What to include in your charity CRM tender document 

Although challenging, it’s of paramount importance that you devise a comprehensive charity CRM tender document at the first time of asking. Failing to do so can lead to potential long-term problems by selecting an unsuitable supplier and solution that doesn’t meet your requirements. 

The purpose of implementing a charity CRM is to help your organisation meet its goals. The tender document therefore acts as a vehicle to clearly disclose these to potential suppliers, who then explain how they can help you to achieve these. 

Examples of these goals could include: 

• Increase event and volunteer sign-ups by 5% 
• Increase donation totals by 5% per campaign 
• Gain key insights into donor behaviour by how they interact with you 

When writing up your tender document, it’s important not to focus solely on listing features and functionality. While this is a crucial part of the document, it’s equally as important to ensure that the supplier acknowledges the outcomes you wish to achieve in order for them to outline how they can assist.   

Top 3 steps to creating a comprehensive charity CRM tender document

Regardless of your organisation’s goals and requirements, there are 3 steps that will significantly help providers to fully understand these. Not only will this approach prove to be cost effective, but more importantly, it will support your ability to make an informed decision that will provide the long-term development you seek. 

Step 1: Do your research and engage with suppliers 

Quite often, suppliers such as ourselves make strategic choices in relation to which tenders we engage with. Key factors that influence our decision are the time-intensive nature of the process, along with how suitable we deem our solution for the respective tender. 

Understanding your requirements as a customer helps to build a strong rapport from the outset. Just by expressing a genuine interest in how we operate as a provider and the team responsible for delivering our solution enables us to ensure a smooth process from initial consultation through to post implementation support. 

It’s therefore crucial that you engage with suppliers to ensure you receive the required level of support and guidance. We strongly recommend reaching out to us prior to the official tender process, as we can share key insights beyond what is available on our website. And from our experience, this can be the approach that allows us to showcase our suitability and gain your trust. 

Once the formal tender process begins, means of communication become very limited. Take full advantage of your research time by actively engaging with suppliers, clearly outlining your pain points and get a flavour for their level of suitability.  

Contact our Customer Engagement team 

Step 2: Plan a realistic budget… and share it! 

Some believe that disclosing your budget can leave you looking vulnerable. This isn’t the case at all. You wouldn’t enquire about a new kitchen design without sharing a ball-park figure of your budget, would you? By the same token, providing this insight allows us to tailor a comprehensive solution in-line with your budget. 

Another important reason to share this information is one of transparency. A reputable provider will assess how feasible your requirements are within the confines of your budgetary considerations. From here, there would be an open discussion about the best course of action, ensuring that your investment generates optimal returns in terms of functionality and value. 

At Access, our team are on hand to provide their expert knowledge in relation to the achievability of your goals, while guiding you towards relevant, valuable resources.  

Step 3: Avoid being vague 

When sending a tender document through to us, we advise that you take a ‘quality over quantity’ approach. 

While we are eager to hear from you, our experts can only offer guidance once valuable insights such as your pain points and proposed goals are provided. 

For this reason, we strongly advise that you avoid applying spreadsheets that contain a number of binary ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions. Unfortunately, tender documents such as these do not provide us with the crucial information to understand your challenges and establish how we can fine tune our solution to support your requirements. 

Instead, consider offering a more comprehensive narrative that delves into the intricacies of your needs, concerns, and aspirations. Providing context-rich details allows us to gain a better understanding of your situation and tailor our offerings with precision. 

Through this approach, both parties are able to work collaboratively to help make your plans become a reality. 

What information should you include in your tender? 

Now that you have gained a clearer idea of the importance of transparency and sharing the fine details, it’s time to put this into practice. Below, we have shared the criteria you should consider, based on the good practices demonstrated by our customers: 

• Tender process overview: Outline the steps of your tender process, such as pricing assessment, questionnaire completion, reference evaluation, and subsequent stages. 
• Background: Provide a description about your organisation such as its purpose, structure, and pain points, outlining the required solutions to the latter. 
• Budget: Ensure transparency around these details and encourage the respective supplier to detail how they can assist within the confines of your budget. 
• Summary of project goals: Outline details including key outcomes, success criteria and supplier selection criteria. 
• Deliverables: Outline a list of assumed deliverables and who they are provided by. 
• Software specifications and requirements: Enumerate the technical specifications and functional necessities of the software, including high, medium, and low priority functionalities. 
• Scale and scope of work: Elaborate on the software specifications sought and the extent of the coverage you're aiming for. i.e. the number of licenses you wish to cover. 
• Overview of current systems – Where applicable, outline your current key systems for handling information. 
• Contract commencement and duration: Define the desired duration for your contract with the chosen provider. 
• Confidentiality and freedom of information: Clarify your stance on confidentiality and the applicability of freedom of information principles. 
• Tender conduct and conflict of interest: Establish guidelines for appropriate tender conduct and disclose any potential conflicts of interest. 
• Procurement timeline: Present a clear timetable detailing the stages and deadlines of your procurement process. 
• Tender evaluation criteria: Clearly define the criteria by which submitted tenders will be evaluated and measured. 
• Submission guidelines: Provide the necessary contact details for submitting the tender, along with clear instructions of how to respond. 
• Implementation strategy: Encourage prospective tenderers to outline their proposed approach to software implementation. 
• Product roadmap: Request insight into the future development trajectory of the offered solution. 
• Pricing structure: Encourage tenderers to outline both fixed and variable cost breakdowns. 

Also note that applying functionality tables to list your requirements can clearly outline key points, making it more accessible to the supplier. Including crucial details such as these ensure that you create an engaging, comprehensive tender that enables you to build a partnership with a supplier based on mutual understanding and trust. 

Contact our charity CRM experts 

The key takeaway from this guide is simple: the more time invested into your research, the more rewarding the outcome. 

At Access, we fully acknowledge the complexity that surrounds creating a tender document and the significant amount of time that is invested during this process. If you require additional support, please feel free to contact our specialists who will guide you in the right direction. 

We look forward to working with you!