Request for Proposal - Assessment of Equity in Team Development, External Relationships, and Decision-Making

Background:

Lift Louisiana (“Lift”) educates, advocates, and litigates for policy changes needed to improve the health and wellbeing of Louisiana’s women, their families, and their communities. Lift strives to accomplish these goals through a lens of equity and justice, recognizing the roles that race, class, gender, sexuality, and ableism play in our interactions with others and within our organization. Lift commits to analyzing how power can be shifted to increase equity for all.  Lift meets people where they are in their reproductive health journeys and supports what they determine to be the best decisions for themselves, while providing information and access to information to inform their decisions.

Lift sponsors numerous trainings and workshops to educate ourselves and our community on reproductive rights, engages in direct and grassroots advocacy efforts to influence policy and legislation, and litigates to ensure access to reproductive healthcare. 

Scope of Work

Lift seeks a consultant to work closely with the Racial Equity & Justice (REJ) Committee to conduct an in-depth review of the existing tools, templates, structures, and methodologies that Lift uses for decision-making, staff development, and fostering external relationships. The purpose is twofold: 

1. assess what works well and identify disparities and weaknesses in Lift’s current practices and policies;
2. provide a comprehensive report of findings and recommendations for changes in policies and practices as well as development of additional infrastructure to strengthen the organization’s capacity to be a healthy and supportive place to work.

The assessment process will include reviewing existing documents, as well as developing and conducting (approximately thirty) interviews, as well as group discussions and surveys with all present and all willing past staff, advisory board members, interns, contractors, and select community partners. 

Internal Assessment:

Hiring

• Recruitment
• Interviewing
• Onboarding and orientation (including continual grounding of the staff person in the culture, history and values of the organization)

Supervision

• Performance evaluations
• Guidance and support
• Growth and development opportunities 
• Resolution of conflicts
• Grievance procedures

Offboarding

• Voluntary and involuntary separations
• Continuity of institutional knowledge of existing team members
• Ongoing leadership transition planning
• Exit interviews

The role and purview of the following bodies in each area of decision-making: 

• Advisory Board
• Each Staff Position
• Fiscal Sponsor 
• The REJ committee

External Assessment:

Mapping external relationships:  

• Assess Lift’s relationships with other Louisiana reproductive rights and justice organizations; 
• Create definitions of Lift’s distinctive relationships: e.g., partners, collaborators, sister orgs, fellow coalition members, participants, and those who Lift endorses/those who endorse Lift; 
• Identify opportunities to deepen relationships;
• Determine what work needed to be accountable for past harm to external individuals and organizations;
• Recommend action plans and next steps.

Please note: This is not a request for proposals to assess the effectiveness of Lift’s education, advocacy, or litigation programs, nor is it a request for proposals to assess individual team members’ performance, board practices, or board development.

Lift seeks proposals from consultants with demonstrated experience in

• Organizational development, participatory evaluation, and nonprofit leadership
• Actualizing racial equity in organizational development and management
• Understanding of reproductive justice and rights in Louisiana
• Using qualitative and quantitative research methods including surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus groups

Proposals are due September 30th
Questions about this RFP can be sent to confluencerej@gmail.com