Esri Nonprofit Program for hapū
An eligible hapū, iwi or Māori organisation may be able to access ArcGIS through the Esri Nonprofit Program at substantially discounted rates. It is not automatic and there is no single rule saying that every hapū qualifies.
Esri's current programme page says eligible nonprofit organisations can receive ArcGIS cloud, mobile and desktop products discounted 50–99%, plus Living Atlas content, developer tools, unlimited Esri Academy e-learning and discounted instructor-led training. Full details are provided after eligibility is verified.
How eligibility works in New Zealand
Esri assesses legal status plus organisational purpose and activities. Outside the US, requirements are set by the local Esri office or distributor and TechSoup verification is not required.
In New Zealand, Eagle Technology is the local Esri distributor and publicly lists GIS for Not-for-Profit among its community industry solutions.
This creates a practical route for a hapū organisation:
- identify the legal entity that would hold the ArcGIS subscription
- gather evidence of its nonprofit/charitable status and purpose
- describe the actual GIS work it wants to undertake
- ask Eagle to assess current Esri Nonprofit Program eligibility and NZ offerings
- confirm current products, user types, support, term, renewals and pricing in writing
Do not rely on US TechSoup instructions or old NZ prices copied from historical case studies.
Legal entity matters
A hapū can operate through many structures: charitable trust, incorporated society, trust, company, post-settlement entity or less formal collective arrangements. Esri's programme assessment is made against the entity receiving the licence and its activities. A statutory/government-like organisation may be assessed differently from an independent charitable trust.
MāoriGIS.nz cannot determine eligibility from an organisation's name alone. The useful action is to present the actual entity/status to Eagle for current review.
What to ask for
Ask for the package that matches the mahi, not simply ArcGIS:
- ArcGIS Online organisation
- ArcGIS Pro user access
- Field Maps
- Survey123
- StoryMaps
- Dashboards / Experience Builder if needed
- Living Atlas access
- training/e-learning
- support
- any ArcGIS Online credit/storage implications
Before loading data
Set up organisation ownership properly: use organisational email/admin accounts, at least two administrators, named-user handover and a content structure. Software eligibility does not answer separate questions about where Māori data should be stored or how a particular dataset should be shared.
Official sources
Next: Prepare an application and hapū use cases.
Last reviewed: 26 August 2026