Request for Proposal: Website Redesign & Development

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP): SOS Children’s Villages Canada

Website redesign and development

• Proposal deadline: Friday, October 2
• Project start timing: December 2026
• Project end timing: Q1 2028

BUDGET: As a charitable organization, we have a limited project budget that has not yet been finalized. Agencies are asked to provide a transparent breakdown of anticipated costs and to identify any assumptions, essential elements, and ongoing costs. Please provide the detailed fee breakdown and payment schedule in CAD inclusive of HST.

Introduction and scope of work

SOS Children’s Villages Canada, founded in 1969, is a member of the world’s largest charitable federation focused on supporting children and young people without parental care, or at risk of losing it. Protecting children and their rights for over 75 years, SOS Children’s Villages now operates in more than 130 countries and territories.

We take a holistic, child and youth-centred approach to help children, young people, families, and communities succeed in the long term. We strengthen families to prevent child abandonment, provide loving homes for children in need, support the most vulnerable during disasters and emergencies, and educate and empower children and youth to reach their full potential and break the cycle of poverty for themselves and future generations.

We are looking for an agency to partner with us on redesigning and rebuilding our website, soschildrensvillages.ca, so that it helps deliver on our strategic goals and builds our brand awareness and engagement across Canada while providing our internal team with a more stable and user-friendly backend system for content management.

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Section 1: Project overview

• Current website status: Our current website is built on Drupal. The legacy architecture restricts our team's ability to make agile content updates and optimal user experience for our audiences.
• Core project goal: The primary objective of this project is complete redesign and development to vastly enhance the user experience, increase donations and audience engagement, improve SEO, and ensure website security. The new website must also offer a highly intuitive backend editing experience for non-technical staff.
• Target audience: Donors, supporters, government, foundations, corporate partners, and the general public.

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Section 2: Technical and integration requirements

The selected agency must have proven experience migrating Drupal data and configuring the following technical infrastructure:

1. Core platform and infrastructure

• CMS preference: Please provide best recommendation and why. The website must utilize a modern, scalable block editor setup (i.e. Gutenberg) or a highly flexible page builder that prevents layout breakage and has seamless mobile integration.
• Hosting provider: Easyhosting. The agency will be responsible for deployment, server optimization, and configuration within our existing Easyhosting environment.
• Performance and security: Cloudflare. The agency must properly configure Cloudflare DNS, caching rules, and security policies (WAF) to ensure fast load times and DDoS protection.

2. Fundraising and CRM ecosystem

• Fundraising platform: Fundraise Up. Seamless front-end integration of Fundraise Up checkout overlays, donation forms, and localized giving widgets across key landing pages.

3. Marketing, communication and analytics

• Email service provider: SendGrid. All transactional website forms, - contact forms, and system notifications are currently routed through SendGrid SMTP to guarantee high email deliverability.
• Lead capture and popups: GetSiteControl. Integration of existing widgets for targeted user engagement, newsletter sign-ups, and surveys.
• Data and tracking: Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Complete migration of existing tracking tags via Google Tag Manager to ensure no historical data gap during the cutover.

4. Accessibility and localization

• Translation Services: The website must support multi-language routing and SEO-friendly subdomains or subdirectories utilizing GTranslate (existing) or other recommended high-quality translation plugin.
• Compliance: The final build must comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA to ensure digital equity for all visitors.

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Section 3: Website objectives

• Drive monthly and one-time donations, other ways to help, and partnerships: The website must provide a great user experience that converts visitors to monthly recurring giving, child or village sponsorships and one-time donations. It must also engage users in other ways to help or get involved, such as legacy giving, donor advised funds, or hosting an event, and clearly highlight how corporate or foundations can partner with us to drive global impact.
• Engage Canadians in our work: The website must showcase dynamic, engaging content to encourage Canadian users to interact longer with the content on our website and learn more about the impacts of our work.
• Better position us as thought leaders in Canadian INGO sector: The website must clearly highlight our mission, the challenge we address, where we work, our approach, our programs, and the impacts of our work.

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Section 4: Proposed timeline

• Questions deadline: Wednesday, September 16 – questions should be submitted to: s.jewer@soschildrensvillages.ca with subject line: “Questions – website redesign and development RFP – SOS Children’s Villages Canada – [agency name]”
• Proposal deadline: Friday, October 2 – proposals received after this date will not be reviewed
• Proposals review, interviews, selection, and contract finalization:
  - Review and shortlisted agencies contacted – October 5 to October 16
  - Presentations/interviews (virtual or in-person in GTA) – week of October 19
  - Final agency section and contract finalization – October 26 to November 13
• Project start timing: Late November or early December 2026 – work to begin no later than week of December 7
• Project phases: Please provide phase timing breakdown with fee schedule
• Project end timing: Q1 2028 – cutover date no later than Friday, March 31, 2028

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Section 5: Deliverables

The selected agency will be responsible for the end-to-end strategy, migration, design, development, and launch of the new website. The final deliverables are divided into five distinct phases:

Phase 1: Research, discovery, and UX strategy

• Technical audit: Deep dive into the existing Drupal architecture, URL structures, and taxonomies to map out the migration path. This should include data migration cutoff date recommendations while ensuring the quantity of 301 redirects doesn’t impact SEO equity as we have approximately 4,200 pages.
• Sitemap and information architecture: A finalized, optimized sitemap built for logical user journeys, prioritizing fundraising pipelines.
• Wireframes: Low-fidelity blueprints for key page layouts (Homepage, Become a sponsor, How to help, Our work, Where we work, Corporate partnerships, Leave a legacy, Latest news, Impacts) demonstrating content hierarchy before visual design.

