REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS: THE AMERICAN INDIA FOUNDATION MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS PROJECT: American India Foundation’s Marketing & Communications in the US and India OVERVIEW: In 2021 the American India Foundation will celebrate 20 years of building a bridge between the United States and India to serve as a catalyst for positive change. Over these years AIF has distinguished itself as an effective leader in supporting marginalized communities in India and providing training, tools and resources to create better futures. The professionalism and efficacy of AIF’s programmatic work on the ground in India has been firmly established. At this juncture we seek to bring our marketing, communications and fundraising efforts to a similar level. This RFP seeks proposals from agencies to provide the needed services and strategy to make a profound impact in these areas. AIF looks for a partner as it grows its marketing and communication functions both in the United States and India. BACKGROUND: The American India Foundation is committed to improving the lives of India’s underprivileged, with a special focus on women, children, and youth. AIF does this through high impact interventions in education, health, and livelihoods, because poverty is multidimensional. AIF’s unique value proposition is its broad engagement between communities, civil society, and expertise thereby building a lasting bridge between the United States and India. Working closely with local communities, AIF partners with NGOs to develop and test innovative solutions and with governments to create and scale sustainable impact. Founded in 2001 in the aftermath of the devastating Gujarat earthquake by the Indian diaspora in the USA, AIF has impacted the lives of 6.7 million of India’s poor. With offices in New York and California, twelve chapters across the U.S., and India operations headquartered in Delhi NCR, AIF is transforming lives across 26 states of India while addressing these issues on a regional, country, and international scale. In 2018 Nishant Pandey took over as CEO of AIF after many years as the country director in India. In this time the organization has expanded its footprint in the US, leading to increased funding and presence. PROJECT GOALS/SCOPE OF WORK: In effort to unify our marketing and communications function into one strategic vision and plan, AIF seeks an agency partner to strategize, create and implement an overall marketing strategy for the organization in both the United States and India. Please note that this is a rather exhaustive overview of most of our marketing and communications functions currently done by AIF. We do not expect any proposal to include all items but rather show us where your experience and abilities can best come to advance the needs of AIF. 1. The AIF Brand a. Audit of the brand and the overall look and feel 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. b. Design support and creation in effort to unify program sub-brands and other initiatives c. Needs assessment of differentiating needs for the US and India branding needs Social Media a. Platform specific content creation b. Community engagement - responding, commenting, tagging, reposting c. Marketing - building audience via influencer partnerships, boosted post and paid advertising d. Fundraising - working in tandem with AIF development staff, build social media fundraising strategy via paid strategy and other methods to run fundraising campaigns with an emphasis on donor acquisition. www.AIF.org a. Perform an audit of the AIF website to understand and simplify the wireframe to ensure focus, usability and efficiency for the end user. b. Content writing and editing. c. Manage AIF website “back end” via updates, new design or functionality and other day-to-day website needs. E-mail Marketing a. Working with AIF development staff, design and develop e-mail marketing strategy for AIF’s database with the goal in donor conversion and mid-level gifts. b. Working with AIF development staff, plan a schedule of A/B testing with integrated lessons learned. c. Strategically look at improving open and click-through rates. 20th Anniversary a. Strategic planning for AIF’s 20th year i. Specific branding/logo ii. Fundraising goals tied to 20th Anniversary iii. Narrative that leans on 20 years of work in India b. Messaging around the 20th Year i. General audience communications through Social Media, Donor newsletters, eblasts ii. Targeted comms to government officials and policy makers c. Supporting media relations i. Shaping the voice for an integrated campaign ii. Connecting with journalists and bloggers to convert into stories on AIF’s 20 Years iii. Creating materials such as press releases and pitch notes. Content Creation/Production a. Structuring and executing a year-long editorial calendar b. Working within India to discover, structure, film and produce program specific content c. Collateral production – creating long form and short form content including both digital and print donor-focused marketing materials Media Relations a. Interviews, Expert Comments, Op-eds b. Bylines for stories c. Press Releases d. Organizational profile 8. Events Support a. Create design/brand for AIF events i. Alter for specific events b. Creation of eblast schedule in coordination with AIF events staff in the US c. Creation of event-specific video content SUBMISSION AND REJECTION OF PROPOSALS: Submission date: 09/25/20 Submit to: braden.lay@aif.org The proposal: ● Must be in English and address each piece of the SCOPE OF WORK ● All currencies should be in $USD ● Must clearly state how each requirement can or cannot (in which case why) be met Submissions must be made using MS Office products or as an Adobe PDF with the ability to print each document and are clearly marked ‘Confidential RFP response for AIF’. An agency which submits a proposal before the cut-off date may withdraw it by giving written notice and submit a new proposal, which cancels and replaces it. AIF reserves the unconditional right, without being obligated to provide reasons, to: ● Exclude or reject any proposal, whether compliant or not, or suspend, modify or cancel the RFP at any time and for any reason. ● Accept all or any part of a particular Proposal ● Contract separately for one or more elements of the RFP ● Not accept exclusivity of any pursuant contract from the supplier. Agencies may be requested to discuss and present the details of your responses during our evaluation of their proposal. Agencies may be asked for relevant additional information (including references) during the process. AIF reserves the right to run parallel negotiations with several suppliers after the proposals have been submitted or deal exclusively with one supplier. A proposal is only accepted if it forms part of an executed written contract. Two or more parties may lodge a joint proposal and if accepted both parties shall be jointly and severally bound by any contractual arrangements QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS You may direct any questions relating to the RFP to us up to 24 hours prior to the response closing date and we will endeavor, if appropriate, to respond to you as soon as practicable. Please send your questions to braden.lay@aif.org.
