ST. LOUIS ZOO Planned Giving Marketing Services RFP 2023
DUE DATE: July 13th, 2023 at 2:00PM
SCOPE OF WORK
The Saint Louis Zoo (“Zoo”) Association is seeking proposals from qualified firms to provide planned giving marketing content, services and support. The Zoo’s current planned giving marketing contract includes design and support of a planned giving website; design, printing and mailing of three newsletters per year; and design and delivery of 3 to 6 emails per year.
The Zoo seeks a vendor arrangement that will allow greater flexibility in its planned giving communications and marketing and the ability to work with its in-house graphics department to outsource printing and mailing as appropriate.
GOALS
The goal of planned giving marketing at the Zoo is to make forever friends, create meaningful legacies, and build its Endowment, an important and everlasting source of support for the Zoo.
Communications should inspire the public to consider their connection to and love for the Zoo and the benefits of including the Zoo in their estate plan or will or making a greater impact via gifts of assets. It is critically important the vendor selected provides donors, staff and advisors with gift-planning content that is engaging, up-to-date and written and/or reviewed by attorneys or other qualified professionals to ensure it meets current accounting/tax and legal regulations and best practices.
SPECIFICATIONS
The Saint Louis Zoo Association seeks a five (5) year commitment to provide the following:
Website Design and support a mobile-friendly, customized and continuously updated website and URL that is attractive, engaging and consistent with Zoo brand standards and seamlessly integrates into the Zoo’s website (see stlzoo.org/plannedgiving)
Key features:
• Motivating donor and mission-focused stories and images
• Online, up-to-date information about gift options and vehicles
• Downloadable estate planning tools, DIY gift calculators, and personal gift illustrations
• Regularly updated content for advisors and donors
• Dynamic website widgets that facilitate giving via DAFs, IRAs, and beneficiary designations
• Analytics, tracking and reporting to monitor success of marketing campaigns, measure website activity and identify planned giving prospects
• Ability for Zoo to initiate periodic edits and updates to website content and pages Content for e-newsletters
• Provide customizable templates and current/vetted content (tax, finance and personal planning articles updated at least quarterly) for e-newsletters and e-blasts Content for printed materials.
• Provide customizable print-ready templates and current/vetted content (updated at least quarterly or as needed) for newsletters, brochures, postcards, and inserts
• Provide educational pieces and gift proposals, including current/vetted briefs on planned gift types that may be printed from a desktop printer or emailed as PDFs.
Strategy
• Provide strategic and technical support to maximize use of provided content, templates, and tools
• Assist with strategic development, implementation, and refinement of marketing plan
ADDITIONAL PROPOSAL DELIVERABLES
▪ Company profile, including services offered. Note what differentiates your firm from other firms that provide planned giving marketing services.
▪ Firm’s approach to marketing planned gifts and identifying, cultivating and engaging donors. How is it informed by research?
▪ Detail how the firm measures the success of planned giving marketing campaigns and strategies and provide data or examples to demonstrate the firm’s effectiveness.
▪ Detail the firm’s approach to customer onboarding, account management and customer support, including advisory services and education (webinars, notices of relevant tax law changes, and assistance with program strategy) and any extra associated fees.
▪ The team(s) or team members who will support the Zoo’s account and their qualifications.
▪ Samples of print and electronic marketing material including emails, social media posts,
brochures, newsletters, proposals, postcards, self-mailers and websites (links to these samples or websites are acceptable).
▪ Detailed budget and fee structure for a five-year contract (Jan. 2024 – Dec. 2028).
▪ Listing of current clients, with three as references plus contact information.
