The Ultimate Nonprofit RFP Guide with a Helpful Template

A nonprofit request for proposal (RFP) is a document that describes a project’s needs and asks companies to provide potential solutions. Most nonprofits looking for professional services like web development will need to create an RFP first, allowing you to gather bids from companies that want to work on your project. However, to get bids from the perfect company, you’ll need to create a straightforward, informative RFP.

To put yourself in the company’s shoes, you can think of your RFP as an invitation to submit a grant proposal. In a perfect world, how would you prefer to send your ideas to a funder? Incorporate the elements that make the submission process easier, and leave out the ones that make it needlessly challenging.

Now that you’re on the other side of the proposal process, you have the power to streamline the process for the companies you’re hoping to partner with. Here are some best practices to keep in mind in order to get great bids, carry out your projects, and support your organization in fulfilling its purpose.

Plan internally before submitting an RFP.

It’s important to complete any internal planning for your project long before you write and send out your RFP to ensure you have a concrete budget, timeline, and goals for the project. To make sure you’re prepared to take on the project and request bids, ask yourselves the following questions:

• Will the project go forward?  Prior to publishing your RFP, your nonprofit team should firmly decide that this project can realistically go forward by evaluating your available budget, the staff members you have on deck, and support from board members. This will prevent wasting time—for you and the companies submitting bids.
• How will the project help our organization meet its goals? To decide whether your project should go forward, evaluate how it will help you meet your goals. Take a look at your nonprofit’s SMART goals (goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely) and pinpoint specific ways that the project will help you complete them.
• Does our organization need outside help? Determine whether your organization needs an outside company to do this project, or if it can be done in-house. There are obvious benefits to outsourcing work like saving your staff’s time while tapping into others’ expertise. But, keep in mind that your staff will still need to manage the project and communicate with vendors about your organization’s history, brand, and needs to ensure the project aligns with the rest of your operations.

Once you’ve determined that the project is viable and requires outside help,  designate someone at your organization to lead the process.

Decide who will manage the project.

It’s important to complete any internal planning for your project long before you write and send out your RFP to ensure you have a concrete budget, timeline, and goals for the project. To make sure you’re prepared to take on the project and request bids, ask yourselves the following questions:

• Will the project go forward?  Prior to publishing your RFP, your nonprofit team should firmly decide that this project can realistically go forward by evaluating your available budget, the staff members you have on deck, and support from board members. This will prevent wasting time—for you and the companies submitting bids.
• How will the project help our organization meet its goals? To decide whether your project should go forward, evaluate how it will help you meet your goals. Take a look at your nonprofit’s SMART goals (goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely) and pinpoint specific ways that the project will help you complete them.
• Does our organization need outside help? Determine whether your organization needs an outside company to do this project, or if it can be done in-house. There are obvious benefits to outsourcing work like saving your staff’s time while tapping into others’ expertise. But, keep in mind that your staff will still need to manage the project and communicate with vendors about your organization’s history, brand, and needs to ensure the project aligns with the rest of your operations.

Once you’ve determined that the project is viable and requires outside help,  designate someone at your organization to lead the process.

Be specific when writing the RFP.

An RFP should be direct and concise. This document isn’t the right place to spell out all of the small details you want (like bits of copy, color schemes, or fonts). While these details might seem helpful from your perspective, companies may actually see it as a sign of micromanagement or unrealistic expectations. Instead, nonprofit RFPs should be big-picture documents as any small, specific details are subject to change as you work with bidders to complete the project. To get an idea of the format and layout of a nonprofit RFP, check out this template.

There is one piece of information that you must include: your budget. While some organizations follow a tradition of secrecy around naming their budget, it’s best to be specific about numbers from the beginning. After all, some companies will refuse to bid on an RFP with no budget because they can’t pitch a proposal at the appropriate scale without a clear concept of what your organization can afford. Being transparent about what you’re willing and able to pay will encourage more bids on your project.

Including any specific difficulties you anticipate with the project is also essential. In addition to building trust with your partner company, being clear about the scope of the project will give you the most accurate idea of who can take it on. For example, if you’re looking for help with your website, you should make a note that you’re dealing with custom-built coding or anything else that might require additional attention.

Communicating about potential roadblocks from the beginning can save you time in the long run by helping you find a partner that can take on these challenges—trying to hide things you think will scare off potential partners could destroy all the preliminary work you’ve done together.