Phase 2: UI/UX visual design

• Style guide and design system: A digital component library (typography, color palettes, button styles, form fields) matching current brand guidelines.
• High-fidelity page designs: Full-color desktop and mobile mockups of all unique page layouts for client approval.
• Accessibility checklist: Verification that all visual designs (contrast ratios, font sizes, interactive elements) meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards.

Phase 3: CRM development and systems integration

• Custom theme: A responsive, lightweight build using the native block editor or an agreed-upon, stable builder.
• Fundraising integration: Functional implementation of Fundraise Up widgets, donation forms, and checkout overlays across the website.
• Marketing and utilities deployment: Functional integration of GetSiteControl widgets, GTranslate (or other recommended tool) multi-language routing, and SendGrid SMTP for transactional email deliverability.

Phase 4: Content migration and SEO preservation

• Data migration: Automated or manual migration of all historical content, media assets, blog posts, and pages without loss of formatting.
• 301 redirect mapping: Comprehensive mapping and implementation of 301 redirects for all legacy Drupal URLs to prevent broken links and preserve existing SEO equity.
• Tracking infrastructure: Implementation of the existing Google Analytics 4 (GA4) container via Google Tag Manager across the new environment.

Phase 5: Quality assurance, security, and launch

• Cross-browser and device testing: Rigorous QA testing across all major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox) and mobile devices (iOS, Android).
• Environment deployment: Secure deployment and server optimization within the Easyhosting environment.
• Cloudflare configuration: Final optimization of Cloudflare DNS settings, custom caching rules, and Web Application Firewall (WAF) policies.
• CMS training: Delivery of a 1 to 2-hour recorded training session and documentation for internal staff on how to manage, edit, and add content to the new website.

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Section 6: Proposal submission requirements

Proposals should be concise, no more than 30 pages, and include the following:

Summary: A brief overview of your understanding of our project and your proposed approach.

Background and qualifications: Description of your organization, relevant experience, and key differentiators. This should demonstrate:

• Proven experience in website design and development for non-profits with fundraising revenue over $5 million and multiple stakeholder engagement and fundraising objectives.
• Experience with migrating websites technical infrastructure, data and SEO with no disruptions.
• Design and user experience expertise and ability to provide content and SEO guidance for delivery on website objectives
• The capability to deliver within the proposed timelines.

Proposed approach: How you will carry out the website redesign and development across systems/tools, people, and processes, including your proposed methods (i.e. which website builder is recommended and why, what does ongoing monthly maintenance look like after build).

Workplan and timeline: A draft project plan with phases, key activities, milestones, and an estimated timeline.

Team composition: Names, roles, and brief biographies of key team members who will work on this project.

Pricing and commercial terms: A detailed fee proposal in CAD, including:

• Professional fees (rate, estimated hours and fixed fees)
• Estimated expenses
• Any assumptions or conditions
• Proposed payment schedule

Given our limited resources, agencies are encouraged to identify opportunities to reduce costs without compromising the project's core objectives. Please provide optional or phased approaches (i.e. core/essential, recommended, and optional/future) where appropriate and clearly distinguish one-time project costs from ongoing costs.

References: Minimum three short case studies or brief descriptions of similar projects with website links, scope, outcomes, and contact references.

Risk and dependency assumptions: Identification of key assumptions, risks, and dependencies related to delivering this project.

Confidentiality and conflict of interest statement: Disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest and confirmation of your ability to maintain confidentiality.

Proposals should be submitted electronically in PDF format to: s.jewer@soschildrensvillages.ca with subject line: “RFP – website redesign and development – SOS Children’s Villages Canada – [agency name]”.

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Section 7: Terms and Conditions

• All agencies participating in the RFP process will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
• SOS Children’s Villages Canada reserves the right to reject any or all proposals.
• SOS Children’s Villages Canada is not obligated to accept the lowest-priced proposal.
• SOS Children’s Villages Canada may negotiate the scope, timelines, and pricing with the preferred agency.
• All costs associated with the preparation and submission of proposals are the responsibility of the agency.
• Pricing must be provided in CAD inclusive of HST.
• All SOS Children’s Villages Canada trademarks, logos, and brand assets remain the sole property of SOS Children’s Villages Canada. The agency responding to the RFP shall not use, replicate, or display these trademarks for any other purpose without prior written consent.