Access to early stage growth capital is an ongoing challenge to the growth of Arizona’s Bioindustry. To address this challenge, AZBio, in partnership with the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation and with support from a US. Economic Development Agency (EDA) grant has developed AZAdvances. (www.AZAdvances.org)
Purpose of AZAdvances:
Arizona life science innovators are discovering, developing, and delivering new products and services that will help to keep us healthy and help our physicians care for us when we need it.
Today, Arizona lacks sufficient funding to support our early-stage life science companies and to keep them growing here in our state. AZAdvances was created to specifically designed to address this need.
Once capitalized, the AZAdvances Today Fund™ will provide support to Arizona-based life science innovators (grants to nonprofits and loans or equity investment to early stage life science companies) while the AZAdvances Legacy Endowment™ will grow the core capital over time so that as the need for future funding grows, so does our capacity to meet it.
As part of this effort, AZBio will engage a marketing consultant to refine and support the AZAdvances Capital Campaign and our ongoing communications strategy.
Background:
A key component in Arizona’s life science ecosystem, the Arizona Bioindustry Association (AZBio) is the only statewide organization exclusively focused on Arizona’s bioscience industry. AZBio membership includes patient advocacy organizations, life science innovators, educators, healthcare partners and leading business organizations. AZBio is the statewide affiliate of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and works in partnership with AdvaMed, MDMA, and PhRMA to advance innovation and to ensure that the value delivered from life-changing and life-saving innovation benefits people in Arizona and around the world.
Arizona’s bioscience industry is growing rapidly and reached nearly 30,000 jobs spanning 2,160 business establishments in 2018. Industry employment has grown by 15 percent since 2016—twice the growth rate of the nation—with each of the five major subsectors adding jobs during the period. Arizona’s universities conducted nearly $580 million in R&D activities in bioscience-related fields in 2018, fueled in part by steadily increasing NIH awards to Arizona institutions since 2016. Venture capital investments in Arizona bioscience companies increased in 2019, and during the 2016-19 period totaled $349 million. Arizona inventors have been awarded 2,178 bioscience-related patents since 2016, among the second quintile of states in patent activity.
Scope of Work:
Project Activities & Goals:
PHASE I:
First 30 Days of Project: Review current AZAdvances Website (www.AZAdvances.org) and other marketing materials.
§ Provide recommendations to refine messaging to provide a compelling message for donors and government sponsors
§ Provide design recommendations for updates to the AZAdvances WORDPRESS website to complement the updated messaging.
First 60 days of the Project: Online implementation and Matching Print Collateral
§ Complete web redesign as required
§ Optimize SEO
§ Update Social Media Websites to align with website (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.)
§ Develop print collateral for prospective donors and government supporters
§ Develop email templates for ongoing communications
PHASE II:
Ongoing Support: January – December 2021
§ Social Media to Support Major Donor and Grass Roots Fundraising
Additional information:
§ A successful proposal will focus on services only. AZBio will place all orders for print materials or other physical marketing materials separately.
§ As budget is limited, and federally supported, a complete proposal and statement of work is important for bid comparisons.
§ Reference examples reflecting support of non-profit fundraising campaigns is a plus.
§ Please itemize bids with detail on Phase I and Phase II. Social Media Only contracts for Phase II may be considered.
Agency Selection Timeline:
§ RFP Period: October 26, 2020 – November 30, 2020
§ RFP Reviews/Interviews: December 1 – 15, 2020
§ Contracting Completed and Notification Back to all bidders by December 31, 3, 2020
Written Proposals must be submitted via email by November 30, 2020 to:
Joan Koerber-Walker, President & CEO, Arizona Bioindustry Association, Inc. | jkw@azbio.org
Due Date:
November 30
Address:
Joan Koerber-Walker, jkw@azbio.org 480.332.9636
Agencies to consider include Magrino PR and Shift Communications.