We wanted to take a moment and talk about the work that TechSoup does. But this isn't a story about what we do. This is a story about what you allow us to do.
Like you, TechSoup is a nonprofit. The main goal of our work is to support nonprofits, libraries, and NGOs around the world with the technology and know-how they need to make a difference.
When you request products through TechSoup, you pay a small administrative fee that supports our programs. This support — along with support from foundations, grants, members of our NGOsource program, individual donors, and corporate partners — allow us to do the work we do.
So by choosing to acquire your tech through TechSoup, you're helping other nonprofits, libraries, and NGOs around the world to access the technology, skills, and support they need to carry out their missions. That's money going back into the nonprofit community. That's something that doesn't happen when you get your tech through a commercial provider.
This makes you a stakeholder in the success of TechSoup — and the success of civil society as a whole. So we wanted to provide you with a snapshot of some of the work we've done.
With that, we're pleased to provide you with our 2023 Year in Review, which provides an overview of our work carried out between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023.
What We've Done Together
Here are just a few ways you've helped us support civil society around the world.
Over 300,000 organizations served: During our 2023 fiscal year, TechSoup connected approximately 302,000 civil society organizations around the world to the products and services they need to carry out their missions. This includes offers available through our product catalog, grant-facilitating programs offered through NGOsource, as well as our growing selection of technology services for nonprofits. Together, this represents $2.4 billion worth of value delivered to NGOs around the world.
Over 4,000 NGOs connected to grant funding: NGOsource, a project of TechSoup and the Council on Foundations, performs "equivalency determinations" (or "EDs") on behalf of U.S. grantmakers. This includes foundations, donor-advised funds, and corporate givers, among others. NGOsource helps funders determine whether a non-U.S. organization satisfies certain U.S. legal standards to be eligible for unrestricted funding. And in fiscal year 2023, we received more than 6,000 equivalency determination requests from 370 grantmakers for grants supporting 4,096 NGOs in 144 countries.
New support for tribal libraries: In fiscal year 2023, TechSoup expanded its programs for libraries to include tribal libraries in the United States, in partnership with the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM). Thanks to this partnership, tribal libraries are eligible for all the same offers that we have for public libraries. This includes products and services from Adobe, Microsoft, Cisco, and many other technology brands.
More Accessible Public Data: Google has taken big strides to make public data more accessible and useful through its Data Commons initiative. With funding from Google.org and direct engagement of the Data Commons team, TechSoup is making sure that civil society organizations can use the massive amounts of data in Google's Public Data Commons.
Our TechSoup Global Network partner NGOs have also contributed greatly to this effort. For example, Cemefi is analyzing hunger and gender in Mexico and MAKAIA is exploring economic and social growth in Colombia. We've put together our own instance of Data Commons with data relevant to organizations that are working on food security issues and climate change. You can learn more about Data Commons in this blog post.
Thank You.
For over 35 years, TechSoup, together with donors, government, the corporate sector, and the nonprofit community, have worked to support a more resilient civil society, worldwide. None of it happens without you. Thank you for partnering with TechSoup for your organization's technology needs. Thank you for trusting us. And thank you for helping us make civil society just a little stronger.
Top photo: Shutterstock
