Microsoft has announced a number of changes that affect not-for-profits with donated Office 365 or Microsoft 365 licenses.
Utilisation requirement
Microsoft requires organisations to have at least 85 per cent of granted (free, donated) licenses that have been assigned to users in active use. "Active use" means that those users have used at least one Microsoft cloud service in the last 90 days.
These cloud services include Exchange Online (i.e. email accounts), Yammer, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft 365 Apps.
Usage of perpetually licensed Office apps, such as Office Standard or Office Professional, does not factor into active usage metrics. These changes do not affect volume licenced desktop licences and on-premise Microsoft donations.
What This Means for Not-for-profits
To illustrate what this means, let's look at an example: If you had 20 donated licenses assigned to users, at least 17 of those users would have to have used at least one Microsoft 365 or Office 365 cloud service within the last 90 days.
If you have not met this 85 per cent minimum usage threshold, you may lose all your donated Microsoft cloud licenses, whether or not they're in use. Paid licenses would not be affected.
What About Automated Email Accounts?
As long as the licence assigned to the account is being used (e.g. engaging a Microsoft365 service such as Exchange), that licence will meet the usage requirement and does not need a human user to log in and access.
Access and Use Your Assigned Licenses as Soon as Possible
If you haven't already, you need to ensure every user with an assigned license is regularly accessing their accounts. For new subscriptions, please work quickly to activate and start using the licenses.
If you have more licenses than you need, you may also adjust your Office 365 or Microsoft 365 subscription and reduce the number of licenses that you hold.
To assign your donated licenses to staff members, or to remove users, follow these instructions or watch this guided simulation. The sooner you do this, the better. To learn more, see Microsoft's donated licenses FAQ sheet (PDF).
Need Help To assign or Use Licenses?
Follow this guide from Microsoft on how to add and remove licences from your account.
Donated Office 365 E1 Licenses No Longer Available
Microsoft will also no longer offer donated Office 365 E1 licenses unless you have a specific Enterprise Agreement contract in place with Microsoft. Instead, we recommend you consider one of the Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Premium donation offers. If you are currently using donated Office 365 E1 licenses, your licenses will remain active as long as you use them.
If you have questions, we are here for you.