Culture Hub

A Guide to Free Tools, Services and Cultural Events During Social Distancing

In response to the outbreak, many companies around the world have offered their services for free to help people get through these uncertain times. Whether you’re looking for productivity tools to help you get your job done from home, work off your nervous energy with some exercise, read your way through a library’s worth of books, these free services can help you keep your composure and your cash.

Here’s the list of companies that are giving back during this difficult time:

FOR PRODUCTIVITY

1. Piktochart, a visual storytelling and communication tool, offers its Pro plan for free to any organization fighting COVID-19 and its impact on the society, or working to help those affected. The offer is valid for three months from the date a company signs up for it. 

2. Loom, a video recording and sharing service has made Loom Pro free for teachers and students at K-12 schools, universities, and educational institutions. They have also removed the recording limit on free plans and have cut the price for Loom Pro in half.

3. Jamm, an audio-visual communication tool used by remote and distributed teams is offering it free of charge

4. Adobe enables distance learning globally for schools impacted by COVID-19 by providing free access to its Creative Cloud tools. This is being granted through May 31, 2020.

5. Meero: A file transfer service is offering free large-file transfers to ease remote working. No account needed and all files created between now and June 2020 will be kept active for three months.

6. interviewstream: An interviewing platform which helps recruiters and hiring managers is offering free access to its platform to its the community. 

7. Krisp, an app that removes background noise from calls, introduced a free tier that gives all users 120 minutes of free noise cancellation per week. The company is also granting unlimited use of the app, for free, to all students, teachers, and hospital and government workers worldwide for the next six months.

8. Humu, a company that specializes in encouraging productivity within remote workforces, is providing free nudges (short, scientifically backed email suggestions to help you work from home) during the coronavirus outbreak.

9. Google has rolled out free access of its advanced Hangouts Meet video-conferencing capabilities to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally. 

10. LogMeIn is making its GoToMeeting video conferencing product available for free for three months to critical front-line service providers. That includes healthcare providers, educational institutions, municipalities and nonprofit organizations.

11. LumApps, an intranet platform provider, is offering customers an emergency communications portal to stay connected with employees remotely during the pandemic crisis. The company says the portals will be free until June 30.

12. Microsoft is making the premium version of its Teams collaboration application available for free as part of a six-month trial offer for Office365 E1 payment plan.

13. Wrike announced that it is offering the Professional Edition of its team work management tool for free for six months.

14. Zoho has also launched what it calls its “Small Business Emergency Subscription Assistance Program.” The offer allows existing customers with up to 25 employees to apply for free access to any of Zoho’s applications that they currently use.

15. HR Acuity is providing a free version of its SaaS solution to help businesses manage employee issues related to the Coronavirus outbreak. 

16. SalesHood is offering its sales enablement platform for free during the COVID-19 pandemic.

17. Tableau is providing a free data resource hub to help organizations visualize and understand how the coronavirus is impacting employees in their offices around the world and make data-driven decisions.

18. Clarity Wave is now offering 3 months of free access to its full service, without any limit, to new customers.

FOR LEARNING AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

1. Linkedin is opening up 16 of its learning courses for free. (Tips on how to stay productive, build relationships when you’re not face-to-face, use virtual meeting tools and balance family and work dynamics in a healthy way).

2. Velsoft Training Materials is offering unrestricted access to its learning management system

3. eLearning Brothers has a free online training starter pack that includes layouts, a customizable quiz and graphics. 

4. Trivantis is offering free Lectora Online team plans through June 30, 2020 to academic organizations.

5. Six Seconds is offering some online classes for free on topics such as leadership and change. 

6. Impact is offering a series of free webinars and virtual think tanks exploring leading through disruption, managing change and delivering virtual learning. 

7. SAP released a digital learning initiative with free enterprise MOOCs, university learning journeys and a “young thinkers” program. 

8. CompTIA, in partnership with BenchPrep, is providing free 30-day licenses for the CertMaster Learn eLearning course for CompTIA IT Fundamentals for displaced workers, students and career-changers. 

9. Udacity is offering a free month of non degree programs to help workers impacted by COVID-19. 

10. Simplilearn is offering 13 comprehensive digital skills courses for free on its Android mobile app (free to download).

FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING

1. Downward Dog Yoga, a fitness app that offers guided yoga, HIIT, and barre classes, is opening its library of videos for free until April 1.

2. Pure Barre studio is offering Pure Barre On Demand free for 30 days with code EXTENDEDTRIAL.

3. The workout streaming app Tone It Up is offering free access to its programs for new members for the next month.

4. Planet Fitness is streaming live, at-home workouts for free on its Facebook page daily at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

5. Headspace, a mediation app that we recommend, is offering free subscriptions to US health-care workers through the end of 2020. To qualify, you’ll need to provide your National Provider Identifier.

FOR CULTURAL FIX

1. The New York City–based Metropolitan Opera launched Nightly Met Opera Streams, which, as the name suggests, is a nightly series of free, live opera performances that anyone can tune in to.

2. Musicians like John Legend, Keith Urban, and Chris Martin of Coldplay have been live-streaming mini concerts on Instagram and Facebook. Keep an eye on your favorite musician’s social media pages to catch them in action.

3. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is live-streaming its performances on YouTube while it’s closed to the Australian public through April 13.

4. Berliner Philharmoniker, the German orchestra based in Berlin, has brought its performances to the digital concert hall for the next 30 days, offering its library of more than 600 performances for free when you use the code BERLINPHIL.

5. 17 museums in Europe are offering free virtual visits. For more information, click HERE

6. You can watch free Broadway musicals and plays for a limited period of time. Click HERE for more details.

7. Scribd, an e-book and audiobook subscription service, is offering a free 30-day trial that gives you access to more than a million titles.

8. New and returning readers will receive a two-month free subscription to Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited, which has a library stocked with more than a million free titles.

FOR YOUR KIDS

1. Coursera, an online learning hub used by college professors, is opening its catalog of 3,800 courses to college students for free.

2. Cambridge University Press is opening its library of college textbooks, book chapters, journal articles, and key reference works to students for free until the end of May (although it has had to pause free access to textbooks while it handles the unprecedented demand for resources).

3. Scholastic is offering free, daily online courses on its recently launched “Learn at Home” website for students from pre-K to grades 6 and higher.

4. Khan Academy, a free online learning platform, has released daily schedules for students in pre-K through grade 12.

5. Outschool is offering free live, online classes for public school students through the end of the school year.

6. Kennedy Center Education artist-in-residence and children’s book author Mo Willems is hosting daily drawing projects called Lunch Doodles.

7. PBS Kids is sending out a daily newsletter to subscribers that’s filled with activities and educational games for kids ages 2 through 8.

We hope these resources will help you, your company and your family get through these tough times. Stay healthy and #beHopeful.

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