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Classroom Central, a Charlotte-based nonprofit founded in 2002, began as a small community effort to equip local teachers with essential classroom supplies. What started with one full-time employee and three part-time staff has grown into an organization supporting more than 75,000 students and 200 schools across the Carolinas.
Over time, Classroom Central expanded its mission beyond free school supplies to include personal care items, cleaning products, and professional learning resources for teachers. Today, 13 full-time employees and more than 4,000 volunteers help power its programs. As operations grew, so did the complexity of managing finances—leading the organization, and its Executive Director, Karen Calder, to partner with AvidXchange in 2023 to modernize its accounts payable process.
A Growing Nonprofit with a Stalled AP Process
Alongside her many responsibilities, Calder has served as the financial liaison for Classroom Central despite having little-to-no accounting background. She hired a contracted accountant to help manage the accounting process, but that alone wasn’t enough. Each week, Calder sifted through the mail and filing cabinets to locate dozens of paper invoices, which then had to be manually coded, reviewed, approved, and signed—followed by handwriting checks to be mailed once invoices were finalized.
“It was really time consuming and took me off the higher-level things I needed to be doing.” – Karen Calder, Executive Director, Classroom Central
As Calder’s responsibilities grew alongside the organization, her time became more limited—just as invoice volume and the number of decision makers increased. Their manual process made it difficult to maintain visibility into workflows, current suppliers (vendors), and approvals, creating new challenges at every step. Overall, manual processes pulled Calder away from building donor relationships to grow Classroom Central and advance its mission. Not only were manual processes inefficient, relying on paper checks exposed the organization to a fraud attempt—resulting in thousands of dollars in possible losses during the holiday season, a time when donations and funding are critical.
“Someone tried to cash a $9,000 check the week between Christmas and New Years. That caused us to put some extra precaution on our bank.” – Karen Calder, Executive Director, Classroom Central
It became abundantly clear their manual AP process couldn’t keep up with the demands of a growing nonprofit. It drained valuable time, lacked visibility, and exposed them to financial risk while diverting focus from key initiatives towards their mission. For Calder and her team, the need for a more efficient, secure AP solution wouldn’t just be helpful, it was essential.
Scalable AP Automation that Supports their Mission
In 2023, Classroom Central moved away from manual AP and adopted a secure solution built to scale with their growth, by implementing AvidXchange’s invoice and payment automation software. Although Classroom Central was already familiar with AvidXchange through the AvidXchange Foundation program, Calder shared that they explored several other solutions. Ultimately, they chose AvidXchange because of the company’s local roots and strong connection within the community.
“I loved the idea of doing business with someone that had supported us in such a fantastic way. And the fact that we would be doing business with a local business.” – Karen Calder, Executive Director, Classroom Central
Not only was Classroom Central excited to support a local business, the transition from manual to a digitized AP process was seamless. Calder said it took only six weeks to fully implement, and the first thing she noticed was how fast she and her team could add suppliers (vendors) to the system and the increased visibility into their new workflow.
“With recurring vendors, the coding is already automated so it’s just making sure that the invoice is correct and processing it through.” – Karen Calder, Executive Director, Classroom Central
By leveraging AI-enhanced invoice automation, Calder and her team have reduced manual work and significantly sped up their invoice processing. The software automatically extracts, matches, and routes invoice data, giving the team time back to focus on higher-value tasks.
As for payments, automating the process has made it easier for them to send secure, electronic payments that help reduce the risk of fraud and increase confidence in every transaction.
AvidXchange also plays a key role in helping the team forecast and plan their budgets. Calder says that having visibility into the total spend and access to historical data helps the team make more informed financial decisions. Having access to that type of insight is critical, since classroom supply costs are up 9.4% compared to 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“It makes the team better equipped to put together an expense budget that’s going to be much more meaningful based on historical data. And it saves me time because I don’t have to pull all those reports for them. They can go in and pull it themselves.” – Karen Calder, Executive Director, Classroom Central
Classroom Central’s move to AvidXchange has helped with greater efficiency, visibility, and enhanced security. With automation in place, they’re saving time, reducing risk, and gaining crucial insights needed to future-proof their operations, all while partnering with a trusted, local organization.
Efficiency Helps Build the Path to a Stronger Mission
Even with a limited accounting background, Calder finds AvidXchange simple and easy to use. Since automating their AP process, she said she’s saved an average of two hours each week compared to her time spent on manual invoice processing. Their new remote accountant can also access AvidXchange anytime, from any device—making collaboration seamless and efficient.
“With AvidXchange, everything is electronic now. No one has to be in the office looking at paper invoices and we don’t have to have filing cabinets.”
– Karen Calder, Executive Director, Classroom Central
With more time and improved efficiency, Calder has helped grow fundraising and program initiatives, lead the finance committee, and consistently provide insights that keep board members informed and engaged. At Classroom Central, building strong, lasting relationships with donors is a priority—and a key part of how they manage and receive support. The added time in Calder’s week allows her to stay focused on advancing these efforts.
“We can use technology to give ourselves the gift of time because we can then do what technology cannot, and that is build the relationships with our donors.”
– Karen Calder, Executive Director, Classroom Central
With added visibility, time, and control, Calder and the Classroom Central team are better equipped to plan strategically, strengthen donor relationships, and support more students and teachers. By modernizing their AP process with AvidXchange, they’ve gained the tools and insights needed to stay focused on their mission and build a better future for education.
“With AvidXchange, everything is electronic now. No one has to be in the office looking at paper invoices and we don't have to have filing cabinets.”
