Ariba, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA), the leading spend management solutions provider, is gearing up to make a difference. The company today announced its participation in theDonorsChoose.org Social Media Challenge, a unique charity event in which the Blogosphere’s elite will compete to solicit donations from their online communities to support critical educational projects across the nation’s schools.
“The DonorsChoose.org Social Media Challenge is a fun way to involve online communities in bringing classroom wishes to life,” said Jonathan Evans, Vendor Relations Director, DonorsChoose.org. “It’s a friendly but fierce competition to find out which bloggers have the most engaged and generous readership to drive support for school projects that benefit students from low-income neighborhoods around the country.”
Ariba has long recognized the value of building online communities. In 1999, the company launched the Ariba Network to help buyers and suppliers around the world connect and do business more efficiently. In 2003, it began tapping social media outlets to fuel even greater collaboration among people and organizations, starting a blog,SupplyExcellence.com, creatingLinkedIn Groupsand establishing a presence onFacebook,TwitterandYouTube.
“The Internet has completely revolutionized the way that people and businesses connect and communicate,” said Justin Fogarty, manager, online communities, Ariba. “At Ariba, we’ve built a strong network of online communities through which professionals from around the world freely share insights, information and best practices to advance their own objectives and those of their peers. We’re now challenging these communities to
target=”_blank”>extend their supportto one of our nation’s most critical objectives – the education of our children – and a worthy charitable organization – DonorsChoose.org.”
An online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need, DonorsChoose.org enables public school teachers from every corner of America to post classroom project requests, from pencils for a poetry writing class to violins for a school recital. Donors can search requests and give any amount to projects that speak to them. Once a project reaches its funding goal, DonorsChoose.org delivers the materials to the school, and donors hear back from the classroom in the form of thank-you notes and photos.
Throughout the month of October, members of Ariba’s various communities can donate to classroom projects at DonorsChoose.org by visiting the
target=”_blank”>Ariba DonorsChoose.org Social Media Challenge site, where participants can also ask Ariba to feature specific projects or areas of interest.
Last year, more than 165 of the country’s most prominent bloggers, including Craigslist.org founder Craig Newmark, venture capitalist Fred Wilson, and Wall Street Journal reporter Kara Swisher rallied in support of DonorsChoose.org and raised over $275,000. “We’ve got some heady competition, but we’re more than up to the challenge,” Fogarty said. “With more than 25,000 unique visitors to our communities each month, we’re confident we can make a difference for DonorsChoose.org and the schools and children that they support.”
About DonorsChoose.org
DonorsChoose.orgis an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need. Public school teachers from every corner of America post classroom project requests, from pencils for a poetry writing class to violins for a school recital. Then, you can search requests and give any amount to the project that speaks to you. Once a project reaches its funding goal, we deliver the materials to the school, and you hear back from the classroom in the form of thank-you notes and photos. Learn more abouthow it works.
About Ariba, Inc.
Ariba, Inc. is the leading provider of on-demand spend management solutions. Our mission is to transform the way companies of all sizes, across all industries, and geographies operate by delivering technology, service, and network solutions that enable them to holistically source, contract, procure, pay, manage, and analyze their spend and supplier relationships. Delivered on demand, our enterprise-class offerings empower companies to achieve greater control of their spend and drive continuous improvements in financial and supply chain performance. More than 1,000 companies, including more than half of the companies on the Fortune 100, use Ariba solutions to manage their spend from sourcing and orders through invoicing and payment. For more information, visitwww.ariba.com
