Achieve Foundation South Orange & Maplewood Website Redesign – Request for Proposal
RFP Open: November 30, 2022
Responses Due: December 31, 2022
Send any questions on the RFP to: director@achievefoundation.org
Send proposals to: Eileen Neri, director@achievefoundation.org
This RFP is for strategy, design, copywriting, content creation, and development services for a new website for the Achieve Foundation of South Orange & Maplewood.
Goal for new website launch: Spring 2023
ACHIEVE FOUNDATION OVERVIEW
The Achieve Foundation of South Orange & Maplewood is a registered 501(c)3 organization
that promotes high-quality education that prepares South Orange-Maplewood School District students for the future. We support our students, families, and educators by addressing inequities, inspiring innovation, and fostering community. Since 1999, Achieve has invested over $4.5 million for programs that support public education in our two towns.
Achieve is led by a volunteer board of trustees and a professional staff including a part-time executive director, a program manager for Achieve’s Volunteer Tutoring Program, and a donations manager. We collaborate with the School District of South Orange & Maplewood, and key stakeholders in the district are represented on the board.
Tagline: Private Funds for Public Education
Current Brand Catchphrase: Achieve with Us
OUR AUDIENCE(S)
Achieve has several key audiences, and each come to and interact with the website for different reasons.
● Donors
o Individuals/families who come to donate to the general fund or a specific initiative that speaks to them.
o Sponsors – typically local small businesses who want to support our work/public education, but also seek recognition, their logo on our website.
● Educators – district partners who wish to apply for a grant and/or submit an evaluation and receipts for a prior grant they received.
● Event participants – Come to the website to learn more and/or register for upcoming events (e.g., Newstead 5K, Maker Madness).
o Could be newer to Achieve, saw lawn sign, flyer or another promo.
● Volunteers – Many come to the website looking to tutor, but others want to know how to get involved. Need to make it easy to see all the options for “Achieving with Us.”
● Partners – parents or students seeking services (e.g., to request a tutor). Or they know of the AVTP and are trying to volunteer.
Achieve Foundation South Orange & Maplewood
CURRENT WEBSITE ISSUES
Our current website (https://achievefoundation.org/) is about 8-10 years old and does not serve us well anymore. Though we have made updates along the way, better architecture is now available. The design is dated, and the navigation is clunky and not particularly intuitive for outside users. Even Achieve trustees have a hard time finding things on the website. There is a treasure trove of info available on the website, perhaps too much. We are able to update the website content, but since the platform is outdated, it isn’t always easy, and often the results look a little amateur (mixed font sizes/colors, for example).
NEW WEBSITE OBJECTIVES
● Prioritize Donations: The site needs to make it easy to donate to the organization and must integrate with the donations platform (Stripe/Bloomerang). It should be obvious how to donate and there should be a persistent call-to-action and donate button across every page of the site.
● Easy to Volunteer/Request a Tutor: People coming to the website to find a tutor or to volunteer should find it easy to sign up/register/connect with the tutor program manager.
● Easy to Get Informed & Involved: Aesthetically, the website should be visually pleasing and easy to navigate, and should:
○ Provide information to a variety of audiences
○ Highlight recent accomplishments and upcoming events
○ Compel potential supporters to give, volunteer, and attend
○ Feature key data points/impact of Achieve
○ Be easy for ED/volunteers to keep the content current
NEW WEBSITE FUNCTIONALITY REQUIREMENTS
Our new website will need:
● An easy-to-use content management system (CMS)
● Intuitive navigation
● Clean and focused design
● A more modern look, more visuals/pictures
● Effective copywriting – all applicable content can be imported from the current site, updated/edited appropriately
● Optimized with SEO best practices
● Needs to look good on mobile devices (responsive or mobile optimized)
● Social media integration (share buttons, follow buttons, etc.)
● Ability to embed videos
● Must integrate seamlessly with existing tech stack (donor database, newsletter, contact forms) or provide similar functionality
