AFP DC Strategic Plan Request For Proposals

Request for Proposals

Three (3) - Year Strategic Plan

Association of Fundraising Professionals Washington DC Metro Area Chapter

PROPOSAL CALL DATE: Monday, May 5, 2025

PROPOSAL CLOSE DATE: Monday, June 2, 2025 at 5:00 pm EST

PROPOSAL PRICE RANGE: up to $30,000

PRIMARY CONTACT: Sarah Miller, AFP DC President - Elect through email at smiller@palmettophilanthropy.com.

PROPOSAL LINK: https://forms.monday.com/forms/bdfe651fc2cd7f2b89bbf7fe401ba465?r=use1

INTRODUCTION

The Association of Fundraising Professionals Washington DC Metro Area Chapter (AFP DC) is accepting proposals for firms to facilitate a new three (3) - year strategic plan. You're invited to submit a proposal for consideration via our digital form. Please review the information provided below.

Only proposals submitted through our digital form will be considered. To ensure equal opportunity to all applicants, we will not be scheduling extra calls to discuss the proposal process. If we find the similar questions are being asked, we will share a Frequently Asked Questions one-pager with those who have expressed interest in participating.

SCOPE OF SERVICES

The AFP DC Chapter seeks a strategic planning professional or firm to guide the development of a comprehensive and forward-thinking plan that aligns with our mission, vision, evolving member needs, and market opportunity. This engagement will involve assessing the current organizational landscape, facilitating stakeholder input, and defining clear, actionable (and measurable) goals for the Chapter's future growth and impact. We seek a collaborative partner who can deliver a dynamic, inclusive process and a strategic framework to strengthen our capacity to serve the fundraising community in DC.

Our Board met in January 2025 and coalesced around the following themes, some of which we hope will be addressed through the strategic planning process:

• Clearly defining the value proposition for membership.
• Defining what successful member engagement looks like.
• Growing our membership numbers and chapter partners.
• Strengthening our partnerships with our affinity groups, AFP Global, and the Direct Marketing Association of Washington (our partner for the Bridge Conference).
• Deeper analysis of our members, their motivations for joining/leaving/engaging.
• Assuring our committee and leadership structure and volunteer collaborative flows function in support of our strategic plan goals.
• Re-imagining our revenue opportunities.
• Incorporating our IDEA principles and goals across our entire organization and its work.
• Benchmarking against peer and aspirational organizations.

The strategic planning process will be divided into three stages:

1. Pre-Plan Work leading up to the January Retreat (to start in September 2025).
   1. Facilitate stakeholder input, such as strategic planning stakeholder surveys and interviews.
   2. Gather necessary information and historical context in order to understand the chapter, its needs, and activities leading up to the strategic plan.
2. Benchmarking with peer organizations.
3. January Retreat Strategic Planning Facilitation (TBD - early January 2026).
   1. Provide appropriate research and read-aheads on membership organization trends and strategies.
   2. Organize and facilitate the strategic planning portion of the January retreat for the board and association management staff.
4. Strategic Plan (For a vote of approval at the March 2026 Board Meeting)
   1. Guide the development of goals and outcomes to be included in the formal document.
   2. Formal Strategic Plan prepared for the Board of Directors meeting in March.
   3. Implementation & Reporting Plan (to include KPIs or measurable outcomes).

After a brief historical assessment of the success of past strategic plans, we realized the following questions were asked across multiple strategic plans and were never truly answered and might also be asked during this process.

• Does AFP DC need at least one (1) full time, paid leadership role to help guide the organization?
• How can we increase the number of AFP DC member participants at the Bridge Conference?
• What is our role with policy and advocacy being the DC Chapter?
• How can we become more visible in more spaces across DC?
• How do we communicate the value of membership?
• Should IDEA be a standalone committee, a representative in every committee, a mixture?
• How can we better engage with volunteers?
• How can the organization be competitive in a crowded membership association marketplace?
• How can we further streamline our operations to alleviate volunteer workload?
• How do we define success as a Chapter?
• What does strategic growth look like for AFPDC?

The Digital Form

The digital form will ask applicants to respond to the following general areas.

• Description of you and / or your company’s vision for incorporating Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) principles in your work.
• A description of your approach to strategic planning facilitation and implementing one.
• Information about your company:
  • Link to website:
  • Location (preference will be given to DC area people)
  • A description of the team envisioned for the scope of work
  • Experience working with individual member-based associations, preferred
  • Experience working with volunteers
  • Communication and client workflow processes
  • Cost Scenario for your work (preference given to those who can work within our range, but those outside of it will most certainly not be excluded)
  • Description of how clients are billed
  • If applicable, your approach to the implementation and accountability of a strategic plan year over year
• Three client references (at least one membership organization(s) required)
  • Name & Type of organization
  • Organization website
  • Project descriptions
  • Contacts name, phone number, and email address

Evaluation Criteria

All proposals will be evaluated systematically, based on the following key criterion. The purpose of this section is to identify firms or individuals with the interest, capabilities, and expertise to conduct our strategic plan, as defined in the Scope of Services. Evaluation criteria include:

• Association management experience
• Strategic planning client success stories
• Professional quality of proposal
• Commitment to IDEA principles
• Competitive price

Short-list Selection

Proposals that have demonstrated capacity to meet our needs will be contacted via email to be notified of their selection to move forward in the RFP process. Proposals not selected will be notified via email.

