Request for Proposals (RFP) Email & Digital Marketing Services

For GAIN Power & Global GAIN's Growth & Expansion

Release Date: April 18, 2025
Proposal Due Date: May 2, 2025 (by 8:00 PM ET)
Contact: rfp@gainpower.org

1. Organizational Overview

GAIN Power is an LLC that serves as a community space for individuals and organizations working in progressive politics across all 50 states. Since our 2020 launch, we've focused on promoting and celebrating the people and organizations powering democracy, elections, advocacy campaigns, and government.

Our mission is to diversify, demystify, and democratize democracy work and elevate the organizations and leaders who improve it.

Diverse Community: Our users include campaigns, nonprofits, labor unions, consulting firms, ballot initiatives, foundations, government offices, and Democratic party organizations, all united by a commitment to progressive policy and strengthening democracy.

Organizational Structure: GAIN Power operates alongside a 501(c)(3) partner, Global GAIN. Due to compliance requirements, Global GAIN can utilize GAIN Power's lists but not vice versa.

Growth Vision: We're poised for significant expansion in 2025, developing new programs, enhancing existing services, and building infrastructure to scale our impact across the progressive ecosystem.

2. Project Purpose & Objectives

As part of our 2025 expansion plan, we seek qualified email and digital marketing firms to provide strategic recommendations and help grow our donor base, program engagement, and membership. Despite our extensive reach and reputation, we face a significant gap between our large audience and financial supporters. We are looking for partners who can bring innovative strategic approaches rather than simply implementing predetermined tactics.

Primary Objectives

• Establish a robust donor program for both entities (GAIN Power and Global GAIN)

• Expand donor base through targeted acquisition, reaching beyond our core community to include individual donors and activists

• Increase individual and organizational memberships

• Develop scalable email marketing infrastructure

• Create conversion pathways from free community members to paid supporters

• Implement multi-channel digital campaigns

• Establish measurable ROI frameworks

• Support our scaling efforts with strong marketing foundations

3. Current Situation & Assets

GAIN Power has built a substantial community presence with reach across various platforms:

• Professional Community across all 50 states, including over 5,000 organizations that depend on us for talent acquisition, marketing, training, and more

• Career Center and Job Board Network (the #1 destination for progressive jobs)

• Extensive Resume Database for employers

• Jobs That Are Left Platforms

• Newsletter subscribers

• Social Media Presence across multiple platforms

• Democracy Directory

• RootsCamp Community for our signature events

• Powerful IDEA Awards program

• Democracy Expos (scheduled for June 23-24, 2025)

Key Programs for Monetization:

• GAIN Power Career Center and Jobs That Are Left

• Powerful IDEA Awards

• RootsCamp

• Career fairs

• Democracy Expos

• Individual and Organizational Membership

The Opportunity: Despite this significant reach, we have not effectively monetized our community through donations or memberships. With over 5,000 organizations already relying on our services for talent acquisition, marketing, training and more, this presents an extraordinary opportunity to convert our established value into financial support across our LLC, PAC, and nonprofit structures. We specifically seek to expand our fundraising efforts beyond our core community to reach new individual donors and activists who align with our progressive mission but may not yet be directly engaged with our work.

Important Note: GAIN Power has not previously worked with a digital acquisition firm, nor have we conducted outreach beyond our own organically grown lists. The selected partner will be our first strategic digital fundraising partner, providing a unique opportunity to develop our approach from the ground up.

4. Scope of Work

Context: As this will be our first engagement with a digital acquisition firm and we have not previously conducted outreach beyond our organically grown lists, we are looking for a partner who can help build our digital fundraising strategy from scratch while respecting our established brand and community.

Email Marketing

• Audit current infrastructure and develop a segmentation strategy

• Create separate strategies for GAIN Power and Global GAIN with proper compliance

• Design automated journeys and donor cultivation series

• Implement testing methodologies and reporting dashboards

Digital Marketing Strategy

• Develop a comprehensive plan aligned with expansion goals

• Create multi-channel acquisition strategies and conversion funnels

• Design strategies for our diverse community with cohesive branding

List Growth & Prospecting

• Develop list rental and prospecting strategy targeting both our core community and new individual donors/activists

• Create testing methodology and acquisition campaigns to reach progressive activists beyond our current network

• Implement cost-per-acquisition tracking and optimization

• Design list growth strategies that respect entity relationship

• Develop audience expansion tactics to reach sympathetic individual donors outside our immediate community