Plan out a timeline before releasing your nonprofit RFP.

Make sure your internal and external deadlines make sense, both for your team and the companies making bids. Here’s a checklist of questions to guide your timeline decisions:

• Are you giving companies enough time to respond to your RFP? Remember that companies need to look at your proposal, evaluate whether you’re a good fit for them, create a pitch, and send it to you. Make sure you give them enough time (typically a few months) to do so.
• Does your total project timeline make sense? If you’re planning on redesigning a website, for example, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll finish in just a month. Research average project timelines to get a general sense of how long the project will take.
• Does the time of year have any effect on your schedule? If you can help it, you probably don’t want to interrupt your own giving season web traffic to redesign your online donation page. Be sure to take any known staff PTO and organization holidays into account—it won’t make sense to schedule deadlines for critical parts of your project when the project owner is out for two weeks!
• How much time will you need for project discussion between your organization and the winning bidder? Your organization and the company you choose will likely both have long lists of important questions for each other. Leave more than one day for asking and answering questions.
• How much time will you need for your internal approval process? You’ll likely need to obtain approval from leaders at your organization before the project actually begins. Allocate at least a week for obtaining board and/or C-suite approval.
• How much time will you need for testing? Some projects, especially tech projects, require rigorous, extensive testing. Don’t forget to build time into your schedule for testing and potential setbacks.

Building a realistic timeline that accounts for the time between communications, answering questions, and unforeseen obstacles can keep your project (and all of its moving pieces) on track. A well-designed timeline can also improve relationships with the company you’re working with, letting them know your expectations early in the process.

Consider these nonprofit RFP DOs and DON’Ts.

If you’ve never written an RFP before, you might not be familiar with the unspoken dos and don’ts that most organizations follow. Plus, many of these tips help make the process easier on the companies making bids, increasing the chance that you find the best company to help with your project.

Here are a few things you should do:

• Accept digitally submitted bids.

• Accept multiple digital formats securely uploaded to Dropbox, Google Drive, or another file-sharing service; an in-house submission portal; or, if you must, emailed as a password-protected attachment.

• Set clear word or character count limitations.
• Provide sufficient space for each section, tailoring it as appropriate.

• Provide embedded, live-counting character or word counts so companies don’t have to check their work in a Word document.
• Allow bidders to save their work and return to it later.
• Send companies an automatic email confirmation once they’ve submitted their bid.

• Remember that companies are evaluating you just as much as you’re evaluating them, and if your bidding process is overly complicated, you risk alienating potentially good partners.
• Craft your bid submission process to be as simple as possible with as few steps as possible.

If possible, try to avoid:

• Asking for multiple copies of bids.
• Requiring that companies submit a bid in hard copy. This places an unnecessary burden on bidders that might turn them away.
• Instituting overly tedious style guidelines or unrealistic word/character counts.
• Creating an overly-complex multi-step bid submission system.
• Requesting several hours of original creative work as a proposal.
• Asking solely yes-or-no questions.
• Publishing a boring write-up—instead, write your RFP like an engaging fundraising appeal or an ad for an exciting project.

As you navigate more large projects and write other RFPs, you’ll gain an understanding of what attracts companies, what turns them away, and what you can do to make submitting a bid easier.

Make a final decision.

So you’ve written up your RFP, vetted possible companies to work with, sent it out to a handful of good prospects, and collected their responses. Next, it’s time to choose the bid that works best for you. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Accept bids from companies that are organized and interested. Prevailing wisdom says companies should only bid on a project if they’re passionate about it and have the capacity to take it on. If you get the impression that a company isn’t ready or invested in your purpose, consider choosing another bidder.
• Research the company’s online presence. Reference any thought leadership the company has contributed as you make your decision, especially if this is for a web design project. Look for indicators of the company’s values as well, ensuring that they align with your nonprofit’s purpose.

Landing on a final company to work with is a big decision, and the one you choose to partner with can dictate the outcomes of your project. Ideally, you should look for a company that is excited to work with you, capable of completing the project, and  passionate about your nonprofit’s purpose.

After you choose the perfect company for your project, outline a detailed, specific contract with them to clearly communicate how you will work together and prevent any misunderstandings. Facilitating a strong, professional relationship with the company will ensure that both parties are satisfied with the end result.