In case your nonprofit has ever tried to revamp its web site, purchase a grant, or put together for an audit, you realize there are some roles for which your group merely isn’t ready. It’s unusual for nonprofit organizations to have a complete skillset in-house.
For that reason, nonprofits typically search experience from exterior consultants and distributors. Whether or not you at the moment have a deal with in your mission-critical duties or have to outsource instantly, making a request for proposals (RFP) units the stage for locating the fitting expertise on the proper value.
An RFP is a proper doc that outlines your group’s wants, expectations, funds, and choice standards when hiring distributors or consultants for a activity. Let’s evaluate the most effective practices your nonprofit ought to implement to write down an impressive RFP.
1. Outline Your Objectives
A well-defined aim is a important basis on your RFP, guiding your nonprofit’s questions and qualification standards. You will need to clearly articulate this aim to draw the fitting distributors and keep away from unreliable responses, particularly for mission-critical duties. For instance, an RFP for nonprofit compliance specialists should recruit certified professionals to make sure your group stays in good standing and avoids extreme penalties, like 501(c)(3) standing revocation.
By defining your objectives from the beginning, your group can guarantee proposals align with not simply your mission but in addition your broader mission. Your aim ought to make clear the next:
- Your nonprofit’s downside or want
- The result your group hopes to attain
- The scope of the work
- Your funds vary
- The anticipated timeline for completion of the mission
To place this into context, let’s say your nonprofit seeks skilled bookkeeping providers. You want professional steerage on monetary administration to attain correct and compliant monetary information, enhance monetary reporting, and tighten your funds.
To perform this, it’s best to search for a bookkeeper who will document all monetary transactions in your fund accounting system, put together month-to-month monetary experiences, and information budgetary selections. You may have $10,000 to spend on their providers and wish the bookkeeper to begin instantly, however the engagement will proceed on an ongoing foundation. This stage of specificity will assist your nonprofit appeal to essentially the most certified proposals.
2. Define Detailed Proposal Necessities
Together with attracting the eye of certified candidates, your RFP ought to make clear what is required from their bids. Present primary submission instructions, just like the format their response ought to take and the way they need to ship it to you. Additionally, checklist the mandatory data respondents ought to embrace, similar to:
- Related expertise: Description of previous initiatives, testimonials and references from former purchasers, and samples of earlier work
- Proposed strategy: Step-by-step plan outlining the instruments and methodologies they’ll use to fulfill your nonprofit’s wants
- Price range breakdown: Detailed pricing construction, together with any extra charges the seller would possibly require
This data permits your nonprofit to successfully examine proposals and discover the most effective candidate. For instance, a nonprofit on the lookout for a web site designer would possibly obtain proposals from a number of candidates who can handle the group’s wants inside the required funds and time-frame. Nevertheless, extra data, just like the candidate’s portfolio and references, may help you discover the proper match.
3. Be Clear About Choice Standards
When sorting by means of proposals, your group have to be on the identical web page about what constitutes a high contender. Establishing clear standards forward of time ensures a good and goal choice course of, lowering confusion and potential biases from interfering. Offering these expectations within the RFP may help potential candidates self-assess whether it is price their time to submit a response.
There are two key sources you’ll have to successfully and constantly consider proposals:
- A listing of standards: Create an inventory of must-haves, similar to an expertise stage, a selected strategy, adherence to your funds, or every other requirement that is sensible on your mission.
- A scoring system: Develop a scoring rubric that assigns weight to the standards in your checklist. You would possibly charge every criterion on a scale of 1 to 5, with one indicating the seller doesn’t meet your expectations and 5 indicating they absolutely meet your expectations. The seller with the very best rating is your finest candidate.
Additionally, present a transparent timeline on your decision-making course of in order that respondents know when to count on a response out of your group. This could embrace a submission deadline, analysis interval, and choice announcement date. With a clear schedule, respondents aren’t left ready on your choice, and your open communication will begin the brand new partnership off on the fitting foot.
4. Hold It Concise and Accessible
A nonprofit RFP have to be concise and well-organized to draw related responses that meet your standards. Respondents could turn out to be confused or abandon their response altogether for those who present them with a prolonged and difficult-to-understand RFP.
Listed here are some normal ideas for preserving your RFP accessible:
- Restrict pointless jargon: Keep away from utilizing any purely inner jargon, abbreviations, or terminology, and search for respondents who may also talk with exact language freed from jargon.
- Use direct and easy language: Specificity is essential to attracting viable candidates. Be clear about what you’re on the lookout for, whether or not or not it’s a monetary professional with a tried-and-true strategy to bookkeeping for nonprofits or a fundraising marketing consultant with contemporary concepts.
- Break up textual content the place potential: Use headings, bullet factors, quick paragraphs, and different components to make your RFP simply digestible. Whereas this doc gained’t be as glamorous as your affect experiences or weekly newsletters, it ought to nonetheless be simple for distributors to scan.
In the event you’re not sure how your RFP would possibly come throughout to somebody with much less context about your nonprofit’s wants, ask a workers member or volunteer to evaluate it and supply suggestions. For instance, ask your nonprofit’s bookkeeper to evaluate your RFP for a web site designer.
5. Overview Actual Examples, Keep away from Templates
Whereas there are lots of free RFP templates on-line created only for nonprofits, your request will finally rely on your group’s distinctive objectives, operations, and wishes.
For instance, an RFP template would possibly advocate together with your group’s background data and mission objectives. Nevertheless, a nonprofit on the lookout for knowledgeable advertising company doubtless wants to incorporate extra particular standards, like examples of deliverables and a proposed strategy based mostly on the group’s branding.
Whereas nonprofits must be cautious of over-relying on RFP templates, reviewing examples may give you an thought of what works and what doesn’t. In case your nonprofit doesn’t have previous RFPs of its personal to evaluate, think about asking board members or companions for examples from their earlier work.
As your nonprofit grows, so will its want for outsourced experience. Over time, you’ll have many alternatives to craft an impressive RFP and optimize your strategy to yield the most effective outcomes. As responses roll in, analyze your strategy to establish elements that will have influenced the proposals and modify your RFP subsequent time as wanted.
