2buy2 case study | Supporting the Church of England, creating Parish Buying

Case Study:

Large Church Denomination

From 2011 to December 2024, our dedicated efforts helped advance the strategic sourcing of a large church denomination by creating innovative procurement solutions and a buying group.

A Procurement Solution: A Church Buying Group

This solution was tailored to address diverse indirect expenditures of local churches across England and Wales, most notably in Power and Gas. 2buy2 was (and still is for active contracts taken out before 31/12/2024) the official Energy Ombudsman-regulated broker that supported and managed the Energy Basket & Fixed Term contract solutions for the large denomination's churches. By consolidating their collective energy expenditures, we consistently achieved substantial cost savings for the organisation.

The Objective

Our client sought to leverage the power of bulk purchasing to secure competitive pricing across a diverse array of contracts. Their objective was to engage vetted suppliers known for their reliability while also ensuring dedicated support for the churches involved in the contract establishment process. This strategic approach aimed to optimise procurement efficiency and foster a trustworthy network of suppliers.

Innovative energy purchasing solutions were required; to take the complexity out of purchasing energy, provide different purchasing options and take advantage of the bulk buying power of local churches across England and Wales. In addition, a requirement of finding green energy to help the large domination and local churches to meet their Net Zero Carbon aims.

The Challenge

Assisting churches:

Churches often do not have a dedicated procurement expert to help them through their contracts and tenders. It was our job to ensure churches would be able to understand and be guided through each step of the procurement process.

Ensure suppliers’ reliability:

We needed to account for a supplier’s reliability and ensured they uphold a standard high enough for the denomination. We also needed to make sure potential suppliers could focus on solutions that positively impacted the environment.

Adhere to strict deadlines:

Due to the nature of the contract on offer, it required constant attention from our procurement experts in order to make sure contracts were delivered in a timely manner.

Our Solutions

Energy Basket and Fixed Term Energy Purchasing Options

The energy market and purchasing energy can be a complex process and daunting for many churches. Along with providing quotes for fixed term contracts and options for churches, 2buy2 innovated and created, supported and managed one of the UK's biggest energy baskets. This innovative solution of an energy basket helped to take the volatility out of the energy market by hedging the purchasing of the energy and taking advantage of bulk buying, resulting in a significant number of churches saving money on their energy bills which could then be put back into their missions. All of this while also lowering the environmental impact through green solutions.

Easy to use website and online learning:

2buy2 created and managed our clients website up to June 2024, which had an easy to use registration and on-boarding process. The site was easy to navigate and guided a user through to the solution(s) they needed. We also provided an online chat experience for customer support and created online guides and an FAQ section to alleviate any problems someone may have upon entering the site or finding solutions.

Expert vetting and analysis process:

Our procurement experts made sure to analyse a supplier’s capability and efficiency before allowing them to become part of the many solutions that we offered.

Dedicated support and procurement expertise:

2buy2 provided support for churches via telephone, email and live chat, making it easy for customers to get in contact and resolved their issues as quick as possible. By making sure we had a team of procurement experts on hand to work through any manner of contract requirements or tenders, the churches did not need to stress over the complexities or deadlines. Our energy and support teams worked hard to support customers with their requests for energy quotes and entrance into the Energy Basket.

The Results

From its inception 13 years ago, we have grown the denomination’s buying group to include over 6,000 energy sites and achieved savings of well over £8.5m whilst generating a consistent revenue stream for the central denomination trust.

This led to new opportunities being appointed to develop and operate a whole strategic sourcing plan for energy and net carbon zero across the denomination.

The Impacts & Benefits

As part of our then agreement with the denomination, we provided surge capacity support to their internal procurement team. This has included providing specialist procurement support in complex areas of procurement, including FM, energy, professional services and safeguarding.

National Procurement Officer

Due to us working so closely with the churches, we were in constant communication with the Procurement Officer. As an expert in web-based sales and distribution, The National Procurement Officer understood the opportunity for growth and that was what we worked together to achieve.

We’ve found that in creating the Church Buying Group, there were multiple areas which were important to get right. Ensuring access to the right products through excellent procurement is a critical element, as are ensuring efficient systems for their delivery, including visibility of our data, management of opportunities and suppliers, clear governance structures and the culture of the teams driving these things. We have worked successfully with 2buy2 in delivering all of these elements for the denomination, as our procurement partner for more than ten years. In that time, we have grown the service together from nothing to a full, national procurement service with over 30,000 members. This simply wouldn’t have been possible, and it certainly wouldn’t have been the success it has been, without 2buy2.