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GitHub Non-Profit Status

This program is available to registered 501(c)(3) or equivalent nonprofits and is applied at the organization level.

Core Benefits (Included at No Cost)

GitHub provides GitHub Team features for free (or their equivalent under current plan naming):

  1. Repository & Collaboration
    1. Unlimited public and private repositories
    2. Unlimited collaborators on repositories
    3. Fine-grained repository permissions
    4. Protected branches
    5. CODEOWNERS enforcement
    6. Required reviews
    7. status checks
  2. Security & Compliance
    1. Dependabot
    2. Alerts
    3. Security updates
    4. Secret scanning for public repos
    5. Code scanning (public repos)
    6. Security advisories
    7. Private vulnerability reporting

GitHub Actions (CI/CD)

  1. 3,000 GitHub Actions minutes per month (shared across org)
  2. Standard GitHub-hosted runners
  3. Unlimited self-hosted runners
  4. Documentation on self-hosted
  5. Security concerns

Note

Self-hosted runners are unmetered (CPU, time, jobs). This is ideal for:

  1. On-prem CI
  2. Air-gapped systems
  3. Specialized hardware (e.g., GPUs, ARM, Jetson)

GitHub Actions Documentation

  1. Overview
  2. Understanding Workflows

GitHub Packages (Artifacts)

  1. Free storage and bandwidth for public packages
  2. Limited free private package storage/bandwidth

Introduction to GitHub Packages

Supported registries:

  1. Docker
  2. npm
  3. Maven
  4. Gradle
  5. NuGet
  6. RubyGems

What Still Costs Money (and How Discounts Apply)

  1. GitHub Enterprise Features (Not Included): The nonprofit program does not include GitHub Enterprise by default. 👉 However: GitHub offers significant nonprofit discounts (often 50–75%) if Enterprise is required. These are not automatic and require a sales conversation. Examples:
    1. Enterprise Managed Users (EMU)
    2. Enterprise-wide policy enforcement
    3. Advanced audit log streaming
    4. SCIM provisioning
    5. Enterprise SAML enforcement
    6. Advanced security for private repos (code scanning)
  2. GitHub Actions Overage
  3. Additional Actions minutes beyond the free allocation are billed
  4. Discounted rates typically apply for nonprofits
  5. Self-hosted runners remain the best cost-control lever
  6. GitHub Advanced Security (Private Repos)
  7. Required for:
    1. CodeQL scanning on private repos
    2. Secret scanning in private repos
  8. Discounted pricing available for nonprofits

Limits and Gotchas to Be Aware Of

Area Limit / Consideration
GitHub Actions 3,000 free minutes/month (shared)
Package storage Private package storage is capped
Enterprise features Not included automatically
Support SLA Standard support (not premium)
Abuse prevention Automated activity limits still apply
Compliance FedRAMP / regulated hosting requires Enterprise

Key takeaway:

For most nonprofits, GitHub Team + self-hosted runners covers 95% of needs at zero cost.