By Annemarije de Boer
Publication Date: 2026-09-28 18:57:00
Microsoft’s retirement of its Business Premium nonprofit grant gave affected organizations a defined window to migrate or export their data. An error caused some of that data to be deleted before the retention period ended, and Microsoft has confirmed it cannot be recovered.
What Happened
An internal error deleted data from some expired nonprofit subscriptions ahead of the scheduled retention deadline, leaving affected organizations with no recovery path.
According to The Register (September 28, 2026), Microsoft confirmed that data associated with some expired Microsoft 365 Business Premium nonprofit subscriptions was deleted before the applicable retention period ended. Microsoft investigated recovery options and told at least one affected organization that the deleted data cannot be restored.
In a statement reported by The Register, Microsoft also acknowledged it was unable to provide a list showing which data may have been deleted or whether any data was deleted at all in a given…