» OVERVIEW

This Tutorial explains how to use our unique website to get in touch with more potential customers, access more bidding opportunities, and save time and money, too. Keep in mind that we use the acronym RFP loosely to mean any listing for anything a nonprofit has posted on this site. It’s the new way for nonprofits to ‘shop’ and for businesses to generate leads. It’s easy, just search, choose and download.

» STEP-BY-STEP

When you first enter the site and click on BUSINESS, you are taken to the Business Home Page. From here you can Search and review RFP summaries, register, or login.

SEARCH

We invite you to take a few minutes to explore the RFP search function. It is easy to use and helps you find Requests For Proposals posted by all kinds of nonprofits, including state and local government agencies, medical, educational, and religious institutions, charities, and others. NonprofitRFPExchange.com can help you expand your customer base, secure more contracts, and make more sales.

The search function can be accessed from the Home Page, your account page, or from the Search Results Page. There are two types of searches - basic and advanced. The only difference is the number of options you can choose. Basic allows only one per category. Advanced Search allows multiple options in each category and has a keywords box. You do not need to have a subscription to have a Saved Search and it will save you time when you visit the site.

Before you create your first Saved Search, your default search criteria is the Industry you chose when you registered. To search using the basic search, just choose options from the drop down lists. You can only choose one from each category. You can leave Location and Budget unspecified if you want but you must choose an Industry. If you want to create a Saved Search with these criteria, just press the [Save Search] button on the Search Results page.

To search using the Advanced Search feature, click that button on the top left hand side of the Search box. First type in a word or words which reflects aspects of the goods and/or services your business provides or specializes in, for example, 'library shelving' or 'commemorative plaques'. Then from each drop down box, choose a Location, the general Industry that your business is in, and a Budget range for the project you are seeking if that is appropriate. You must choose an Industry but the location, budget, and keywords can be blank.

There are two additional options at the bottom of the search criteria both of which deal with special situations. The first inquires if you are interested in bidding as a minority-owned business. The second refers to government-restricted-funds contracts. If either of these two items are important to the nonprofit, they will have checked the item and should have given more specifics in the RFP itself.

CHOOSE

The Search Results Page will list the RFPs that match your criteria. Only RFPs with Deadline Dates in the future will be listed. The number of RFPs listed and the number of pages for you to review are at the top and the bottom of each page of Search Results. After you have reviewed the summaries, you can choose which one you would like to download by clicking on the File Icon or word Download in the upper right corner of the RFP posting you want.

DOWNLOAD

You must be registered and logged on in order to download an RFP. The one-time registration only takes a few minutes and has no obligations. First, fill in your email and create a password. Your email address will always be your User ID. Be sure to write down your password. Then click "Next Step" and fill in the basic information about you and your business.
When you are finished creating your account, you will be brought back to the search results list of RFPs that you were reviewing. Click on the File Icon or the word Download in the upper right corner of the RFP posting you want. You will be given the following four options.

EMAIL ALERTS

Monthly or annual subscribers automatically receive the RFP Alerts Feature which sends daily email notices when new RFPs are posted that match Saved Search criteria.
If you are a new subscriber, this feature is activated for 30 days for free. To get the most benefit from email alerts, you should create a thoughtful Saved Search using keywords and all the Industry Categories that apply to you and your business. To create a Saved Search, perform a search normally, then click the [Save Search] link.
If you do not wish to receive email alerts, you can deactivate this feature by editing your Profile. To continue receiving the RFP Alerts after the first 30 days, you must become a subscriber.

REGISTER

Click on the word “Register” at the bottom of the LOGIN box. A screen asking for Basic Information appears. Fill in your Email Address and verify it. Then create a Password and verify it. Next, choose an Industry. You can choose multiple options by holding down the CTRL key as you click on each choice. Next, please tell us how you heard about the website. Then, click “Next” to continue.

The next screen is the User Profile form where you fill in information about you as the contact person and your nonprofit organization. The required items are designated by an asterisk (*). Finally, please tell us how you heard about this site. Click “Next” to continue.

You will see a welcome screen and now you can access the tabs across the top. Whenever you log in from now on, you will first see this welcome and information page until you post an RFP. From that point forward, when you log in, a list of the RFPs that meet your Saved Search criteria will appear as your ‘home’ page. This is also the same as what appears when you click on the ‘Search’ tab.

NAVIGATION TABS

After you have registered and when you log in, you will have access to the tabs at the top of the page.

Let’s review each of the navigation tabs.

SEARCH - (see explanation of Search above)

SAVED SEARCH

This tab shows you what your current Saved Search criteria are. Keep in mind more keywords and multiple options in each of the criteria will help pinpoint those RFPs which are most appropriate for your company.

DOWNLOADED RFPS

This tab shows you a list of the RFPs you have downloaded. You can choose to re-download any RFP even if they are currently archived.

PAYMENT HISTORY

This tab reviews your purchases on this site.

RESOURCES

This tab leads to a blog with postings and links to articles, information, and other websites of interest. We encourage you to submit resources you feel others would benefit from. We thank you in advance.

HELP

The Help tab offers two forms of assistance. There is a step-by-step tutorial (which you are reading now) and a Frequently Asked Questions section. Please let us know if you felt this was helpful or if you have suggestions.

PROFILE

This is the page lets you edit your account information. Please check it now and again to update any changes that may have occurred in your job status, address, etc. Incidentally, if you wish to log in on another page, i.e. Job Seeker, Grantmaker or Nonprofit, you will need to use another email address as your email is used as the unique identifier for your account.