Toward 100% Adoption: How YMCA of the Triangle and JAGGAER Created a New Procurement Model for Regional Non-Profits

Executive Summary

The YMCA of the Triangle, headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, serves the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area with 19 branches and 3 overnight camps. With more than 450 full-time employees and 3,000 part-time staff, the organization has struggled with a siloed legacy procurement system with $73 million in annual spend. At a time when many branches of the 181-year-old global non-profit were streamlining their budgets, the YMCA of the Triangle turned to JAGGAER for a more efficient and intelligent way to handle procurement and invoicing. The solution has improved vendor management and invoice processing and given the organization a more strategic and automated framework to manage the programs that build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.

Thanks to JAGGAER, we now have full visibility, better contracts, and the ability to leverage our buying power. At the end of the day, that means we can save money and put it back into serving kids and families.

John Newell, Senior Director of Procurement, YMCA of the Triangle

The Challenge: Legacy Systems Managing $73 million in Annual Spend

Like many nonprofits, the YMCA of the Triangle faced structural and operational hurdles. Its procurement system relied on manual order processing, its vendor management was fragmented, and its invoice handling was slow and burdensome to the accounts payable team.

“We were doing everything through internal mail,” said John Newell, Senior Director of Procurement, YMCA of the Triangle. “We needed to expedite processes and eliminate steps in between to make it faster for all of us to get what we need, when we need it.”

Managing an average of $73 million in annual spend, the YMCA needed a more intuitive, scalable system. Without change, staff would remain stuck navigating clunky systems instead of focusing on mission-driven work like youth programs, wellness initiatives, and community outreach.

The Solution: Digital Workflow, Cross-Functional and Regional Collaboration

The YMCA of the Triangle decided it needed a centralized system. It partnered with JAGGAER transform procurement and accounts payable. JAGGAER was selected for its long track record in Higher Education, as well as the configurability of its platform.

With JAGGAER, the non-profit replaced siloed processes with a unified digital workflow, with automated punchouts, self-guided supplier onboarding, and flexible invoice options. Also, for cross-functional collaboration, the solution was integrated with financial software NetSuite for Business Intelligence dashboards to give teams real-time spend visibility, including diversity spend tracking.

And for even greater collaboration and cost reduction, JAGGAER and the YMCA of the Triangle IT team partnered with YMCA of Greater Charlotte to share vendor data and build a dual ERP structure, reducing costs to better serve children and families and create a model for future regional collaboration.

Results: Cost-Savings to Better Serve Children and Families

The transformation delivered results that extended beyond simple ROI. With JAGGAER eProcurement and Invoicing, the YMCA of the Triangle achieved:

• No more fragmentation: 70% of spend through one platform.
• No more inefficiency: Requisition-to-PO approval times dropped to less than a day.
• No more lack of visibility: 60% of building maintenance spend is better managed.
• No more lack of usability: 100% adoption on the new system, thanks to mandatory training through JAGGAER University.

The YMCA of the Triangle’s digital procurement journey with JAGGAER is a model for nonprofits seeking to align operational efficiency with mission impact.

Looking ahead, the organization is exploring collaborative procurement alliances across Carolinas YMCAs to maximize spend efficiency, AI-driven analytics to refine vendor strategies and optimize high-cost categories like building maintenance, and risk mitigation through embedded payments to reduce fraud and reliance on paper checks.