January 08, 2025

Copia Launches New Feature to Streamline Food Donations and Support Nonprofits

At Copia, we’re constantly evolving to make food donation smarter, easier, and more impactful for everyone involved. We’re excited to announce a new feature that strengthens partnerships between donating businesses and food recovery organizations (FROs)/nonprofits, via Copia’s donation platform. This feature is designed to ensure that surplus food not only reaches the people who need it most but also does so in a way that supports both businesses and the nonprofits that make it all possible.

This new feature enhances the donation process by streamlining operations, reducing costs for businesses, and directly supporting nonprofits and FROs with financial contributions and operational tools.

What’s New?

Copia simplifies the entire donation process, helping businesses and nonprofits manage logistics, track donations, and measure the social and environmental impact with easy-to-read, customizable reports. With Copia’s new nonprofit pickups feature, businesses can continue partnering with the nonprofit organizations or food recovery groups they’ve worked with on a local level, preserving their local community connections. Copia typically relies on third-party last-mile delivery partners for donation pickups, but this new feature engages local nonprofits and FROs directly— compensating them for their efforts and ensuring they have the resources to succeed.

Key Benefits for Businesses and Nonprofits/FROs

With this feature, businesses can continue partnering with the FROs and nonprofits they know and trust, while Copia simplifies and enhances their process.

1. Reduced Costs and Revenue Sharing

• For Businesses: Businesses directly partnering with their preferred nonprofits through Copia benefit from a reduced service fee, lowering their overall cost of food recovery.
• For Nonprofits/FROs: Copia shares a portion of its service fee with nonprofits to help cover transportation and logistical expenses, ensuring they have the resources to continue their vital work.

2. Enhanced Operational Efficiency

• For Businesses: Copia handles logistics behind the scenes, validating donations, tracking pickups, and providing detailed financial and impact reports, such as matched donation receipts and enhanced tax deduction calculations.
• For Nonprofits/FROs: Nonprofits receive validated donation receipts and powerful analytics, making donation tracking and reporting easier to demonstrate their impact.

3. Streamlined Donations Nationwide

• For Businesses: National organizations can manage hyper-local and disparate FROs across the U.S. under one unified platform, ensuring consistent operations and reporting.
• For Nonprofits/FROs: Local organizations gain access to a seamless platform that simplifies logistics and connects them to national opportunities.

4. Backup Support for Pickups

• For Businesses: If a nonprofit partner is unavailable for a scheduled pickup, Copia provides alternative delivery methods on demand, ensuring every intended donation is redirected to a matched nonprofit without delay, maintaining seamless operations.
• For Nonprofits/FROs: Recognizing that volunteers and resources can be limited, Copia steps in when a nonprofit can’t make a pickup. We find an alternative option to ensure the donation is redirected appropriately, preventing any disruption to the donating business or the nonprofit’s relationship with them.

Why This Matters

This feature reinforces Copia’s ongoing commitment to creating a collaborative ecosystem that benefits all stakeholders in the food recovery process. For businesses, it offers a cost-effective, streamlined way to support their communities while meeting sustainability goals. For nonprofits, it provides essential financial support and tools to continue their critical work efficiently and effectively.

“At Copia, we understand that transportation is often the most resource-constrained aspect of a nonprofit’s operations. That’s why we’re putting our money where our mouths are by providing a revenue share to our FRO and nonprofit partners—ensuring they are given additional support to continue their critical work of getting food to those who need it most,” says Kimberly Smith, CEO of Copia. “As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting nonprofits, this is just the beginning. We’re working on additional tools and resources to better support our nonprofit partners and business donors and excited to share more soon.

Together, we’re making food recovery smarter, simpler, and more impactful, ensuring that surplus food doesn’t go to waste but instead becomes a resource for good.