post updated 2/6/2012

When browsing through the donated and discounted products available through TechSoup and trying to figure out what the licensing options and agreements are for the different items, it is safest to assume that (unless otherwise stated in the product title) each product or quantity will include one Software License or user subscription.

Some Examples:

• Flickr: Five 1-Year Pro Accounts

• Office Professional Plus 2010 (Includes Software Assurance)

It is important to keep in mind that the majority of the donation programs have restrictions on how many licenses and products can be requested within the donation cycle. Some products may even say that there can be multiple users associated with that product, but the donation program restrictions have a limit of one license per year.

Let's take Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting for Nonprofits 2012 as an example. The product description states: "This product includes one user license. Each user must have both a user license and a separate installation of Sage Premium Accounting 2012. The maximum number of users that can work with the organization's data at the same time is five." And the restrictions state: "One donation each of ACT! and Peachtree by Sage may be requested within a fiscal year (July 1 to June 30)."

What this means is that the partner is donating one license for this product per fiscal year. If more licenses are needed, you may need to request them directly from the partner or a charity reseller.

In all, our donor partners make donations, but they aren't without limits and restrictions. It's really important to pay attention to the details like how many licenses you can request during a period to ensure that you're able to access the technology you need without violating the law or donor restrictions.

Drawing: Shannon Valerian, TechSoup Customer Service Representative