Fulfilling your mission with simple buying

Nonprofits thrive on making an immediate, positive impact – whether it is providing affordable housing to low-income elders, delivering disaster relief, or increasing access to quality education. Because of this, purchasing needs to move at the speed of the mission. Nonprofit buyers need to be able to procure supplies quickly, have access to in-stock, high quality inventory, and have the option to buy at different quantities. As the demand for programs increases and nonprofits strive to meet their mission, staff and volunteers are experiencing burnout from their growing workloads.

The 2023 Nonprofit Shortage Crisis report revealed that the nonprofit jobs most commonly unfilled are those that interact with the public the most. Around 74% of surveyed nonprofit organizations reported vacancies in their program and service delivery positions.

By having a simple, well-defined process in place with smart business buying solutions, it becomes easier to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and make necessary improvements. Here’s how to ensure your staff and volunteers can find and get the products they need fast to fulfill their mission:

Simplifying product search

• Integrated Search: When you invest in a purchasing solution that’s familiar to your buyers, searching becomes intuitive. A clear search function allows for easy filtering by category, brand, and specific product needs for your mission’s program. With Integrated Search, a self-serve feature, it eliminates the need to search multiple vendors’ websites and return to your e-procurement system to begin the ordering process. Reduce clicks to save time by searching and purchasing from your current buying solution.
• Curated Catalog: Without needing to do the heavy lifting of comparing prices and assessing what’s in-stock, Curated Catalog can be your one-stop-shop for reliable prices and predictable inventory on everyday essentials categories such as office, breakroom, and janitorial supplies. Not only do you experience time savings and up to 25% cost savings, it arms your nonprofit organization with supply chain resilience. As this is an add-on feature, your account executive or customer advisor can assist you with the opt-in process. 

Stocking up on inventory without compromising quality

• Consolidate suppliers: Nonprofits rely on suppliers to help support their mission and provide a better experience for their donors and beneficiaries. It can be quite complex to manage an ever-growing list of suppliers when time is of the essence. When evaluating suppliers, it’s more than finding the lowest prices available. It’s also about balancing costs, quality, and delivery reliability to be able to manage unforeseen risks. Most importantly, it’s ensuring that your suppliers will meet the goals of your organization and the needs of the communities you serve. With Amazon Business, you have automatic access to hundreds of thousands of pre-vetted suppliers. This eliminates the need to research new options, giving you more time to shortlist and consolidate your supplier list.
• Purchase items for kitting in bulk: For nonprofits that are charity-, community- or relief-based, hosting kit packing events can be frequent. Since building a kit requires a handful of relevant items, consider purchasing in bulk to get quantity discounts. If you’re looking to buy single-SKU, high volume items, the Request for Quote (RFQ) tool will assess bulk suppliers on your behalf and provide custom offers tailored to your organization’s needs – simplifying the vetting and negotiating process. If your nonprofit requires to vet three or more suppliers for bulk purchases, RFQ meets the need. 

Here's a tutorial on how to self-request quotes and bulk buy:

Automating recurring purchases

All purchases can vary as each caters to different situations based on your nonprofit organization’s need. There may be times when you facilitate an annual holiday supply drive, or where you spearhead multiple, ongoing youth programs throughout the year that require the same resources—if not, more.

• Subscribe & Save: With this feature, your staff is able to get what they need at a discounted price with automatic deliveries. Have the self-serve option to schedule deliveries on your preferred day. This is fitting for consumer goods that need to be replenish on a cadence.
• Business Lists: You can make your purchasing process more convenient through creating Business Lists. You’re able to add, organize, sort, and prioritize products that you frequently need. Once you have built your list, you can easily share it with others and quickly reorder those products with just one click.

Here's a tutorial on how to self-create lists and share with others:

Simple buying

By implementing these features, you will create a simple buying process that will make your lives easier and allow you to focus on what matters most: serving your communities.