Neediest Kids Awarded 2010 Technology Innovation Award

eProcurement System Powered by Coupa Stretches Donor Dollars in New Ways

McLean, VA – Neediest Kids was recently awarded the 2010 Technology Innovation Award by NPower Greater DC and Accenture for its innovative use of technology and the impactful use of such innovation by a non-profit organization. At a “Celebration for Technology” event held on November 4, a panel of judges from technology companies selected Neediest Kids as the top-prize winner in the $500K-$2M budget category of non-profits.

“We are very proud to be recognized by NPower Greater DC and Accenture for our technological innovation,” said Lynne Filderman, Executive Advisor of Neediest Kids. “This award is tremendous validation for how a nonprofit can leverage technology to transform operations, structure new business partnerships, operate more efficiently and ultimately change the way we do business. At the end of the day, the platform enables us to help more students in need and stretch our donor dollars further.”

Neediest Kids transformed its 35 year-old paper-based process for purchasing goods and services for students in need into a streamlined, web-based eProcurement platform powered by Coupa. This new process was pivotal in enabling the organization to consolidate purchasing power.

With the new technology platform , Neediest Kids built new business relationships with strategic retail partners including Hour Eyes, Campus Outfitters, Staples, Safeway, and The UPS Store, positioning the organization to more effectively thrive in the 21st century business climate.

“This year’s Technology Innovation Award winners and runner-ups demonstrate the amazing things that organizations and their dedicated staff can accomplish with technology,” said Julie Chapman, president of NPower DC. “This Technology Innovation Award is quite an honor for Neediest Kids.”

As a result of operating under this new business model, Neediest Kids purchased nearly $410,000 worth of goods and services for students in need, but did so at a cost of only $152,000. This equates to savings of over $257,000 for the 2009-2010 school year which served to stretch donor dollars.

With the award, Neediest Kids will receive a strategic technology assessment from Accenture and donation of Microsoft software.

About Neediest Kids
Neediest Kids is a 501 (c)(3) organization that provides an emergency fund to nine Greater Washington Area school systems to purchase essential items for their students in need, enabling them to stay in school and focus on learning. Over the past two years, Neediest Kids has helped over 46,000 students.

About Coupa Software
Coupa is the leading provider of disruptive and innovative cloud spend management (CSM) solutions that help companies control their indirect spending and generate savings that go direct to the bottom line. Coupa combines the best e-procurement and expense management capabilities in a single solution that is easier to use, faster to configure and deploy, and more cost-effective than anything available today. With deep domain knowledge in e-procurement and expense management, a best-in-class cloud computing platform, a fast-growing community of customers, and industry-first innovations like real-time benchmarking, intelligent expense report auditing, and crowd sourcing great deals on the Web, Coupa is leading the way in helping companies spend smarter and save more. For more information please visit, a href="https://www.coupa.com">https://www.coupa.com or call 650.931.3200.