"The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit." - Moliere

Some of my favorite calls that come in to TechSoup's customer service start with something like "I've read the program information and restrictions about the products on your website but since this is my first time placing a request I'd like to make sure I'm doing everything right!" I know the feeling. There's a lot of information to understand and absorb, and decisions to be made when requesting donated and discounted products through TechSoup.

I have experienced working in a number of unique and cutting-edge environments and with "unique and cutting-edge" there is always a bit of a learning curve and TechSoup is no exception.

Sure, you can go to a retail store and buy whatever you want whenever if you have the money and you can usually return it if the boss says "No. Not THAT one. That OTHER one." But of course you are paying full retail price for these products. At TechSoup, nonprofits and public libraries have an opportunity to request products through specific discount and donation programs — so you should really know what you want as well as the ins and outs of the partner program BEFORE you submit a request.

Today I'd like to highlight the layout of our Partner and Product pages — both of which have a lot of helpful information for nonprofits and libraries who may be requesting donations through TechSoup.

Last week, I facilitated a webinar which discussed Microsoft Office Live Workspace. Ken Polson from Microsoft explained how Live Workspace works, how to get started and what it can be used for. Click here to view the webinar recording.

At one point during the presentation we asked the participants to tell us how they use online document sharing. Here are some of their responses:

Microsoft's Donation Program through TechSoup is by far one of the most in-demand and equally misunderstood programs available to nonprofits and libraries. Just like with all of the donation and discount programs through TechSoup, the vendor (in this case, Microsoft) sets the restrictions for how much, how often, and which types of organizations can receive their products. They generously donate, so we happily oblige.

What a lot of folks don't realize about the Microsoft Donation Program is that there is often more available than what people realize. This week, fellow blogger Elliot Harmon and former 'Souper Matthew Palmer, published an article explaining how the whole process works — from eligibility restrictions, order limits, frequency of requesting donations, and additional benefits available.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this morning's webinar about using Miscrosoft's Office Live Workspace (OLW). You can now find the archived recording and slides from the presentation here: https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/schedule/display.do?udc=esrhq125z5ve

Learn how to use it, get some questions answered about different functions work, and see what sorts of templates can be used to create your own OLW.

This free, online collaboration tool allows users to share files and documents anywhere they have access to the Internet.

Have you used Office Live before to collaborate online with staff, colleagues, peers, volunteers, board members, or others? Share your experience and ask any questions in TechSoup's Emerging Technologies Forum!

If you've ever emailed yourself files so you could access them at home, fumbled with thumb drives, or struggled with sending large files to your collaborators, you need this webinar!

Office Live Workspace (OLW) is a free online tool available from Microsoft to help you store, share, and collaborate on documents anywhere you have Internet access. In this webinar, on Tuesday, June 23, 10:00 a.m. Pacific, you'll hear from Ken Polson, an expert at Microsoft's Office Live Workspace, about how to set up your own free OLW to collaborate virtually with key stakeholders, whether they are volunteers, board members, staff, or all of the above!

You need not have a high level of technical experience to use OLW or to attend this webinar. This webinar is appropriate for anyone looking for an easy and free way to share documents and collaborate with others remotely.

Space is limited, register today!

We wrapped up this fantastic webinar with Microsoft yesterday. Roadmap to Microsoft Training Resources was literally a virtual walk through all of the great resources available to nonprofit and libraries for FREE, when they receive their donated Microsoft software with Software Assurance through TechSoup.

From basic-level trainings on different office productivity suites to more advanced Microsoft Certification-level and server courses, there are a host of training materials, online courses, and knowledge-base resources available.

Some of you may be familiar with the ongoing Adobe-TechSoup Show Your Impact Contest from this year and the last. You may have submitted your entries and you may have even been one of the winners.

Well, now is your chance to tell us how Microsoft donations have helped your nonprofit or public library fulfill your mission and impact your communities. Microsoft has joined TechSoup for a similar partnership to highlight, promote, and award nonprofits and public libraries which have used Microsoft-donated products from TechSoup to work better. The full details can be found here, along with guidelines for submitting your story, and a gallery of submissions.

The key categories for submissions are:

1. Stable and Secure Technology
2. Optimize Mission Delivery
3. Transformations to Maximize Impact

You might have a your tale about how Microsoft-donated products through TechSoup helped your organization go from a tangled mess of tech inefficiencies to build a stable infrastructure so your staff could better focus on doing their jobs. Maybe your donated products helped your nonprofit upgrade to a new donor-database, create an interactive and engaging Web site, or develop effective outreach materials that helped reach new supporters and increase your impact.

Tell your story and possibly win a $5000 cash grant plus more than $25000 in donated Microsoft products. Only organizations in the United States and Canada are eligible to participate and the donated Microsoft products must be been received through TechSoup. Learn more about who can enter. Submissions are now OPEN so share your experience from now through the May 29 deadline. Once submissions have closed, we'll invite you back to vote for your favorites. Stay tuned for more!

Online collaboration is a great way to work with colleagues without having to be face-to-face. Whether I'm in a remote office, on the road, working from home, or just sitting down the hall, sharing documents and using other collaborative tools online saves time, money, and the environment.

The green benefit of this is that if you can collaborate online, it may enable you to commute or travel less, which means lower CO2 emissions. Collaborating online also means that there's less need to print out those shared documents. When you can share edits, track changes, insert comments, and brainstorm without needing to print, there's less paper wasted and a lot of pricey ink saved.

Microsoft donates a broad range of software to nonprofits and libraries through TechSoup, and we want to help you take advantage of this program.

But we know it's difficult to find time in your already crowded day to become an expert on all the finer points of Microsoft donations. So, TechSoup has a free webinar coming up next Wednesday, May 13 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific to help answer all of your questions and ensure that you're getting the most out of your Microsoft donations.

TechSoup Talks! recently announced that in June, we'll be hosting a series of webinars on Microsoft software and services. But this time, we're letting you help decide what we'll cover in the webinars. Want to know about servers? Windows? Outlook? You name it. Just take this quick survey and give us your input.

Since Microsoft is one of our most popular software donors, I'm sure that many of you are brimming with questions about MS donations. Now is your chance to have our free online seminars tailored to your needs. And in case that's not enough incentive, one person who takes the survey will win a free one-hour phone consultation with one of our tech analysts. You have until Friday, May 1, to complete the survey.