End of Microsoft Grant Licenses: Thousands of Non-Profit Organizations Lose OneDrive Data

Following the end of free Microsoft 365 grants, non-profit organizations report the permanent loss of critical OneDrive data.

Several thousand non-profit organizations (NGOs) are facing the ruins of their digital infrastructure. The trigger is Microsoft’s discontinuation of free grant licenses (“grants”) for Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Office 365 E1. Following the expiration of the transition deadlines, the associated OneDrive storage was deleted for affected organizations.

In forums and media reports (including Slate), affected parties describe drastic cases:

• Massive data loss: According to a Microsoft support employee, around 171,000 small non-governmental organizations are said to have lost files in their OneDrive accounts.
• Premature deletion: The environmental organization Canopy suffered a total loss of its data as early as June 2026, even though Microsoft had assured them access until October 2026.
• Critical operational disruptions: A medical facility for children lost over 500 gigabytes of data and access to essential apps because the license termination went unnoticed.

Communication breakdowns at OneDrive and Microsoft’s explanation

Microsoft points out that it announced the transition as early as May 2025 and called on customers to switch to alternative offers (such as Microsoft 365 Business Basic) or discounted plans. Nevertheless, the deletions caught many organizations unprepared:

• Spam filter as a stumbling block: Numerous notifications from the Microsoft admin team ended up in the organizations’ spam folders, which is why deadlines were missed.
• No recovery: Although Microsoft support initially gave affected parties hope, technicians later declared the deleted files lost beyond recovery.
• Consolidation of the grant program: Microsoft justified the step by citing the need to simplify and streamline the global grant portfolio for non-profit customers.

(Editorial Team)