisations involved. In financial year 2022, Microsoft provided £2.6 billion in grants and discounted software and services, and equipped 330,000 charities with modern, secure, and scalable Microsoft cloud solutions.
Microsoft TSI offers a variety of resources to support not-for-profits, such as grants, training and ongoing support – and at TES we are ideally placed to provide the thought leadership, implementation and ongoing managed services to charities and not-for-profits in the UK. As the only Microsoft partner that focuses solely on the charity and not-for-profit sector, nobody understands the specific needs and challenges of charitable organisations better than TES. After all, we’ve been working with charities and not-for-profits for over 20 years!
Microsoft TSI provides charities and not-for-profits with access to technology tools, such as Azure, Dynamics 365, Power BI, and Power Apps. This helps these organisations implement innovative solutions that address societal challenges and increase productivity among workers. Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit, which was launched in November 2021, unites people, processes and data across the organisation onto a single, integrated cloud platform. Because Microsoft is such a familiar tool, it gets even more easy to collaborate within your charity; whether that is for your staff or in interaction with your volunteers: leverage actionable insights to accelerate organisational impact.
Since TSI began, Microsoft has partnered with over 30,000 not-for-profits, creating over 1 million jobs, and impacting over 1 billion people around the world. This shows the difference that Microsoft can make and why using this toolset can accelerate your impact to new heights.
Microsoft TSI enables not-for-profits to achieve far greater social impact for themselves and the people they help. The power of digital transformation lets individuals spend less time on administrative and organisational tasks, so that they can allow more time for working toward social good. With the power of Microsoft’s tools, your charity can have a far greater impact in the world.
Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit enables charities and not-for-profits to make better decisions and achieve more outcomes with real-time, connected data. Because of the interoperability between modules such as fundraising, marketing, finance and programme delivery, data is always up to date and charities can start with what they need today. The solution on the Microsoft platform will grow with them and adapt to their specific needs with only one aim: make it easier, faster, and less expensive for charities and not-for-profits to adopt modern technology, so that they can focus on what’s important: their mission!
Furthermore, every $1 (£0.80) spent by charities on their Microsoft licencing is matched by Microsoft Philanthropies and then donated back to charities around the world. So, for every £0.80 spent on licencing by charities, £1.60 is contributed to making the world a better place and donated to charities and not-for-profits to have a greater impact on the world’s most critical issues. So, even the ongoing contributions from charities towards licencing is re-invested in the charitable sector.
Tech for Social Impact can make a huge difference to your organisation. Microsoft believes over four million organisations qualify, but only less than 5% take advantage of it. This is why we want to make a change, so that we can help all not-for-profits access the tools they need to achieve a successful digital transformation.
Microsoft TSI makes many different resources available to not-for-profits that qualify[i]:
Technology grants: Microsoft provides technology grants to not-for-profits and social enterprises that use technology to assist their digital transformation. This includes the offering of licence grants, where a charity receives a number of free licences, and heavily discounted (-60%) enterprise licences. Please feel free to contact us to find out more about this.
Training: Microsoft provides training on how to use Microsoft products and services to achieve the maximum social impact possible by building capacity and skills, delivered by TechSoup, as well as the specialised learning paths on Microsoft Learn. This is in addition to the training that TES provide during the implementation of a project and the training that is available through our Managed Services Team.
Technical support: Microsoft provides technical support to not-for-profits to ensure they are getting the most of out their software and can achieve their goals. This is in addition to the support charities receive from TES’ Managed Services Team.
Partner network: Microsoft has a network of partners that provide technology and services to not-for-profits and social enterprises. We at TES are part of this network and we work closely with TSI to provide input on the specific challenges and requirements that UK-based charities face, and in doing so we are in a prime position to influence Microsoft TSI’s roadmap. A partner like TES enables you to achieve more, as we understand your organisation’s needs and by solving challenges that can be addressed with technology.
Harnessing the power of these resources puts not-for-profits in a much stronger position to make a difference. Together with Microsoft, we are committed to delivering solutions that are relevant and affordable to not-for-profits.
It is very simple: Microsoft closely works with partners to amplify outcomes: partners like TES can take the Microsoft solutions to the next level and adapt them to your specific organisation’s needs. TSI have been working hard to build its own partner ecosystem committed to the third sector, and we are very proud to be at the forefront of that. Microsoft expects its partners to provide consulting services to advise, deploy and adopt new technologies, tailor solutions for the charity sector and not only deliver technology, but also provide ongoing managed services. We are a proud TSI partner!
