Been positively surprised lately to see a lot of ethical companies stepping up during this Corona pandemic and offering their services for free, so that people could work more comfortably from their homes. This is the attitude we should all have, support and help each other during this crisis. So far I found a few useful free tools or classes: Surfshark VPN giving 6 months for free for small business: https://surfshark.com/corona-response Ivy League giving free online courses ranging from computer science to social sciences: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/here-are-380-ivy-league-courses-you-can-take-online-right-now-for-free-9b3ffcbd7b8c/?fbclid=IwAR1fHBlGSMSRSxyzGh5QX1FA06ZvGlBwZB1ilYMkV5gVjfI87zMd5ONjFhg Adobe photoshop giving access to use the platform from home until 31st of May: https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-enables-distance-learning-globally-schools-impacted-covid-19/ LinkedIn courses giving courses on remote working and maintaining productivity: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/paths/remote-working-setting-yourself-and-your-teams-up-for-success Google Hangouts giving free video meetings: https://gsuite.google.com/products/meet/ If you see any more additional ones that I missed please share them here, so we can all have a complete list of useful tools.
Great post, BTW! A couple of things that I am keeping an eye on are the US SBA page (this is only for US companies) and the Facebook Grant program for small businesses: https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/ Note that the CEO of my day job company listened to a call with SBA officials and they are offering small businesses immediate tax credits (not loans) to help pay for sick leave due to Covid-19 for employees. He was really impressed by the program but I do not yet see news about it on the SBA site. Apparently, things are quite fluid right now as we wait for Congress/POTUS to work out the final details of assistance. https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/grants Facebook still has not announced rules/eligibility, so not sure what companies this will apply to., but they are pledging $100MM to be given out to up to 30,000 small businesses.
Thanks a lot for sharing these links! That's absolutely fantastic, how these tech companies react to the crisis.
Not sure about Adobe Photoshop, a lot of times haven't checked them but I maybe in need of that VPN service and I have checked it and see that it's clearly something like you know nowhere near 6 months free for small business or whatever....Ah, sorry already see it!!!! LOL
I am thinking that the biggest success story of the "free coronavirus tools" opportunity is the Zoom video conferencing solution which is offering a free, limited version of its system to users. "Zoom" has now become an adjective as in "Let's do a Zoom meeting." for a lot of business users. You don't hear that for WebEx, GoToMeeting, Teams or other established business video conferencing services.
Zoom has definitely provided a lot of fun to my 8 year old. She's been able to stay in touch with her teachers, friends. For that I am grateful.
Grammarly is providing free access to key Grammarly features for nonprofits and NGOs. https://www.grammarly.com/nonprofits-ngos