Campaign Implementation

• Execute campaigns around key programs

• Manage digital advertising and optimization

• Implement tracking and provide regular reporting

Fundraising Support

• Develop comprehensive donor program from the ground up

• Create tiered giving levels and donor journeys

• Implement digital fundraising infrastructure and multi-channel campaigns

• Develop sponsorship strategies for key events, particularly the Powerful IDEA Awards and Democracy Expos (June 23-24, 2025)

• Create customized messaging for various audiences: PACs, 501(c)(3)/(c)(4)s, unions, socially conscious businesses, and individuals

• Recommend scalable revenue models that work across our LLC, PAC, and nonprofit structures

Membership Growth

• Create campaigns for individual and organizational membership

• Develop compelling value propositions and targeting for different segments

• Implement retention programs and referral strategies

Systems & Donor Management

• Assist with setup and optimization of CRM or Airtable-based donor tracking systems

• Create systems to assign tasks, schedule follow-ups, and track results in real-time

• Develop reporting mechanisms to track outreach efforts and fundraising benchmarks

• Integrate with our existing ecosystem of digital tools

Technical Requirements

• Experience with Action Network, MailChimp, and CRM/Airtable systems

• Knowledge of progressive technology ecosystem

• Understanding of multi-entity fundraising across 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), PAC, and LLC structures

5. Deliverables

• Comprehensive Digital Marketing Strategy

• Email Marketing Infrastructure Development

• Campaign Creative and Assets

• Campaign Implementation

• Reporting and Analytics (bi-weekly reports at minimum)

• Training and Knowledge Transfer

6. Timeline

• RFP Release: April 18, 2025

• Pre-Proposal Consultation Requests Due: April 21, 2025

• Questions Due: April 23, 2025

• Proposals Due: May 2, 2025 (by 8:00 PM ET)

• Finalist Interviews: May 6-8, 2025

• Vendor Selection: by May 15, 2025

• Contract Period: Initial 12-month engagement with quarterly review and option to renew

The selected vendor will be expected to begin work promptly after selection, with an initial strategy delivered within 3 weeks and first campaign launch within 6 weeks of contract start.

7. Budget Considerations

• Budget Range: $X,XXX - $XX,XXX monthly (customize based on your actual budget range)

• Proposals should clearly outline:

  • Monthly retainer costs and included services

  • Any additional costs for technology, creative production, etc.

  • Recommended advertising budget allocations with projected returns

  • Tiered pricing options if appropriate

8. Proposal Requirements

Company Profile

• Company background and key personnel

• Relevant experience with progressive organizations

• Values alignment with our mission

• Any relevant certifications (e.g., women-owned, minority-owned business)

Strategic Approach

• Comprehensive strategic recommendations for fundraising growth across both entities

• Understanding of our needs and growth aspirations

• Innovative methodology for donor and member acquisition

• Approach to rapid implementation and delivering initial results

• Strategic vision for expanding our audience beyond our core community

Technical Experience

• Experience with Action Network, MailChimp, and progressive technology

• Knowledge of compliance requirements for dual entity structures

• Expertise in list rental and prospecting

Relevant Experience

• Case studies of similar work with progressive organizations

• Demonstrated expertise in building donor programs

• Success in converting large audiences into paying supporters

Service Description & Pricing

• Detailed description of services and project management approach

• Fee structure and breakdown of costs by service area

References

• Three client references with contact information

9. Evaluation Criteria

• Strategic recommendations and innovative approach

• List acquisition expertise in the progressive space

• Experience with LLC/c3/c4/PAC relationships and compliance

• Demonstrated fundraising success with progressive organizations

• Sponsorship experience for political and advocacy events

• Team expertise and technical knowledge

• Ability to begin work immediately and deliver on accelerated timelines

• Values alignment and demonstrated commitment to progressive values

10. Submission Instructions

• Submit proposals to rfp@gainpower.org with the subject line "GAIN Power Marketing RFP Response" by 8:00 PM ET on May 2, 2025

• Format: PDF preferred, maximum 15 pages (excluding appendices)

• To schedule a pre-proposal consultation, email rfp@gainpower.org with the subject line "GAIN Power RFP Consultation Request" by April 21, 2025

• Questions should be directed to rfp@gainpower.org no later than April 23, 2025

• Primary point of contact for this RFP: Stephanie Noguera, Executive Director

Post-selection relationship management: Stephanie Noguera, Executive Director & Amy Pritchard, Founder