The short answer
A free cancer education site costs money to run. Much of that cost is covered by technology companies that donate or heavily discount their products to registered nonprofits. This page lists the main programmes, what each one includes, and which ones we use ourselves.
Most major technology companies run a nonprofit programme, and several give their product away entirely to registered charities.
Eligibility is usually 501(c)(3) status in the US, or an equivalent designation elsewhere. Verification is often handled by a third party such as TechSoup or Goodstack.
These programmes are why a small nonprofit can run a site with thousands of pages, a search index and translation into twelve languages.
We name the ones we use. A nonprofit that accepts donated services should say which ones.
Choose how you want to understand this
The full explanation.
Why this page exists
Cancer Explained is free to read. It carries no advertising. It is run by a small nonprofit.
That is only possible because several technology companies give their products to registered charities. Some give them free. Others give a steep discount.
We think a charity that accepts donated services should say so, and name them. This page does that.
It also lists programmes we do not use. Other nonprofits read this site, and this is hard to find in one place.
Nothing here is an endorsement. None of these companies paid for this page, reviewed it, or had any say in it. Terms change often, so check each programme's own page before you rely on anything here.
How eligibility usually works
Almost all ask for the same thing. You need 501(c)(3) status in the United States, or the equivalent in your own country.
Most exclude political parties and campaigns. Most exclude groups whose main work is lobbying. Several exclude schools and government bodies. A few include schools on purpose.
A third party usually checks your status, not the company itself. Two names come up again and again:
- TechSoup checks nonprofit status for many software donation programmes. It is also the storefront for a lot of them.
- Goodstack does the same for several newer programmes, including Anthropic's.
Register once with either one. It makes later applications much faster.
Development and hosting
GitHub
GitHub gives registered nonprofits its Team plan free. That means unlimited private repositories and unlimited users.
The plan includes Codespaces, protected branches, required reviewers, code owners, Pages and wikis. It also includes 3,000 CI/CD minutes a month and 2GB of package storage.
If that does not suit you, you can take 25% off GitHub Enterprise Cloud instead.
You need 501(c)(3) status or the equivalent. The organisation must also be non-governmental, non-academic, non-commercial and non-political. GitHub's nonprofit support team reviews each application.
We use this. Everything on this site lives in a GitHub repository: the code, the articles, and the automated checks that gate every change.
Cloudflare
Project Galileo gives free enterprise-grade protection to groups working in human rights, journalism and civil society. That includes DDoS protection and a web application firewall.
In 2025 Cloudflare added Bot Management and AI Crawl Control to the programme. Those let a site control which AI crawlers can read its material.
Cloudflare also discounts its plans for nonprofits more widely, including through TechSoup.
We use Cloudflare. This site is served from it.
Advertising and reach
Google Ad Grants
Google gives eligible nonprofits up to $10,000 a month in Google Search advertising, free. It is one of the largest programmes of its kind. For a small charity it can decide whether people find you at all.
It comes with real conditions. The account has to keep a minimum click-through rate. It has to use conversion tracking. It has to meet Google's policies. Miss those and the grant can be suspended. Health advertising has extra rules on top.
We use this. It is by far our largest source of readers.
Google Workspace for Nonprofits
Email, documents, shared drives and video calls, free for eligible nonprofits, with discounts on the higher tiers.
Artificial intelligence
Anthropic (Claude)
Claude for Nonprofits discounts Claude's Team and Enterprise plans. Reports put it at up to 75% off, with Team seats from about $8 per user per month. New nonprofit accounts also get credits.
Eligibility covers 501(c)(3) groups and international equivalents. It also covers K-12 schools and some mission-based healthcare organisations. Political parties, campaigns and lobbying groups are excluded. Goodstack handles verification.
We use Claude a great deal, for drafting, editing and engineering work. We say so on the pages where it applies.
AI never replaces the sourcing and clinical review our process requires. No page publishes as medical guidance on the strength of AI output alone.
Other AI providers
Several other providers run nonprofit or social-impact programmes. Terms vary and change often. Check the current terms yourself rather than trusting a summary.
