Website Alice House
Courage. Safety. Opportunity.
Request for Proposal
Alice House Strategic Planning, Mission and Vision Evaluation
Issue Date: May 7, 2024
Delivery of Proposal
Electronic proposals can be emailed to [email protected]
Electronic proposals must be a single pdf document.
Closing date and time: Monday, May 27th, 2024, noon
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Introduction
Alice House is seeking a qualified consultant to guide and execute the strategic planning process with our stakeholder community to inform a multi-year strategic plan.
Individuals and/or firms with specialized experience in nonprofit strategic planning, strong facilitation skills and a strong understanding of gender-based violence as well as the housing and the economic landscape in Nova Scotia, are encouraged to apply.
Terms and General Conditions of Engagement
Terms of Engagement
It is the intention of Alice House to enter into an agreement with the Proponent to provide expert consultation that will culminate in a new strategic plan and evaluation of mission, vision, and values for Alice House.
Acceptance of the Proposal
Alice House reserves the right to waive any informalities or to accept or reject any or all proposals, not necessarily accept the lowest cost proposal, and not accept any proposal that Alice House, in its sole discretion, considers not in its best interest. The Proponent acknowledges Alice House’s rights under this clause and absolutely waives any rights of action against Alice House for Alice House’s failure to accept its proposal whether such right of action arises in contract, negligence, bad faith, or any other cause of action. The acceptance of any proposal is subject to approval by the Board of Directors of Alice House.
Confidentiality
In consideration of the receipt of this documentation, Alice House agrees to maintain the information contained in this RFP in confidence and to not reproduce or otherwise disclose information contained within to any person outside the group directly responsible for the evaluation of its contents. Respondents will be required to enter into a non-disclosure/confidentiality agreement should they be selected for advanced discussions and/or awarded contract.
About Alice House
For more than 40 years, Alice House has delivered excellent service to community through the provision of deeply affordable safe-housing, counselling and wrap around support services for women and children seeking medium to long-term recovery from domestic violence. Alice House presently operates 18 mixed housing units within the Halifax Regional Municipality, ranging from bachelor apartments to 4-bedroom townhouses. Counselling and wrap-around support services include adult trauma counselling, child & youth counselling, food, clothing and essentials, security monitoring, court advocacy, economic independence education, support groups, and violence prevention education.
Government advocacy, abuser services, harm-reduction and addictions support, community outreach and public education are not formally part of Alice House’s mandated services, however, some of these activities have been integrated into Alice House’s work in recent years.
Alice House is governed by up to 18 members of the Board of Directors and employs 11 full-time staff members. On occasion, Alice House oversees student placements, interns and/or corporate volunteers in delivery of services and business operations.
The organization receives partial base funding from government through the Status of Women and Department of Community Services. Remaining funding is solicited from various project-based government grants, community, and corporate giving streams.
Current Strategic Plan
Alice House’s current strategic plan formally closes in January 2025. Informally, this plan has not been closely followed by the Board of Directors in recent years due to the unpredicted changes in the housing, staffing, social and political landscape post-pandemic. The development of a new strategic plan comes at a transformational time on the heels of new Executive Director leadership, an evolved staff and board team, and on the increased public and political focus on gender-based violence and housing.
Scope of Services
The strategic planning process is expected to include mission and vision re-evaluation, as well as a current state review of the organization positioned against a peer landscape review with coinciding estimations of second and third stage safe-housing inventory against second and third stage safe-housing need in the Halifax Regional Municipality and/or broader Nova Scotia context. The process should identify opportunities and challenges that must be accounted for in the new strategy, as well as an overview of national emerging trends in housing, responses to gender-based violence, the fundraising sector and shifting government priorities. The mechanism to facilitate this consultation is not prescribed, but there is an expectation that surveying of multi-stakeholder groups and in-person discussion with the Board and Staff will be part of the process. Core deliverables and/or major milestones in the delivery of the strategic plan should be identified.
In recognition of the growth period ahead, the defined term of the strategy should be 3-years commencing no later than April 1, 2025. Alice House’s fiscal runs April 1 to March 31.
The Proponent will assume all fees and costs associated with the development of this proposal. Upon hire, the Proponent will conduct all design, project management and facilitation throughout the execution of strategic planning process, fees for such services will be outlined in the proposal. The process shall include collaboration and some components of face-to-face consultation with the Board of Directors in addition to periodic reports to the Executive Director/Board of Directors.
Timelines
The following timelines will support Alice House’s goal to have a new strategy completed and ready for implementation in fiscal year 2025-26, commencing April 1, 2025.
June: Kick-Off Meeting with Board of Directors
August: Stakeholder Consultation Report
October: Mission and Vision
February: Strategic Plan Framework
March: Outline of key deliverables/milestones in execution of the Strategic Plan
Proposal Requirements
The following format and sequence shall be followed to provide consistency in proponents’ responses and to ensure each proposal receives fair consideration. All pages should be consecutively numbered.
· Company profile.
• Summary description of experience with not-for-profit strategic plan development and Mission/Visioning evaluation.
• Description of approach to strategic planning.
• Understanding of the work to be performed.
• Proposed schedule of work to be performed and coinciding deliverables to be provided (i.e. reports, data, etc.)
• Minimum of two (2) references from previous not-for-profit strategic planning work, including contact name, professional title and contact information.
• Names, bio and qualifications of all team members, contractors and sub-contractors that will be assigned to this engagement; the primary contact and/or project manager should be specified.
• Payment terms and conditions.
• Proposal breakdown should be outline hourly rates, fees and estimated hours for the following components of work.
- State of the Org /Peer Landscape Review
- Stakeholder consultation
- Strategy development
- Mission & Vision Evaluation
Please specify sub-totals, HST, other fees and grand total of all services.
Fees described should be all inclusive, including all federal and provincial sales taxes, and represent a maximum cost for the requested work for the entire agreement.
The intended budget allocation for this project is approximately $40,000.
Proposal Evaluation
Proponents must meet the following minimum mandatory requirements to be considered for further evaluation:
• Proposal must meet deadline for submission.
• Proposal copy must be signed by a binding authority.
• The proponent must demonstrate experience in non-profit strategic plan development, mission and vision evaluation.
• Have sufficient staffing and resources to complete the project within scope, budget and timelines outlined in this RFP.
Proposals that comply with the mandatory requirements will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
1. Cost of service.
2. Understanding of engagement.
3. Experience with strategic planning.
4. Qualifications of proposed team.
5. Approach to stakeholder engagement and strategy development.
Contact
Any inquiries regarding this request for proposal should be directed to Jill Trites, Executive Director, at [email protected]. Inquiries will be accepted for three weeks following the release date of the RFP. Responses to inquiries of a material nature will be shared with all qualified proponents.
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PROCESS FOR PROPOSAL SUBMISSION AND EVALUATION
Electronic proposals can be emailed to [email protected]
Electronic proposals must be a single pdf document.
Closing Date: May 27, 2024, noon.
Contact: Jill Trites, Executive Director
To apply for this job email your details to jill.trites@alicehouse.ca.