Microsoft Partner Co-op funds
Everything we've published on Co-op and MDF in one place: how the funds work, what's changed for FY27, what qualifies, and how to spend the money without wasting a penny of it.
Millions in funding goes back every year.
Co-op and MDF are the largest sources of funded marketing available to a Microsoft Partner, and the most consistently underused. The rules move each fiscal year, the eligible activity list gets tighter, and the evidence bar keeps rising.
This hub pulls together every guide, report and article we've written on the subject, and it's where new Co-op content will land as we publish it. Start with the basics, then work through the FY27 changes and the spend ideas.
Every Co-op and MDF resource we've published.
Start here: how the funds work
The basics of earned Co-op, proposal-based MDF, and how the two fit together in a Microsoft Partner marketing plan.
Microsoft Co-op funding guide
Our full guide to earning, claiming and evidencing Co-op funding as a Microsoft Partner.
Read itExplainerMicrosoft MDF for Partners
How Market Development Funds are proposed, approved, executed and evidenced without the paperwork eating the pipeline.
Read itInsightMicrosoft marketing funding
The full picture of funding routes open to partners, and which one to reach for first.
Read itFY27: what's changed
Microsoft tightened the rules for FY27. These pages cover what moved, what disappeared, and what it means for your plan.
FY27 co-op funding: what's changed
The FY27 changes to Co-op, in plain English, with the practical implications for marketing teams.
Read itGuideHow to spend your Microsoft Co-op in FY27
A long list of permitted, practical things to spend the money on, plus a checklist to take back into the business.
Read itInsightMicrosoft Partner incentive programmes for FY27
Where incentive money only unlocks when marketing runs the right activity, and keeps the paper trail.
Read itWhat qualifies, and how to spend it
Eligibility, scoping and the activities that turn funding into pipeline rather than an unclaimed balance.
Co-op and MDF eligible marketing campaigns
What qualifies, what doesn't, and how to scope a brief so the claim writes itself.
Read itInsightHow to spend Microsoft Co-op funds
The marketing plays partners use to spend Co-op well, and the ones that waste it.
Read itExplainerMicrosoft incentives and marketing
How to line your marketing plan up with the incentives Microsoft is actually paying against.
Read itPut the funding to work
When the money is approved, this is the delivery side: campaigns, content and demand built to the standard Microsoft reporting expects.
Marketing campaigns
Funded campaigns built to spec, tracked properly, and evidenced for proof of execution.
Read itServiceMicrosoft Partner marketing
What we do for Microsoft Partners across strategy, content, campaigns and demand.
Read itToolMicrosoft Partner Marketing Score
A quick benchmark of where your marketing is strong and where funded activity would land best.
Read itThe questions partners ask us most.
- What are Microsoft Co-op funds?
- Co-op is marketing funding earned as a percentage of eligible revenue through Microsoft's incentive programmes. Partners spend it on approved marketing activity and claim it back with evidence of execution.
- What's the difference between Co-op and MDF?
- Co-op is earned against revenue and is broadly discretionary within Microsoft's rules. MDF is proposal-based: you pitch a specific plan, Microsoft approves it, and the funds release against proof of execution.
- What changed for Co-op in FY27?
- Microsoft tightened the eligible activity list and pushed spend towards demand-generating activity aligned to strategic solution areas. Our FY27 pages cover the detail and what to do about it.
- Why do partners lose Co-op funding?
- Usually because eligibility is checked too late, the activity does not match the approved categories, or the proof of execution is assembled after the campaign instead of being built into the brief.