Software and operations
Most of the following are free or heavily discounted for verified nonprofits. Many run through TechSoup.
- Microsoft — donated and discounted Microsoft 365 and Azure credits.
- Salesforce — the Nonprofit Cloud, with a number of free subscriptions for qualifying organisations.
- Slack — free or discounted paid plans for nonprofits.
- Zoom — discounted plans for registered charities.
- Canva — Canva for Nonprofits, free for eligible organisations.
- Atlassian — free or heavily discounted Jira and Confluence.
- Twilio — communications credits through its social impact programme.
- Stripe — a lower processing rate for eligible nonprofits. This matters, because payment fees come straight out of donations.
- Amazon Web Services — credits through its nonprofit credit programme.
What these programmes do not cover
It is worth being clear about the limits. "Our software is donated" can sound like a charity has no costs.
Donated software does not pay for people. It does not pay for clinical review. It does not pay a bilingual reviewer to check a translation. It does not pay for medical illustration, or for the hours it takes to check one claim against its source.
Those are the expensive parts of a health site. They are also the parts a reader can actually judge.
So these programmes cut our overheads. That is real and it matters. But they do not make the work free.
If you run a nonprofit
Two practical notes from doing this ourselves.
Register with TechSoup and Goodstack first. Validation is the slow part. Once it is done, most applications become a short form.
Read what happens when a grant lapses. Some can be suspended for performance or policy reasons. Google Ad Grants is the clearest example. If a programme becomes load-bearing for you, know in advance what you would do without it.
Sources
- GitHub Docs, GitHub Team plan for nonprofits
- GitHub, GitHub for Nonprofits
- Cloudflare, Project Galileo
- Cloudflare, Social Impact Projects Portal
- Anthropic, Getting started with Claude for Nonprofits
- TechSoup, product catalogue for nonprofits
Your next step
Who we are, how we work, and how this site is paid for.
Speak With Trained Specialists & Human Navigators
Cancer Explained provides educational guidance, but does not replace trained specialists, social workers, or your medical team.
Talk to a trained cancer information specialist
Free, confidential assistance from NCI Cancer Information Service via phone, chat, or email.
Contact your oncology team
Locate after-hours contact numbers, portal messages, or urgent triage phone lines.
Find a patient navigator
Get one-on-one help with appointments, logistics, translation, and care coordination.
Find a genetic counselor
Discuss inherited mutation risk, family history, and genetic testing options.
Find an oncology social worker
Access emotional counseling, family support groups, and mental health resources.
Find a financial navigator
Locate copay assistance foundations, grant programs, and lodging/travel support.
Find a clinical-trial specialist
Search matching studies and speak with NCI trial information specialists.
Know someone who needs this?
Plenty of people are looking for something like this and do not know where to start. If this would help a friend or someone you love, send it on — we have written an opening line so you do not have to stare at an empty message. You can change every word of it.
Your message is written and sent in your own email or messaging app — we never see who you send it to, and nothing is added to any list.
Plain-language explanation of the published sources cited on this page. AI-assisted, source-checked, not clinician-reviewed.
Sources last checked: 2026-09-21 what this meansLast updated: 2026-09-21Next planned review: 2027-03-21
How this page was created
Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status — Source checked. This page was written with AI assistance and checked line by line against the sources listed on it. That confirms the sources support what the page says. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
General education. Low-risk educational or organizational content. Medical facts are cited to authoritative sources.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
How this page was created
Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Source checked — This page was written with AI assistance and checked line by line against the sources listed on it. That confirms the sources support what the page says. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
Read more about our editorial process, our use of AI, and our corrections policy.
Spotted a problem? Report an error — a factual mistake, broken or outdated source, confusing wording, or anything that seems unsafe. Please do not include names, medical record numbers, dates of birth, addresses, or other identifying medical information in your report.
After using this page, do you understand what to do next?
Anonymous — we only record the answer, never who gave it.
Related articles
Still have questions?
Educational answers, plain language
Free to print and share