I’ve been using free Asana for a while but as my team has grown I really need to the fuller functionality of a paid version. As a 501(c)(3), we have used techsoup for non-profit pricing on tech and Asana’s partnering with them is what drew me to it over other PM applications in the first place. But if I’m understanding correctly, it seems as though while I get a 50% discount through techsoup, I have to pay a $73 admin fee every year which eats up most of what I’ve saved in the discount for only two people. Seems a steep admin fee and not much savings unless you have a large team. Am I missing something?
I saw there was some kind of discount in April/May. Wish I would have seen that.
Thank you for reaching out. You are correct, nonprofit organizations need to re-apply to TechSoup each year to verify their continued eligibility for the program.
I certainly understand your frustration here, especially since you’re on the smallest team plan we have available. That said, know that once you are enrolled as a member of the Asana for Nonprofits program, you not only redeem 50% off your choice of annual plan, but also have access to the Asana Advisor program, where you’re able to request free 1 hour consultations with Asana employees, who volunteer their time and expertise, ensuring you and your team are successful with Asana.
We know you’ll feel the added value of this critical enablement support versus paying full price without this benefit.
That just seems stupid, quite honestly. So you offer a discount that is not a discount. So why pretend. Just tell those of us from the nonprofit world the truth I just spent several hours on chat and email discovering - there is no discount. Geez, that makes me feel a little crappy about Asana. Now that our team has grown, we’d love to pay Asana rather than move after years working here, but paying $27/mo is not affordable for many small but growing nonprofits. Very disappointed in how you are going about not giving us discounts.
NP Premium Cost, per user, Annual = $85 CAD (Monthly $7.13 CAD)
@ 2 users (requirement for Asana for NP pricing) = $171
TechSoup Canada Admin Fee = $104
Asana for Non-Profits, total annual cost pre-tax = $275
Annual savings vs Standard pricing @ 2 users for NPs = $67 (Monthly savings of $5.58)
Because Asana for nonprofits has a minimum of two users and TechSoup charges such an admin fee, the savings are pitiful. Asana could considerably increase its business if the service was made more accessible to nonprofits. Please reevaluate the current fee structure and TechSoup arrangement. Is there someone we may speak to on this subject?
Also, politely: if a user’s discontent is with the pricing of premium/TechSoup, it would be inadvisable to try to justify the pricing by noting features of Premium. It does not address the user’s original concern which was around pricing, not feature availability.
I also have a frustration in that we are a fiscally sponsored project of a 501c3 who will not sign up with TechSoup. So we aren’t even eligible for the discount. It would be great to figure a way to help out the small nonprofits who are fiscally sponsored. We are paying the monthly fee, but would love some support in how to get us configured and up and running.
Thank you for your valuable insights. My sincere apologies for all the frustration about the TechSoup application fees.
As it happens, starting Monday, February 1st, TechSoup is running a one-week promotion that would allow you to get a 50% discount on your application fee.
If you are not eligible via TechSoup and you do Identify yourself as a nonprofit, you are welcome to fill out this request form (make sure to put as much information as possible) and we’ll follow up with you.
I just made a new post without seeing this one here with the same issue. I am a single user working with a 501c3 non-profit. The $73 administrative fee with the 50% discount is still beyond our budget, especially since I only need a single seat. Most software is available for free for small non-profit teams via TechSoup, which would mean I still would need to pay the $73 fee but that is manageable.
Other software that we use with much greater functionality is available off TechSoup directly through the company for $100 annually. Apparently I see above that I also missed some promotion happening this past month while I was on my free trial with Asana. I am extremely frustrated and also feel that the advertising throughout the website of $10.99/seat/month is dishonest given that there is a minimum of 2 seats.
There needs to be a more cost effective option for single users, especially single users at non-profits, and small non-profit teams as a whole. My choice is now either to use the Basic version which lacks the reporting functionality that I started using Asana for in the first place (also without knowing exactly which features were Premium and which were not, in the reporting section), or pay over $200 out of pocket for a tool that only I will use–my supervisor only needs the basic functionality, if she uses it at all. It’s just not worth it. Not pleased.
I sympathize with you, @anon89725774, on a number of those points.
@Michael_A: Any chance you might have a way to help Marissa?
Since you mentioned reporting and also working with someone who may not be using Asana, perhaps my Asana2Go (free in your case) could be of some value:
@anon89725774 I agree with you. While we use TechSoup for some things, it always should be cost effective. We are a small. 501 (c) 3 and paying the admin fee and then a 50% discount for 2 seats even though we only want one seat is not smart business for us. We are looking at other products that will provide a 35% discount for one seat and no admin fee. Small non-profits cannot spend money for things they will not use or do not need. While I understand that many software providers use TechSoup to administer non profit donations, it is not very hard for a non-profit to provide evidence of status to a provider.
Hello @Jeremy_Goodwyne , thank you for this very relevant and important post. Hopefully with all of this common feedback, Asana might consider adjusting their form/method of support for nonprofits.
Hello @Patricia_Sugi , thank you for the link to the Request Form, I shall give it a try and I hope Asana can help us out.
Feedback
In my opinion, Asana could still use Techsoup to help vet nonprofit eligibility but not force us to go through Techsoup to obtain Asana products. Other tech companies that we use ask us if we have a Techsoup account and if we have been vetted by Techsoup in our country. If we can show proof of this, then we can get access to their nonprofit support which we obtain directly from the tech company (not through Techsoup). This would help us avoid the merciless Techsoup fee.
On another note, Asana might also consider providing full (free) support to Premium tier for small grassroots nonprofits who don’t have massive IT budgets. Maybe limit the number of seats. For example the first 15-20 seats of Premium are free because Asana truly cares for Nonprofits. Beyond that nonprofits pay 50% per license per seat. This way small organizations can have Asana as a tool to help more people while bigger NPOs with larger budgets can still pay for more. Salesforce and Box use this kind of model.
Or you might truly be generous and simply provide full support to legitimate and eligible NPOs – Slack, Google, and Guru do this. I apologize for my dreaming and wishful thinking…
Please note that for every $ we can save on licensing fees (not to mention Techsoup extortion fees), means more children we can keep in school, more people who are fed, and greater good for the planet.
