Software Donation Resources

Many major software vendors provide free software donations to non-profits.

Among these are the following: Adobe, Autodesk, DigiDesign, Full Armor, Intuit, Knowledge Adventure, Learning Company, Lotus, Macromedia, Microsoft, and Symantec. 

Community computer centers can obtain free software donations either through third-party vendors/non-profits, or by sending a letter directly to the company requesting a donation. The guidelines for use vary by vendor, but the following is a summary of the requirements:

1. You must be a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
2. In general, this software is donated to be used to serve the community directly through a community computer center (i.e. through computer classes or a walk-in computer center, etc.), but is not intended for church use (i.e. the Pastor’s computer). CCBNonprofits.com (www.ccbnonprofits.com) provides software for church use. However, software vendors do not restrict religious content of programs that directly serve the community although some request that it be of a non-denominational (non-sectarian) nature.
3. Some sites have additional restrictions such as a non-discrimination statement (Adobe). In most cases a non-discrimination statement for program participants is satisfactory.

Sources for Software Donations

• TechSoup Stock (www.techsoup.org/stock) provides Microsoft, Lotus and Symantec software at very low prices ($30 or less for Office XP).
• CCBNonprofits.com (www.ccbnonprofits.com) provides non-profit licensing of software products that can be used by church staff for any purpose (Office XP for $67).
• Giftsinkind.org (www.giftsinkind.org) provides software donations from Adobe, Autodesk, Microsoft, Intuit, Lotus, PowerQuest and Symantec (cost is around $30). Some donations require that you join Gifts in Kind ($125 per year) while others require no membership (i.e. Adobe).
• DigiDesign Audio Mixing (www.protools.com/ptfree/) provides free industry standard music mixing tools. May require additional hardware (MIDI interface) to use all features.
• Full Armor (www.fullarmor.com) has donated software to lock down computers to avoid changes to the configuration. An example letter that was successfully approved for a software donation is available at www.techmission.org/documents/fullarmordonationletter.doc.
• Knowledge Adventure (www.adventure.com) has donated youth educational software. An example letter that was successfully approved for a software donation of five licenses of Jumpstart K-6 Grade is available at www.techmission.org/documents/KnowledgeAdventureGrantLetter.doc. The accompanying form may be found at www.techmission.org/documents/KnowledgeAdventureGrantForm.doc.
• Learning Company (www.learningcompany.com) may donate youth educational software. An example letter for a software donation is available at www.techmission.org/documents/donationletterkidpix.doc.
• Macromedia (www.macromedia.com) has donated Dreamweaver (web design) and Flash software (20 copies in the past). They require that you fill out their form, which is available at www.techmission.org/documents/Blankmacromediaform.doc.
• Voyetra (www.voyetra.com) has donated basic music mixing software (Hip Hop eJay 2). An example letter that was successfully approved for a software donation of five licenses of Hip Hop eJay 2 is available at
• We-Blocker provides free Internet filtering software that computer centers can use to block pornography or other inappropriate content on the Internet. Visit http://www.safefamilies.org/download.php to download.