A Request for Help Sparks New Ideas

One of the things I love the most about the work we do here at the Idaho Nonprofit Center is the opportunity to innovate and pivot quickly to meet the needs of our nonprofit friends. It has been an honor to have grown our membership, expand our programs and services, and continue to find ways to create value for the investment in membership with us.

Very recently, a member of ours reached out with a request: possibly share an RFP (request for proposal) with our consultant members who might be a fit for a project. The gig is pretty cool and for a national nonprofit board on which the member serves!  

We sent the proposal out to our consultant list who fit the criteria and I’m hopeful that a few of them were interested in submitting a proposal. But this simple request from a nonprofit member to our business affiliate members sparked an idea.

Truth be told, we receive a number of requests throughout the year from our nonprofits asking for referrals to qualified consultants. While we have an awesome directory on our website for everyone to see, more often than not our staff compiles a list of consultants and shares those back with the nonprofit to pursue.

We realized that we have an opportunity to create a process that provides a benefit to our members on both sides: consultants/affiliate members and our nonprofits. A form was created for organizations to submit their entire RFP and in turn, we’ll share it with our consultant network. It’s that simple!

Idaho Nonprofit Center members who are seeking professional services/consultant support can visit our RFP Submission resource page, complete the form, and upload their RFP. After they submit, we will send the entire opportunity (RFP and contact information) out to qualified member consultants/business affiliates via email for them to receive and apply if they are interested.

In case you missed it, this is a member only benefit. It is currently not available to those outside of our organization. We believe that this will be a tremendous time and money saver for our nonprofits and a great opportunity for our business members to grow their network of clients and customers.

• Members can find the direct link in their Member Portal. Email [email protected] to get help logging in.
  

A great example of when you might need a consultant is if you are planning to update or write a strategic plan for your nonprofit. In addition to the helpful and quick RFP form, we’ve compiled more resources for you: a template, examples, and links to other helpful resources.

Here are some examples of the kinds of services and consulting support you can submit an RFP for:

• Banking & Financial
  
• Communication
  
• Copying/Printing
  
• Event Planning
  
• Executive Transition Services
  
• Fundraising
  
• Grant Writing
  
• Graphic Design
  
• Human Resources 
  
• Insurance
  
• Legal Services
  
• Marketing & Communications
  
• Nonprofit Consulting
  
• Nonprofit Start Up Assistance
  
• Office Supplies & Equipment
  
• Research
  
• Software
  
• Technology
  

If you have ideas on ways we can bring value to your membership, don’t hesitate to reach out to our membership team at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!