After several fruitless attempts over the years to persuade Microsoft that almshouses (and ours in particular) should be deemed eligible for their non-profit software licences, we have at last succeeded.
It meant submitting quite a lengthy screed pointing out the difference between social housing provision in the US (exclusively government funded – so ineligible for cheap software licences) and in the UK (mainly government funded, via local authorities and government subsidised housing associations – but also supplemented by almshouse charities, entirely independent of government funding).
I also described how the concept of almshouses differed between the US and the UK, drawing heavily on the very helpful TAA definition of almshouses and how they operated.
Do contact me if you have failed to persuade Microsoft in the past and still want to achieve non-profit status with regard to obtaining discounted software. I’ll be happy to pass on the text of my submission to Microsoft.
Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk