"The philosophy behind Ubuntu, and open source or "Free Software" in general, has similarities with the philanthropic goals of many nonprofit organizations. Both seek to empower people, and in Ubuntu's case they do it by providing people with access to technology that enables them to participate as full members of the digital world at no cost. This attribute may be even more relevant for nonprofits with a technology angle.
If you are providing others with technology, open-source or "Free Software" makes absolute sense, because it defines your right to pass on the technology to others and preserves their right to do the same. It also has relevance if you are capturing and storing data in some way, because it promotes data standards and discourages vendor lock-in. Furthermore, if you are serving a non-English speaking community, Ubuntu might be attractive to you as the desktop environment offers support for 48 languages."
