NCVO has announced that it has convinced Microsoft to alter its eligibility for charities to claim discounted products so that charities no longer have to receive 10 per cent of their income from public donations.

In the summer Microsoft changed its pricing policy to require organisations to receive a minimum of 10 per cent of its income from public donations to be eligible for the Charity (Academic) discount.

After discussions with NCVO, supported by the Cabinet Office, the main criteria to claim the discount will be that charities are registered with the Charity Commission.

Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, said: “We are delighted that Microsoft continues to endorse the valuable role that charities play in building and supporting our communities and that this new agreement will allow more charities to access the substantial discounts Microsoft has to offer through their Academic pricing agreement. NCVO has worked in partnership with Microsoft for over 15 years and we value the contribution they make to support the sector.”

In a statement Microsoft explained: “Because of a reduction in donations across the sector, this decision meant that a small number of charities that did not receive enough of their funding in this way were excluded. Since these changes were introduced, we have been listening to feedback from government and public sector organisations including the NCVO and are taking action from 1 January to address their concerns.

“To ensure that the sector gets best value from Microsoft products, the voluntary contribution clause will be removed and all 180,000-plus registered charities will be eligible for academic pricing with the exception of a small number of organisations who are covered by other agreements.”

Microsoft was unable to explain to civilsociety.co.uk what the exceptions were, and suggested organisations contact their Microsoft reseller.