Expected Selection Process Timeline

INTERVIEWS WITH SHORT-LISTED FIRMS: June 16 - June 20, 2025

Finalist Meeting with Board of Directors: July 22, 2025

ESTIMATE OF NOTIFICATION TO ALL APPLICANTS: Friday, July 25, 2025

PROJECT START DATE: August 2025

STRATEGIC PLANNING RETREAT: Early January 2026

ABOUT AFP DC

AFP DC, a 501(c)(3), is the leading professional membership organization for fundraisers in the nation’s capital. Founded in 1965, we are the largest U.S. chapter of AFP Global (240 global chapters), with approximately 700 members. Members of AFP DC pay dues to both the chapter and the global organization. As a Chapter of AFP Global, we collaborate closely on data collection, management, scholarships, our annual Be the Cause campaign, and education offerings, among other initiatives.

AFP DC receives its revenue primarily through a partnered conference, chapter sponsors/partners, job board postings, and member dues. The bulk of its expenses are primarily member benefits and its contract with its association management company to manage the organization.

AFP DC’s strategic regional location, a center for leading non-profit organizations, positions it as a thriving Chapter. AFP DC saw an uptick in engagement in 2020, but that engagement has continued to dwindle, both in terms of membership overall and revenue. As of 2025, our chapter is the largest AFP chapter. One area that has continued to provide reliable income is the Bridge for Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference (Bridge).

Website

https://www.afpdc.org/

Mission

The mission of AFP DC is to advance philanthropy by enabling people and organizations to practice ethical and effective fundraising.

Vision

A world of generosity and social good where fundraisers are recognized and celebrated as valuable agents of change.

Member Benefits & Activities

Benefits of membership in AFP DC include networking, member discounts on an annual conference (Bridge Conference to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising); member discounts on educational programs (general education, Advanced Executives, lunch and learns); complimentary access to the Annual Member Meeting (December) and Sunset Social (June), member discounts on special events; volunteer opportunities; chapter scholarships; member website; e-newsletter; mentoring program; job bank; etc. Members receive additional benefits through membership in AFP Global.

You can find more details on the Member Benefits page of AFP Global’s website.

AFP DC Education Fund

AFP DC recently launched a separate 501(c)3 organization, the AFP DC Education Fund, to help manage the Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference. The Bridge Conference is a jointly owned venture between the AFP DC Education Fund and the Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DMAW). 2025 will be the 20th year of the conference. The conference is held every year at the Gaylord National Convention Center (Oxon Hill, MD). The conference has more than 2,500 attendees and is a significant source of revenue for AFP DC. AFP DC and DMAW work with a contracted partner in the planning and management of the conference.

The directors of AFP DC Education Fund are AFP DC’s president, president-elect, immediate past president, and Vice President of International Affairs (Chair of the Governance and Finance Committees). AFP DC Education Fund meets periodically to conduct organizational business and review contracts, MOUs, and requests for funding from AFP DC.

While the facilitation of this entity is pivotal for the financial and operational wellbeing of the Chapter, the strategic plan should focus on the Chapter, with the Education Fund as one of many tools to facilitate activities and resources.

Code of Ethics

The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) is a professional organization whose members believe that philanthropy and fundraising are important aspects of our lives in society. AFP exists to foster the development and growth of both fundraising professionals and the profession itself and to promote high ethical behavior in fundraising practices. The AFP Code of Ethics and its Standards of Ethical Practice inform and govern the behavior of members and are designed to be applied alongside AFP’s commitments to member fair behavior practices and IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity and access). You can find all of this information through their website.

Diversity Statement

AFP DC is committed to seeking and actively promoting diversity of race, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, background, and perspectives in all aspects of our work: Board and staff configuration, members, consultants, clients, colleagues, and suppliers.

We value diversity not only because of the opportunity it engenders for others but because we believe it improves the quality of our profession and the impact of our work. Because diversity and cross-cultural competence are not characteristic of many surrounding institutions, we recognize that achieving these goals will require proactive and affirmative efforts. To these, we are also committed.

We are committed to an inclusive culture within our chapter and our profession that fosters an open, positive, and satisfying work and volunteer environment and that respects and rewards each individual on the basis of personal achievement and contribution.

We believe that creating and investing in a diverse workforce and membership and celebrating the myriad of cultures, lifestyles, experiences, and ideas they offer is key to our every success, the goals we set, the relationships we build with donors, colleagues, and the nonprofit organizations we represent, as well as the quality of work as fundraising professionals.

Our Membership

There are five membership types for our Chapter, and members are primarily in Washington, DC, Virginia, and Maryland.

AFP DC, the largest AFP Chapter in the United States, hopes to understand the context and trends of professional membership organizations similar to ours for a bigger picture on how to get our membership back to pre-covid levels and beyond.

For more on our membership, please visit our membership page.

Membership Type:

Membership Types are defined by AFP Global. To become a member of AFP DC, you must first become a member of AFP Global. Global holds the data for all chapters in their database and chapter leaders are able to access reports through the platform DOMO in order to update their member reports and contact information for members.

AFP DC downloads data from Global to analyze membership demographics, create member outreach campaigns, and upload into MemberClicks, our website and communication software. This is not an automated or integrated process and requires manual work to keep membership data updated.

AFP Global lists the member type definitions and pricing options on their website.

AFP DC has several historical data and membership resources that would be helpful in the strategic planning process.