We have been trusted to deliver digital transformation to charities and not-for-profits for over two decades. Our comprehensive solutions cater to a range of needs and give you the power to do the following:
Know your donors and supporters – With Microsoft’s Cloud for Nonprofit platform, including the Fundraising & Engagement app, you can easily track donors and target them with relevant content to boost engagement, while driving greater transparency and collaboration. Align constituent management, insights, and reporting with program delivery, finance, and operations data. Increase funding and support of your mission by aligning programme needs with personalised supporter engagements. Because after all: with the recent expectation from donors to be informed of how their contribution has an impact, you need the tools to do so effectively.
Deliver effective programming – Make volunteering simple with TSI and TES. Easily reach out to find new volunteers across many channels and make onboarding a breeze. Utilising the self-serve volunteer portal, volunteers can re-apply and update their details ensuring that your data is always up to date. Volunteer Management facilitates the flow of information between volunteers and volunteer managers, resulting in increased productivity and effective delivery of projects/programmes.
Accelerate mission outcomes – Reduce admin with an all-in-one solution that combines all aspects of your organisation into one central platform. This avoids siloed data and disparate systems and the requirement for costly integrations. With unified data, you can work smarter (not harder) by raising more revenue and effectively delivering more projects to your communities.
Secure donor and programme participant data – Remain compliant with systems and partners that not only adhere to all GDPR and data protection regulations with ISO 9001 and 27001 accreditations, but are backed by an incredibly powerful security system, keeping your data safe. Microsoft provides a Security Program for Nonprofits, protecting your charity with security offerings that assess risk, provide monitoring, and provide training.
Innovate for impact – Undergo a digital transformation that will allow you to make a much greater impact, powered by data, proven and measured by data. Utilising Power BI across your Microsoft Dynamics Charity platform, along with in-built reporting, dashboards and analytics, you will have access to real-time data to make informed decisions and provide stakeholder reporting. With TSI and TES, your charity is superpowered.
It can be challenging to understand what exactly your organisation needs to get out of digital transformation. Feel free to get in touch and we will advise on a solution that completely transforms your charity or not-for-profit with tools that tackle the challenges you face.
Because of Microsoft TSI’s commitment to “empower every not-for-profit and international development organisation with Microsoft technology to accelerate social impact”, you can say that supporting charities and not-for-profits is part of TSI’s DNA. Their business model is all about the social investment model, affordable technology and solutions, capacity building and the partner ecosystem with their ambition to make it easier, faster and less expensive for not-for-profits to adopt modern technology so that they can focus on what is important: their mission.
So, if you are worried on how to engage with your donors and fundraisers effectively, how you can empower your staff and make their lives easier, how you can keep your beneficiaries and staff safe from cyber-attacks, or how you can effectively report on how much impact you know you are making but struggle to prove: reach out. With the Microsoft Platform, delivered by TES, you are in safe hands: One mission (yours!). One platform (Microsoft). One partner (us).
Because we understand that Digital Transformation is not something you do every day, we can help you define your future roadmap as well. While you might start with one or two business applications of the Microsoft offering, you can gradually build your Microsoft platform with TES add-on applications, culminating in a solution that allows you to have one version of the truth and holistic reporting. We have extensive experience in supporting charities with their digital strategy, and together with the ongoing developments and investments of TSI in applications specifically for not-for-profits and charities, we can provide you with a robust and sustainable platform that helps you drive impact.
In the meantime, we are not just waiting for TSI to develop the next application for the third sector: we continue to develop our own add-ons to the Microsoft platform based on the requirements we hear from our charity customers. Why customise a system for one customer if you can make an app for that? All our app development is tailored to charities and not-for-profits, whether that is for Business Central or for the Customer Engagement (CRM) solutions. To find out more about our own add-ons that supercharge the Microsoft offering, have a look here.
Get in touch with our team to find out more about how your charity or not-for-profit can benefit from Tech for Social Impact and Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit. We are the only Microsoft Dynamics partner that focuses solely on the not-for-profit sector, and we are here to support your charity’s transition. We want to give you the power to do more with less!
[i] Find out if your organisation is eligible now: Nonprofits Grants & Credits Eligibility | Microsoft Nonprofits. Microsoft has partnered with TechSoup to validate not-for-profit organisations, public libraries, and public museums. As part of the process, TechSoup reviews your organisation’s mission and activities. TechSoup uses publicly available and locally relevant information as well as information you will provide during registration and compares it with the eligibility criteria for Microsoft’s offerings to not-for-profits.
Whether you’d like to arrange an informal chat, a free demo or discuss a potential project, our team of charity and not-for-profit digital transformation experts are always on hand.
