Using our EIN for discounts
Please contact before using Raft’s EIN for a tech discount. It is important that it is used in a way that doesn’t limit your fellow projects.
Part of sharing infrastructure means that we can share our technology. By doing so we can lower per-project fees and increase operational efficiencies.
But at the same time, this can sometimes be a challenge, as every technology vendor handles nonprofits - and especially fiscal sponsors - differently. For example:
- Some tech companies go through a group called TechSoup, which has its own system
- Some are fine with one charity using their nonprofit discount multiple times…
- While many others are sticklers - only one nonprofit discount per EIN number
- And some of them make sense for us, operationally, to share…
- While sharing others would be a major headache
In the end, you just have to take them one at a time.
See below, after a few more notes, for how we handle nonprofit discounts, shared infrastructure, and account management on a case-by-case basis, in alphabetical order.
Other apps
Please contact us if you are interested in using a technology not listed here. We would be happy to look into nonprofit discounts and whether it could make sense to share costs.
Apps and software
First is a growing list of apps we recommend. Below are several other apps we have experimented with.
Recommended
Bitwarden
âś… separate
Bitwarden is our recommended password manager, and they offer a nonprofit discount. Raft project members may review on RaftTalk for more information on how to proceed.
We usually prefer to have separate Bitwarden accounts, but if for some reason you want our team to maintain your password vault, contact us.
Buttondown
âś… separate
Buttondown is an excellent newsletter platform. It is not open-source but it has good people behind it and seems to be operating like a good-natured small business.
We have a 50% discount code for you! Email us to get it.
Ghost
🟡 separate
Ghost does not offer a nonprofit discount, and we do not share an account. But they are open source and nonprofit, so we recommend them. Go ahead and make your own!
Loomio
âś… separate
Simply set up a nonprofit account with them and let us know if they ask for anything from us.
Luma
âś… shared
Luma is our recommended events software! We share a Pro account - see Hosting events for more information.
Tally (tally.so)
âś… shared
We can create a workspace for you in our shared, nonprofit-discounted Pro account, as long as you are okay with us being able to see your survey results. Reach out if you want to use it!
Other apps and software
We don’t necessarily dislike these - who doesn’t like Airtable! - we just don’t officially recommend them.
Airtable
âś… separate
Every project applies for their 50% discount separately. The application can be found here. Unlike for other almost all other applications, this time you will use your name and information, and the only info from us you will use is our IRS Determination Letter.
Canva
âś… shared
Canva Pro is free for us for up to 50 users. We are able to offer one user per project. Email us to get started.
(If we ever hit 50 users we will see if we can get them to extend, or may whittle away at some of the unused accounts to make space.)
GitHub
🟡 separate
Unfortunately the free “Github for Nonprofits” service is not compatible with fiscal sponsorship. You will need to create your own account/organization.
If you have a connection at Github, you might be able to get them to make an exception, as one of our projects has done.
Google Workspace
âś… shared
If you are a Model A project, we can add you to our1 free Google for Nonprofits workspace. We will need to work with you to verify your domain (i.e., add some DNS records) and set things up.
Netlify
🟡 separate
They do not offer a nonprofit plan, but they do offer open source discounts.
Slack
âś… separate
Yes, you can get a free Slack instance! See this entry in the private wiki for the full process, which is particular to fiscally sponsored projects and not documented on their site.
Techsoup offerings
See this entry in the private wiki for Techsoup’s additional offerings.
Related offerings
Domains and hosting
Per the Model A fiscal sponsorship agreement, any intellectual property or other asset created or acquired over the course of your sponsorship belongs to Raft Foundation. This is a legal requirement, and is not up to us. But we are flexible about domain management - we are happy to let you manage your domain, or to take over management of it, so long as you maintain a budget to pay its cost. (If the person holding the domain leaves the project, it should be transferred to Raft or to another project member.)
For hosting, there is a wide variety of potential arrangements. Usually project leads have the account information and are reimbursed for costs. But if, for whatever reason, you want Raft to manage your hosting account, that is something we can speak about (there may be labor costs that we ask you to cover).
We have seen, when conflict arises in group projects, that the person who “owns” the domain or host relationship will sometimes leverage that to get what they want or not provide access to it when they leave unhappily. To avoid that potential risk, we can step in to hold the domain.
When a project sunsets, we can also come to an agreement for Raft to maintain a website as an archive for a certain amount of time into the future, or indefinitely as a subdomain of our website.
Apple developer accounts
We have yet to attempt this. We have a DUNS number, so theoretically it is possible. If you are interested in exploring with us, reach out.
TechSoup
We are participating in a pilot program for fiscally sponsored projects.2 The offerings are fairly limited, and all are included above (updated on a quarterly basis).
If you would like to take advantage of one of the TechSoup pilot offers, just send us an email.
Footnotes
-
Although we use Google, we can’t in good conscience recommend it. ↩
-
We also have access to the full catalog of TechSoup as an organization, but sharing those discounts with projects can be complicated. We are working our way through those offerings as well, seeing which ones can work and be shared across projects. ↩