The Cisco Donation Program
The Cisco Donation Program is designed to provide access to networking technology for small, community-based organizations. In particular, Cisco supports certain types of organizations that primarily serve economically disadvantaged people through health care, critical human needs, basic literacy, and job training. Schools or school-based programs are not eligible at this time.
The Cisco Donation Program offers a product set that includes all the Cisco equipment and hardware necessary to create a functioning network (only additional wiring may be required). Donated Cisco products include five years of Cisco SMARTnet product service and support at no additional cost.
Cisco is a green company. Donated Cisco products that are no longer useful or have reached the end of life must be returned to Cisco through the Takeback and Recycle program.
Eligibility
For details about which types of organizations are eligible for Cisco donations, see the Eligibility section of the Cisco eligibility requirements and restrictions.
If you still have questions about your organization's eligibility after reviewing these guidelines, please email us at cisco@techsoup.org or call us at (800) 659-3579, Option 2.
Approval
Cisco donation requests are subject to approval, which takes less than a week if TechSoup has all necessary qualification information from your organization. After the TechSoup donation request process is complete, the TechSoup Cisco team must review your organization's record to verify that the organization matches the Cisco philanthropy guidelines. If necessary, a Cisco Donation Program representative might request additional information. For example, an organization must be able to show that its focus is serving economically disadvantaged people.
Shipping and Fulfillment
You can expect the donation request to be fulfilled within eight weeks of the approval date. TechSoup sends shipping status updates to your organization via email. Information about shipping status is also available on your organization's Donation Request History page. For information about viewing this page, see our Frequently Asked Questions.
Items within a request might be fulfilled separately.
Due to the nature of the network design, product availability, and fiscal year schedules, all product donations are subject to change or delay without notice.
- Cisco reserves the right to substitute functionally equivalent products for any request.
- If there is a systemwide delay, TechSoup will post details about the delay at the top of this page.
- If your donation hasn't arrived eight weeks after the approval date, and there is no systemwide delay, please email us at cisco@techsoup.org or call us at (800) 659-3579, Option 2.
SMARTnet Service and Support
Cisco donations include a five-year SMARTnet contract to help organizations install and maintain their systems. Benefits include technical support, replacement or repair of damaged products, and software updates. See Register and Maintain Your SMARTnet Contract for detailed information about registering, maintaining, and using your contract.
After the SMARTnet contract expires, donation recipients are strongly encouraged to renew their SMARTnet service and support agreement annually (at their own expense) for as long as they own the equipment or until that equipment is declared end-of-life (EOL) and no longer supported by Cisco.Returns
Use the Cisco warranty or your SMARTnet contract for products that arrived damaged or inoperable. Return products through TechSoup only if you cannot actually use them and need a refund.
To return a Cisco product, email cisco@techsoup.org with "CISCO RETURN REQUEST" as the subject line and include the following:
- Your organization name
- Your TechSoup donation confirmation number
- A list of the products you plan to return
- Your reason for returning the product
Our Cisco Donation Program representative will review your request and get in touch with you to make arrangements for the return.
Note: To receive a refund on products requested through the Cisco Donation Program, items should be returned within 60 days after delivery is complete for all products in your request.
The Cisco Product Grant Program
The Cisco Donation Program at TechSoup offers a standard selection of networking products to qualifying nonprofit organizations for a small administrative fee.
The Cisco Product Grant Program is another option for some nonprofits. This program offers individual, nonstandard networking bundles as donations to select nonprofits. For more information on the Cisco Product Grant program, visit www.cisco.com/go/philanthropy.
Eligible organizations can receive donations from either one of these programs, but they cannot receive donations from both programs during the same fiscal year.
Consultants
Unless you have a dedicated networking or IT professional on staff, it is highly recommended that you hire a consultant. Installation is not included in the administrative fee for your networking equipment. For more information about hiring a consultant, review TechSoup's Learning Center resources on consultants.