Driving innovation in nonprofit organizations

Nonprofits play a large role in tackling challenges within their communities. But running a nonprofit isn’t easy. Limited budgets, small teams, and growing responsibilities can take a toll on operations and staff. That’s why finding smarter, more efficient ways to work is needed.

Smarter purchasing with centralized purchasing

Managing a large nonprofit or its affiliated branches means dealing with a lot of complexity. When independent offices or programs make purchases separately, it can lead to inconsistent practices, higher costs, and inefficiency.

The Amazon Business Associated Accounts Program (AAP) helps nonprofits overcome this by linking affiliate organizations or locations under one unified purchasing system. This centralization approach simplifies processes while allowing each branch to make independent decisions.

With AAP, the parent organization can:

• Combine purchases for bulk discounts and simplified billing
• Provide all locations access to cost-saving benefits
• Use data to track overall spending and identify areas for improvement, like cutting redundant costs
• Keep flexibility for individual branches, allowing them to meet their unique goals

Rather than handling separate accounts for each location, organizations on AAP can maintain one "parent" account that connects multiple “associated” accounts. This system helps nonprofits work together, reduce inefficiencies like duplicate orders, and strengthen their purchasing power.

Goodwill case study

Goodwill Industries International is a nonprofit with over 150 independent locations across the U.S. It leverages Amazon Business' AAP to coordinate purchasing across its sites while safeguarding each location’s independence. This approach saves money and supports local decision-making, enabling Goodwill Industries and its chapters to focus on its mission.

Goodwill has long been committed to creating a better environment. Rick Hill, vice president of retail and sustainability, explains, “Our triple bottom line impact is focused on the three tenets of people, planet, and prosperity. Through the sale of donated goods, we support people through job training and the power of work. Goodwill keeps materials out of the waste stream and keeps goods in circulation longer to help the planet. Goodwill’s mission and our presence benefits local communities through the services we provide, contributing to prosperity.”

With sustainability at its core for over 120 years, Goodwill continues to innovate by finding traceable, circular, and scalable solutions for donated goods. Local Goodwill organizations are pursuing zero-waste certifications, forming partnerships to keep materials out of the waste stream, and developing ways to recycle hard-to-process items like plastics, glass, and wood. Goodwill also works with Amazon Business for product acquisition, which allows them to make bulk purchases, benefiting from shipping savings and discounts. Through the AAP, related Goodwill organizations can link their accounts to access these benefits while maintaining account autonomy and maximizing their combined purchasing power.

“At Goodwill, we have countless examples of collaborating with partners across technology, talent development, sustainability, retail, and more,” adds Hill. This collaborative spirit helps Goodwill expand its impact while staying true to its vision of empowering people, preserving resources, and promoting community prosperity.

Reducing staff burnout with smarter tools

Nonprofit staff often wear many hats and are key to achieving their organization’s mission. However, heavy workloads can lead to staff burnout, impacting their effectiveness. Fortunately, tools like Business Giving help nonprofits modernize how they manage programs, reducing stress on employees.

Byrd Barr Place’s success with Business Giving

Byrd Barr Place is a nonprofit serving families in Seattle with essential services such as food assistance, energy subsidies, and housing support. A program to distribute heating and cooling units became overwhelming for staff as they manually handled every order, tracked each shipment, and responded to questions from recipients. “The entire process was manual and that created a level of burnout on our small team, that was already understaffed,” says Tremayne Edwards, director of operations.

Using Amazon Business’s Business Giving tool, Bryd Barr Place simplified its process of giving and scaled their impact. Instead of manually ordering and tracking units, they transitioned to sending recipients vouchers via email for specific products. Families could then claim their vouchers on Amazon, choose the product that best suited their needs, track delivery, and manage returns independently.

Byrd Barr Place achieved incredible results, tripling the number of units distributed and administering nearly $800,000 to support Seattle families. This campaign also provided much needed flexibility to recipients, who can now choose the unit they wanted for their home, rather than having it chosen for them. Edwards noted, “Often people know exactly what they need for help and we’re excited to use Business Giving to give them the resources to go and make those choices themselves.”

How nonprofits can modernize operations

Amazon Business offers several ways to help nonprofits work smarter, save money, and reduce staff burnout. Here’s how nonprofits can make the most of these tools:

1. Use the AAP: Link separate locations or branches to a parent account for better coordination. Achieve collective savings while giving each team the independence they need.
2. Prioritize smarter procurement: Leverage tools like analytics and Guided Buying to consolidate vendors, reduce unnecessary spending, and easily stay within organizational policies.
3. Focus on sustainability: Choose products from suppliers with sustainability certifications to meet social responsible purchasing goals while supporting smaller, impact-driven vendors.
4. Reduce staff workloads: Enable tools like Business Giving to reduce admin tasks by digitizing the process of distributing supplies or goods.
5. Take advantage of Business Prime: Unlock additional perks like faster shipping, detailed spending insights, and advanced features that make managing a nonprofit’s purchases easier with a Business Prime membership.
    

Better tools for bigger impact

Innovation in nonprofit operations doesn’t just streamline costs or ease workloads. It empowers organizations to be more sustainable, mission-driven, and impactful. By adopting tools like AAP and Business Giving, nonprofits can focus their energy where it matters most—serving communities and making a difference.