Partner Portal

Welcome message

Katherine Esperanza — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 19:22:55 +0000

Welcome to the TechSoup Global Portal!

Participating in the site will be our entire TechSoup Global partner network and the TechSoup Global team. We look forward to adding partners to this portal community as we continue to grow the network.

The purpose of the site is to share information and tools for administering the TechSoup Global programme and interacting with one another. Take a minute to wander around and see what is there – a news box for all of us, a calendar for our individual and shared events and meetings, and the new TechSoup Global Operations Manual.

Required content is tagged as "Required" at the bottom of each required book page; required page will also have an indicating sentence at the top of the required book page. You can view all required book pages by clicking on "Required" at the bottom of the book page, or by going directly to http://www.techsoup-global.org/taxonomy/term/56. As a subscriber, you will be notified of changes to required content.

The TechSoup Global Operations Manual is the resource for information on programme eligibility guidelines, organisation qualification guidelines, technical information about the partner platform, and order processing tools such as email templates. You will find links to its various chapters on the left navigation bar.

You should have received an email containing your Username and Password, if you have not, please email TechSoup Global's Operations Team at TSGOps@techsoup.org.

This site is best viewed and edited with Mozilla Firefox.

TechSoup Global Partners

Social Networking Activities and TechSoup at U.S. Congressional Hearing on Virtual Worlds

Dara Westling — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:30:58 +0000

All,
Wanted to share some recent press on TechSoup which may be of interest to the partner community.

1. On April 1, TechSoup's own Susan Tenby presented at a hearing of the Telecommunications Committee of the U.S. Congress on virtual worlds. See more details at http://blog.techsoup.org/node/322.

2. ...and on the funnier side, a very popular television program in the U.S., The Daily Show, showed a clip of Susan and made fun of the Congressional Hearing as part of the April 7 TV program. To see the clip, go to http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=165604&title=avata...

3. You can also view a complete list of TechSoup's activities in online social networks at http://www.techsoup.org/community/where/index.cfm.

Our online community team focuses, among other things, on participation and education on use of online social networks as a tool for awareness-building and social change.

TechSoup Global Network now in France and Botswana!

Mike Yeaton — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:57:22 +0000

We are pleased to announce the expansion of the TechSoup Global Network into two new countries!

This week we launched the France program with our NGO partner, Les Ateliers du Bocage. AdB is recognized as a leader in the computer recycling and reuse arena in France and is a part of a well-known NGO network, Emmaüs, which has a long and respected history in the French social sector. This launch would not have been possible without the strong support of our Belgium partner, SOCIALware. You can view the new program here.

In conjunction with our South African partner, SANGONeT, we have also expanded the donations program to Botswana. SANGONeT has collaborated with Botswana-based NGO, BOCONGO, to promote the program to local NGOs, while SANGONeT will manage the operations from their offices in Johannesburg. This program complements other ICT focused campaigns SANGONeT is leading in South Africa and neighboring countries to help build NGO capacity. For more information, click here.

This extends the benefits of our program to NGOs in 15 countries. We’re currently working towards launches in New Zealand, Germany, Taiwan, Mexico, Russia and Egypt. Stay tuned for future announcements!

The TechSoup Global team

TechSoup Global Team

Trip Report from Africa

Mike Yeaton — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:19:06 +0000

A view of Johannesburg:

Oct. 30-Nov. 12, 2007

The first part of my trip took me to Nairobi, Kenya for a Microsoft sponsored NGO roundtable. After receiving my visa at the airport, I was immediately given a visual reminder that large parts of Africa still run on paper.

The roundtable was extremely interesting, with 25-30 NGOs participating. This was the fourth in a series of these meetings (previous ones were in Ghana, Senegal and South Africa) as part of a Microsoft initiative called “Competitive Africa.” Heba Ramzy and Ntutule Tshenye from Microsoft managed the day extremely well. The discussions were informative, and the feedback from NGOs was consistent with the other sessions: namely that NGOs need complete solutions including hardware, software, service and support.

I also had a chance to meet with the leaders of some very impressive NGOs, some of whom may be candidates for a TechSoup partnership. Among them was Tom Musili, Executive Director of Computers for Schools Kenya.

CSFK is a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher which has delivered over 12,000 computers to schools in Kenya. They get most of their computers from Europe, and provide a complete solution including training, pre-installed software, warranty support and even end-of-life handling. They have a staff of 70 (30% volunteers) and regional centers throughout Kenya. Tom estimates they have the capacity to deliver 10,000 computers per year, but are limited by the supply of hardware.

Hearing from the NGOs and seeing an operation like CSFK made me think about how our software donation program could have a bigger impact. For example, could we work with donors and MAR organizations to pre-install donated software on refurbished machines for NGOs? Clearly there are lessons to be learned from organizations like this one.

On Friday, I flew from Nairobi to Johannesburg, and the pilot made a breathtaking detour over the top of Mount Kilimanjaro (which was especially gratifying since my wife and I just failed to make the summit in December)

I spent the weekend in White River (near Kruger Park) with some members of my wife’s family who have been serving as missionaries there for 14 years. We visited some of the programs they support, including an orphanage and a day care program. Probably the most striking experience for me was meeting a boy who was head of his household at age 6.

Another interesting thing was seeing the degree to which religious organizations are delivering social services. For example, this computer lab was being constructed in a Bible college:

The principal of the school was quite interested in our programs, and happy to offer classes and access to the broader community. However, security considerations prevent them from moving the equipment to a separate building. This was a great example of the challenges and opportunities in our eligibility standards.

On Monday, I returned to Johannesburg to start my week with SANGONeT. The best news was that Matthew was out of the hospital and on the mend. Here he is with Botswang, who capably ran the program in his absence. Matthew and David were wonderful hosts throughout the week.

One of the things I wanted to understand was the reasons for the relatively low donation volumes in South Africa to date. Initially, research indicated there were up to 100,000 NGOs in South Africa. However, Matthew and team have been testing the known registries and now believe the number is closer to 10,000. Perhaps the biggest cause of this discrepancy has been the transition of services and leaders from the NGO sector to government. This clearly showed me that there are long term, structural differences among countries that should be taken into account in our model.

We had great meetings internally and with Microsoft to discuss expanding our program into Southern Africa, beginning with Botswana. We were able to draft a plan which could have us launch as early as January, while also developing a template for future expansion. We also discussed some potential options to deliver more complete solutions, for example by partnering with a local MAR.

On my last weekend, I visited Soweto and the Apartheid Museum. While South Africa certainly faces huge challenges, it is also helpful to remember how little time has elapsed since the end of Apartheid. In Soweto we saw new building projects everywhere, and even a new, luxurious Holiday Inn:

As always when I meet our partners and those they serve, I came away impressed and humbled. I also saw many opportunities to expand the reach and impact of our offerings, and look forward to exploring those in the months ahead.

Mike Yeaton
November 15, 2007

TechSoup Global Partners

International Partners gather in San Francisco for Partner Summit

Antony Chiang — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:32:49 +0000

Partners and donors from around the world gathered in San Francisco the first week in October to learn and share ideas and best practices for the TechSoup Global program.