The Executive Committee of the Asian American Psychological Association is seeking a web team to help revitalize our website in the following key functionalities.
1. Synchronization of payment processing with real-time membership information
2. Automation of membership information on the listserv management in G Suite
3. A visual and aesthetic upgrade in consultation and collaboration with Project Taskforce
4. Incorporation of posts from social media outlets into the new website
5. Ongoing maintenance and troubleshooting
This RFP includes background on AAPA, and further describes the purpose of the Project, its desired features, and specific requests relating to the Proposal. We understand that details may be subject to change upon vendor recommendation and / or research of more optimal solutions. In your proposal, please feel free to suggest alternatives where noted. We especially welcome any open discussions with the Taskforce as you develop a proposal for this Project. Please direct any inquiries or submit your proposal to communication@aapaonline.org. The deadline to submit proposals is October 18th, 2020.
Background:
The Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA) was founded in December 1972 by a group of Asian American psychologists and other mental health professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area. With the leadership of Dr. Derald Sue (AAPA’s first President) and Dr. Stanley Sue, the first core group was formed and included educators, social workers, master’s level psychologists and other mental health professionals. The group was vitally interested in Asian American psychology and mental health issues, in the training and education of Asian American mental health professionals, and in collaborating and networking with their peers. Since its inception, the Association advocated on behalf of Asian Americans as well as advancing Asian American psychology. In the 1980’s, for example, the AAPA pressed the U.S. Bureau of the Census to include Asian American subgroups in its census data and fought against the English-only language movement in California. The development of Asian American psychological theory, research and practice was shaped by members such as Derald Sue, Stanley Sue, Harry Kitano, Richard Suinn, Frederick Leong and others. Throughout its history, AAPA has published journals and newsletters focused on the education and training of Asian American psychologists, Asian-American psychological topics, and methods of improving mental health services for Asian Americans. The Association leads and guides other professional organizations on Asian American psychology and is in the forefront of the multicultural psychology movement. The AAPA currently has seven Divisions.
• Division on Women
• Division on Students
• Division of South Asian Americans
• Division on Filipinx Americans
• Division on Practice
• Division on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning
• Division on Asian Americans with Multiple Heritages
Scope of Work:
Since 2013, AAPA has partnered with Bust Out Solution to create and maintain our website, AAPAonline.org, including functions such as domain hosting, membership management, and other technical needs. The current website is hosted by WP Engine and utilizes WordPress as our content management software and a WordPress plugin called Paid Memberships Pro (PMP) for our membership management. Functionalities including listserv management and AAPAonline.org e-mail accounts are managed through G Suite. The selected web developer would therefore work with Bust Out Solution efficiently to inherit and resume these services. More importantly, you will also help AAPA achieve the following five major needs.
1. Synchronization of payment processing with real-time membership information, according to:
a. Membership levels (professional, student, retiree, etc.)
b. Division membership options
c. Automatic prorated function
The most immediate goal of this project is to help AAPA repair the membership due payment processing system. As it currently stands, our membership management system is NOT completely synchronized with our payment processing platform, Stripe. This is a critical issue that has resulted in a significant amount of revenue loss. The selected web developer will help establish synchronization of payment processing system with real-time membership information. The new synchronization will be able to incorporate the varying membership levels and divisional membership options. Membership is renewed automatically and annually. There should also be the functionality to automatically calculate a prorated refund in the case of cancelation.
2. Automation of membership information on the listserv management in G Suite
a. General AAPA membership
b. Division membership
Currently, membership information is managed by the AAPA Membership Officer on the Executive Committee, who disseminates the active roster on a monthly basis to each of the seven Divisions. The Membership Officers from the EC, as well as each of the Division officers, then update the Google Group membership manually to match the accurate membership information. The selected web developer will help automate this process, so the new membership management system also synchronizes with the existing Google Groups, in addition to payment processing system described in the previous item
3. A visual and aesthetic upgrade in consultation and collaboration with Project Taskforce a. Organizational logo redesign
The current template of AAPAonline.org has been in use for more than five years. The selected web developer will work closely with the Project Taskforce to improve the visual design of our webpage, including a redesign of the AAPA organizational logo.
4. Incorporation of posts from social media outlets into the new website
As the most convenient way to update our website frequently, we hope the new website will include the feature to display posts from our various social media accounts.
5. Ongoing maintenance and troubleshooting
We are seeking a reliable and consistent partner who can serve to facilitate our organizational continuity. As a volunteer-run organization without a permanent staff, our web solution team or individual represents an important resource to help preserve intuitional memory for years to come. The selected web developer will likely enter into a retainer-like contract that provides ongoing technical support. A funding structure of this ongoing partnership should also be stipulated in the Proposal.
• Project management o Coordinating with AAPA Project Taskforce, timeline, process, deliverables.
• Restructure backend software according to the aforementioned needs
• Design new user interface and template for website, in close collaboration and agreement with AAPA Project Taskforce
• Implement full migration of current AAPAonline.org content to new content management system, if necessary
• Provide training to AAPA team in how to use the new content management system and tools
• A legally binding contract that outlines the ongoing partnership with AAPA
Content Management Software While our team is most familiar with WordPress, we are open to other solutions. Our primary requirement for the CMS is that it is user-friendly for people inexperience in CMS management, and that it is flexible in adding different elements to our pages. We are psychologists and mental health professionals mostly without much technical backgrounds! Reliability As our ongoing partner and technical support, the selected web developer should be reliable and efficient in your communications with AAPA. You will likely to be asked to provide updates and training on occasions to the EC. Requests for support or other communications should ideally be responded within 24 to 48 hours.
Due Date:
October 18th
Address:
Agencies to consider include Magrino PR and Hunter PR.