‘Tis the season for giving and donating and one thing every Microsoft Partner is sure to have on hands is a bulk of software that they are not going to be using. I have a few copies of SBS, Small Business Accounting, Windows and Office that I will be donating to charities and the one thing that recently came up was “How do I add Software Assurance to a gift?”

Considering that Microsoft Vista and Office 2007 are right around the corner this is perhaps the best advice you can share with your charity. It comes courtesy of Eric Ligman:

I am assuming you are referring to Retail Boxed product that you received from Microsoft through a Promotion or some other form of give-away, correct? If so, they answer is, “yes, you can add Software Assurance to that product within 90 days of it being given to the client.” The way you would do this is to invoice the customer for the software at a $0.00 price or any arbitrary number you and the client agree to. By doing this, this establishes the transfer of the software to the client and thus provides them with a purchase date to enable their 90 day window for adding Software Assurance. I hope that helps.

Another place to remember when dealing with non-profits is TechSoup.

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