Section 9: Vendor Qualifications

This section outlines the minimum qualifications that vendors must meet to be considered eligible for this project. It provides your organization with a way to assess vendor credibility, expertise, stability, and alignment with nonprofit sector needs. Vendors are expected to respond thoroughly to each requirement below.

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Relevant Experience and Expertise

Vendors must demonstrate a proven history of working with nonprofits on similar digital giving initiatives. Specifically:

• Minimum 3–5 years of experience in web development, CRM integration, and nonprofit fundraising technology
  
  
• Implementation experience with online giving platforms, donor self-service portals, and CRM integrations
  
  
• Familiarity with mid-sized, faith-based nonprofits is considered an asset
  
  
• Demonstrated experience with your CRM, especially if it is Salesforce, then Salesforce expertise needs to be a requisite for:
  
  
  • Salesforce NPSP or Nonprofit Cloud
    
    
  • Experience Cloud for donor portals
    
    
  • Salesforce REST APIs and custom integrations
    
    
• A certified Salesforce developer or architect on staff is strongly preferred
  
  
• Experience integrating secure payment solutions (e.g., Stripe, PayPal) with full PCI-compliant implementation practices
  
  

“We’ve successfully implemented Salesforce-integrated giving solutions for over a dozen nonprofits, including faith-based organizations with recurring donor programs.”

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🔐 Secure and Compliant Practices

The vendor must operate with a strong focus on data protection, confidentiality, and regulatory compliance:

• Willingness to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and include robust data protection terms in the contract
  
  
• Ability to provide:
  
  
  
  • SOC 2 (Type I or II) certification
    
    
  • PCI DSS attestation of compliance for payment components
    
    
• Adherence to secure coding standards and data handling protocols

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Organizational Stability and Capacity

To ensure long-term support and timely delivery, the vendor must demonstrate internal readiness and sound business fundamentals:

• Team capacity to support implementation and post-launch support (PM, developers, UX, QA, support)
  
  
• Ability to provide ongoing support and maintenance over the full lifecycle
  
  
• Evidence of financial stability, including insurance and history of delivering similar-sized projects
  
  

“We assign dedicated project managers and Salesforce-certified developers to all nonprofit projects, ensuring continuity through post-launch phases.”

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Market Position and Reputation

The proposal should reflect the vendor’s position in the nonprofit tech market and its unique value.

• Overview of company background, founding year, number of employees
  
  
• Highlight any differentiators such as proprietary tools, specialized nonprofit training, or bundled services
  
  
• Transparency regarding client retention, satisfaction ratings, or NPS scores
  
  
• Details on what makes the vendor stand out in a competitive field
  
  

“Our nonprofit-first approach and direct API-level Salesforce sync capability set us apart from competitors reliant on third-party middleware.”

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Client References

To validate past performance and client satisfaction, vendors must submit references from similar nonprofit clients.

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“Please include at least three recent client references with similar requirements—particularly in CRM integration, recurring giving, donor portals, or multi-channel giving.”