Services

The Many Ways ACRE Can Help Your Nonprofit Meaningfully Reduce Costs

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Free Procurement Services


Managing a nonprofit doesn’t typically leave a lot of time for you to bargain shop and engage in the kind of back-and-forth negotiations that is often required to make the best deal possible when buying a needed product or service. Unfortunately, the deck has been stacked against the under-resourced nonprofits.

That model has now been turned on its head.  Nonprofits have a new ally that’s lightening their load, utilizing a unique purchasing skill set that helps nonprofits save on most anything they buy, and they’re doing it all at no cost to their nonprofit clients.  

All nonprofits have to do now is tell ACRE what they want to buy, and then they can go about their more important business, secure in the knowledge that ACRE is working to use all of its leverage points to get the the best deal possible.  

Serving as the only buyers’ agent exclusively for nonprofits, ACRE offers 100% free procurement assistance, utilizing  deep industry knowledge and certified negotiation training that arms you with your very own full-service purchasing department.

And by representing the buying interests of our growing nonprofit client base, ACRE can leverage that combined buying power to secure best-in-market pricing and terms.

Tell us what you’re in the market for, and we’ll go to work to get you the best deal!

Discount Clearinghouse

ACRE actively manages the most comprehensive repository of discount offers specifically for nonprofits. Almost 200 offers from companies in 30+ categories are easily searchable and typically include not just the percentage discount offered, but the dollar value of the discount. 

Companies also have an option to freely include more information about their product or service in their listing.  Whatever you’re in the market for, from software to office furniture to marketing support, check the Discount Clearinghouse to see how much you might save.

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Model Nonprofit Spending Practices

ACRE identifies, collects, and shares innovative cost-saving ideas and strategies tailored exclusively by and for associations and charitable organizations. Nonprofits that are looking for ways to reduce spending in specific areas are invited to contact ACRE for free advice and/or examples of how other nonprofits have found innovative ways to reduce spending in similar categories.

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Free Cost Benchmarking

ACRE’s complimentary cost benchmarking service offers a data-driven view of how your spending compares to that of other nonprofits of similar size, scope, and/or geographic area. —spotting areas where your nonprofit may be overspending or underleveraging vendor agreements.

ACRE uses expense categories on publicly available 990 tax filings to create a basic benchmarking report. Nonprofits that don’t file a full 990 return or any that want a more thorough analysis of how their costs stack up and where their savings opportunities lie, can contact ACRE about doing a deeper dive. Either way, the service is free!

Discounted Strategic Services

ACRE’s Strategic Services for small nonprofits feature expert human-led high-level project management that leverages low-cost AI-powered administrative support to produce highly affordable, high-quality services that help small nonprofits thrive. Take advantage of heavily discounted expertise in content development, operations, grants, and data research/analysis.  Learn more about how much you can get for how little money:

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Content Development: Projects led by an award-winning journalist and a Fortune 500 Corporate Communications Director. Ala carte or package offerings:
  • Governance content
    • Transcribe and format meeting minutes
    • Board reports
    • Policies/Position Statements
    • Research Papers
    • Press Releases
    • Speeches
  • Fundraising/Marketing content
    • Donor profiles (with interviews)
    • Volunteer profiles (with interviews)
    • Recipient profiles (with interviews)
    • Newsletter/Blog articles
    • Social media posts/campaigns

Grants: Projects led by grant manager/writer for federal and private grants for national and state nonprofits.

  • Monthly targeted grant research
  • Grant application creation and submission

Operations: Projects led by Operations Manager for an Association Management Company and an Associate Executive Director of Finance, and Administration for a national membership association..

  • Procurement
  • Vendor management
  • Functional support (HR, Finance, Legal, etc.)
  • Program management support
  • Project management support
  • Strategic Planning and Implementation support

Data Research and Analysis: Projects led by Researcher for national nonprofit advocacy initiatives and Government Affairs Director for a Fortune 500 company.

  • Advocacy issue data
  • Media mentions
  • Donor surveys
  • Donor prospect profiles
  • KPI measurement
  • Benchmarking

 

Contact ACRE to take advantage of any of these services, typically priced at $150 – $400 per project plus additional discounts for packaged or ongoing services.