Nonprofit tech startup TechSoup receives $2.5 million grant from VMware to help nonprofits globally and scale their impact

TechSoup, a nonprofit organization connecting nonprofit, charity and public libraries with technological products and services, has received a $2.5 million grant from VMware Foundation to support initiatives to significantly expand its offerings and nearly double the number of nonprofit organizations it serves.

Founded in 1987 as CompuMentor, TechSoup Global helps nonprofits globally get and use technology to heighten their impact. Through its Web sites, events, and community-building initiatives, TechSoup Global also helps companies and foundations optimize their philanthropic impact. TechSoup Global’s mission is working toward a time when every nonprofit and NGO on the planet has the technology resources and knowledge they need to operate at their full potential.

The VMware Foundation grant was made through Vanguard Charitable, a donor advised fund, to fund TechSoup’s $11.5 million Growth Capital Campaign. The campaign, launched in November 2018, is financing five new initiatives to help nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations around the world leverage technology to create, connect, activate and transform their organizations and communities.

“At VMware, we’re committed to strengthening the operational capacity of nonprofits, supporting their digital transformation, so they can meet their important missions,” said Jessamine Chin, Director, VMware Foundation. “We are thrilled to partner with the experts at TechSoup, an impactful organization that works with more than one million nonprofits globally, and provides solutions for a more equitable planet.”

In March, VMware led a group of Bay Area technology corporations, including Okta, Box, Adobe, and Cisco, in providing a $500,000 grant for TechSoup’s Digital Transformation Initiative. The funding is being used to build out TechSoup’s digital assessment tool, which helps nonprofits develop their technology road maps. In addition, TechSoup Marketplace members benefit from discounted pricing on two desktop virtualization products: VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro.

Since its inception in 1997, TechSoup provides the transformative technology solutions, the digital platforms, and the in-person experiences that enable people to work together toward a more equitable world. With 70 partner NGOs around the world, TechSoup manages the only global philanthropy program that brings together more than 100 tech companies to provide technology donations and charitable offers to NGOs everywhere. TechSoup’s data and validation services enable companies, foundations, and governments to connect their philanthropic resources with vetted NGOs around the world. In the past 30 years, TechSoup has reached 1.3 million NGOs and facilitated distribution of technology products and grants valued at more than $12.1 billion.

“As organizations around the world migrate IT operations to the cloud, we need to ensure that the nonprofit sector also benefits from this foundational shift in the way we use technology,” said TechSoup CEO Rebecca Masisak. “VMware’s digital transformation initiative and support of TechSoup will help us build a cloud-first future that enables civil society organizations to do more with the resources available to them, expand the impact they have on their communities and capture many other benefits of digital strategies for impact.”

The VMware Foundation joins a growing coalition of 155 individuals and organizations, including Microsoft and the Nonprofit Finance Fund, who have come together to invest in TechSoup’s future through grants, loans and direct investments. To date, more than $8 million has been committed to funding TechSoup’s Growth Capital Campaign.

One keystone of the Growth Capital Campaign is TechSoup’s Direct Public Offering (DPO), which is being offered on SVX.US, a new investing platform offering debt and equity investment opportunities in high impact companies, organizations and funds that can deliver positive social and environmental impact alongside financial return.

With investment minimums as low as $50, the TechSoup DPO is uniquely structured to engage with TechSoup’s community, including the nonprofits they serve, the technology companies they support, and those who have supported TechSoup for 30 years. TechSoup believes it is the first nonprofit qualified by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to conduct a Regulation A+ Tier 2 offering.

For every $100 invested in the DPO, TechSoup estimates it will be able to distribute more than $47,000 of additional resources to the nonprofit sector.

“With VMware’s support, we will reach many more changemakers,” said Masisak. “Whether it’s providing food to people who need it, helping young people learn to code, or supporting communities after a disaster, civil society organizations bring people together to make an impact on the issues they care about most.”