As many organizations know, there are a few steps to getting set up with TechSoup Stock and keeping the account up to date. For the TechSoup Stock Tips #1, I wanted to provide some information, links and suggestions for making this process a little easier.
Registration & Qualification
How To Use TechSoup: This is a good resource for getting an overview on TechSoup and the various programs we have to help you learn how your nonprofit can get the most out of technology.
Getting Started at TechSoup Stock: A great Guide to the registration and qualification process including an overview of the TechSoup Stock Program and how it all works once an organization is registered.
Useful Documents
Registration Worksheet: This document was put together as a reference to help organizations know which types of information will be required in order to register.
Qualification Form (Checklist): A very useful document that can serve as a checklist and a cover sheet for sending in your documents. The latest version of the Qualification Form contains links to examples of all required documents and letters.
Registration Tips
When creating the account for your organization it is very important to use an email address that will be appropriate for receiving product information such as licenses and download instructions. Care should also be taken when selecting the Type and Subtype for your organization which should, if at all possible, reflect the primary mission of your organization. To help with describing your organization's mission, it may be helpful to review the types and subtypes available to choose from or visit http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/ to help with categorization.
Are you a Public Library? View our Libraries Program page!
Requalification
Certain changes made after an organization is qualified will trigger a requalification status. This is due to the fact that certain pieces of information (the organization name, shipping address, annual operating budget and organization type and subtype) must be verified and may effect eligibility for the donation programs. Generally what is required is a "clarification letter" which is on the organization's letterhead and provides an explanation of the change made to the account. For more information, see the examples linked from our Qualification Form.
Qualification and requalification documents can be faxed to (415) 633-9444 or emailed to qualification@techsoup.org and generally take a few business days to process.
Becoming an Authorized Agent
The individual that registers the organization is considered the Authorized Agent, but organizations may have more than one Authorized Agent. To ensure account security, we strongly suggest that the Executive Director or equivalent is listed as one of the Authorized Agents. The process starts by Joining TechSoup as a user (each Agent must create a user profile) then clicking on Register Organization to find the existing account with TechSoup Stock. Once found, clicking on the name of the organization will open to the "Become and Authorized Agent" page (Note that this page will also have a link to view current authorized agents - but this link is currently not working) which will require an organization ID and Password. The original or most recent authorized agent should have this information but if that person is not available or no longer with the organization, please give us a call. It is important to remember that the organization ID and password are used to add more agents to the account and cannot be used to login.
I hope this information has been helpful. We'd love to hear your questions so if you've got a question about any of the above, post it here!
Autumn