NetSuite Gives Software Grants to Social Enterprises

This week NetSuite announced the recipients of the product donation program sponsored by its non-profit organization Netsuite.org. The NetSuite.org Social Enterprise Grant provides free access to NetSuite’s offerings to select social enterprises. In this case, social enterprise doesn’t mean enterprises that use social media. It means companies that are doing something for the social good. Easy Office, United Prosperity, EdTec, Envirofit and Kiva were this week’s recipients.

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The donation includes NetSuite’s complete software suite, five user access licenses and support. Recipients also received discounts for additional users licenses and options based on the organization’s revenue. Organizations with less than $2 million per year in revenue receive a donation, those with $2-5 million receive an 80% discount and organizations with over $5 million receive a 50% discount. Service is provided by NetSuite employees who volunteer their time.

NetSuite’s announcement highlights the ability to track social good as a key performance indicator as primary advantage in using NetSuite. Applications for the program are available. The grants are given out on a rolling basis.

According to the guidelines page, NetSuite does not provide grants to:

1. individuals;
2. groups whose primary purpose is religious or political;
3. groups that are primarily a professional or trade association;
4. groups that discriminate on the basis of race, ethnic or national origin, religious affiliation, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, physical appearance, language, educational background or veteran status.

According to the same page, the ideal grantee is:

1. A small, capable and emerging group that would otherwise be unable to afford organization management software like NetSuite.
2. A for-profit or nonprofit organization.
3. A group focused on automating a single business process like ecommerce.
4. A group that can clearly articulate social impact and offer metrics to measure it.
5. A group that has the organizational capacity to implement NetSuite software and use it to accelerate their social impact, as measured by their metrics.

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