Summary
Stifter-helfen (Haus des Stiftens + TechSoup) is the German/Austrian/Swiss IT-donation portal that validates organisations against Gemeinnützigkeit (the German charitable-status tax exemption) and unlocks the same vendor catalogue TechSoup offers in the US — Microsoft 365 (historically 300 licences / 2-year grants), Adobe Creative Cloud, Box, Cisco, Symantec, DocuSign, etc. For a DE/AT/CH nonprofit it is the entry point; the eligibility test that follows from Gemeinnützigkeit restricts party-political activity.
Body
https://www.stifter-helfen.de/
Stifter-helfen is the DE/AT/CH TechSoup partner: an eligible organisation registers at stifter-helfen.de with a Freistellungsbescheid (tax-exemption notice) from the local Finanzamt and the partner issues the same kind of verification token TechSoup issues in the US [source: stifter-helfen]. The portal carries the German-language Microsoft donation programme (historically up to 300 M365 licences for two years), Adobe CC through TechSoup, and ~50 other vendor programmes [source: stifter-helfen].
For advocacy NGOs, the German Gemeinnützigkeit test (sections 51–68 of the Abgabenordnung) sets the bar: an organisation must pursue exclusively and directly “gemeinnützige, mildtätige oder kirchliche Zwecke” (charitable, benevolent or ecclesiastical purposes) and political-party activity is excluded [source: stifter-helfen]. An e.V. or gGmbH whose primary purpose is advocacy can qualify if its stated charitable purpose (e.g. civic education, environmental protection, consumer protection, human rights) is broader than political party activity; a Partei or parteinaher Verein does not.
Use it for
Validating a German-language charitable organisation against Gemeinnützigkeit and unlocking the DE/AT/CH TechSoup donation catalogue (Microsoft 365, Adobe CC, Box, DocuSign, Cisco, etc.); understanding the German political-activity restriction before assuming a TechSoup-gated program is open to your organisation.