Adobe now offers nonprofits Acrobat for just $15 a year

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Small organizations rejoice: Adobe is expanding its discounted Adobe for Nonprofits offering to include Acrobat.

On Thursday, the company announced the addition of Acrobat Pro, which it said is "the product most requested by nonprofit organizations," to its nonprofit subscription package for just $15 per user per year -- which means 94% savings compared to standard pricing. Adobe for Nonprofits already offers Express, an AI-powered design tool, for free, and Creative Cloud at a discount for qualifying organizations. 

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Everyone uses PDFs -- but Adobe's software isn't cheap, especially for shoestring nonprofit budgets. Small teams need all the support they can get from design tools like Creative Cloud, which can help make up for an understaffed (or non-existent) communications or graphic design department (as a former nonprofit development-cum-communciations department of one, I can confirm this). The addition of Acrobat to the company's nonprofit option may help those teams better streamline file management, contacts, fundraising campaigns, reports, e-signature gathering, and more. 

Teams interested in applying can do so here. You'll need to apply for each of the three software options individually.

How to qualify 

To qualify, your organization must meet the following criteria: 

If US-based, must be a qualified 501(c)(3) public charity as recognized by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)If international, must be qualified or registered as a public charity under the local country's laws and have a tax-exempt certificate where applicable. If your area does not have relevant laws, Adobe says "organizations must be the equivalent of a U.S. public charity," but did not specify what that means. Must operate on a not-for-profit basis

The company also notes that only nonprofit staff are eligible for the program, not members or donors. 

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If you're working with an operating budget of $10 million or less, your nonprofit qualifies for free Acrobat Pro for desktop -- as long as its mission benefits your local community through focuses including advancing education, providing for the poor, cultural or environmental preservation, human rights, and social welfare. If eligible, your nonprofit could get up to 50 licenses for both Adobe Express Premium and Acrobat Pro, as well as unlimited discounted licenses for Creative Cloud.

Several types of nonprofits, including schools, colleges, and political organizations, don't qualify -- learn more here.