REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Proposals are due by November 24, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET via email to Siu Cheung Rossmark, Executive Director, at info@aalead.org.

Questions about this RFP must be submitted to info@aalead.org by November 10, 2026.

AALEAD will share consolidated responses by November 13, 2026.

RFP SUMMARY

Scope of Work

Asian American LEAD (AALEAD) is seeking an experienced consultant or consulting team to design and facilitate an inclusive strategic planning process beginning January 2027. The engagement will evaluate progress and lessons from AALEAD’s FY23–FY27 Strategic Plan and develop a successor plan for FY28-FY32. The work will include an environmental scan; meaningful stakeholder input; review of mission, vision, and values; identification of strategic priorities; and development of a practical plan with goals, strategies, outcomes, implementation responsibilities, and progress measures. AALEAD has budgeted up to $25,000 for this initiative. Proposals should describe the proposed approach, deliverables, timeline, team, and fees.

Proposal Submission and Selection Timeline

● November 1, 2026: RFP issued

● November 10, 2026: Consultant questions due

● November 13, 2026: Consolidated responses to questions shared

● November 24, 2026: Proposals due by 5:00 p.m. ET

● November 25 – December 4, 2026: Proposal review and finalist selection

● December 4-14, 2026: Finalist interviews and reference checks

● December 15, 2026: Selected consultant notified

● December 15-22, 2026: Contract and work plan finalized

*AALEAD may adjust these dates as needed and will notify participating consultants of any material changes.

Strategic Planning Timeline

● January 4, 2027: Kick off strategic planning process

● January–August 2027: Discovery, environmental scan, stakeholder engagement, organizational visioning, priority setting, plan development, and review; a complete draft plan will be delivered in August for review

● September 2027: Presentation of the final strategic plan for Board review and approval; implementation begins October 1, 2027.

Expected Role of the Strategic Planning Consultant

We seek a firm or individual with proven experience and knowledge in strategic planning with a racial equity lens and ideally cultural competency around Asian and Pacific Islander communities. The firm’s expertise should also include data collection efforts as an objective third party. Targeted stakeholder engagement may include AALEAD youth, families, staff, board, funders (individual, institutional and government), nonprofit peers, volunteers, and other strategic partners through surveys, focus groups, Census data, regional demographic data/maps and/or interviews. Proposers should recommend a manageable representative mix of engagement activities within budget rather than separate activities for every stakeholder category. We seek meaningful and equitable opportunities possible for all interested stakeholders to provide input and share insights. The consultant should first use existing data, including program feedback from youth and families, prior retreat findings, and gather new information only where it will materially inform strategic choices. Within the $25,000 budget, propose a clearly defined scope of work, including key activities, deliverables, timeline, and assumptions. Identify any additional research or data collection beyond the core scope and explain what specific strategic decision it would inform and why its value justifies the time and cost.

Role of the AALEAD Board and Staff

AALEAD’s strategic planning process will be overseen by a Strategic Planning Committee led by Governance Chair Michael Chang, in coordination with Board Chair Robert Sohn and Executive Director Siu Cheung Rossmark. The committee will include Board and staff representation. The process must meaningfully engage AALEAD’s full Board and staff and provide accessible opportunities for youth, families, volunteers, funders, and community partners to contribute, building shared ownership of the final plan. The committee will guide the process and recommend the final plan to the Board. The Executive Director will coordinate staff participation and assess operational feasibility. The full Board will approve the final plan. The consultant will help surface tradeoffs and document key decisions and unresolved issues.

Confidentiality

Consultants must protect nonpublic organizational and stakeholder information shared by AALEAD during the proposal process and engagement, use it only for those purposes, and limit access to team members and advisers who need it and are subject to confidentiality obligations. This requirement does not restrict circulation of the publicly issued RFP. Specific confidentiality and data protection requirements will be addressed in the contract.

ABOUT AALEAD

AALEAD was founded in 1998 by Sandy Dang to serve a growing Vietnamese refugee community in Washington, DC. Drawing on her own experience as a refugee, Ms. Dang created a community-rooted organization where young people could belong, grow, and define their own futures. As the region’s demographics and needs evolved, AALEAD expanded to serve Asian American and other underserved youth across Washington, DC; Montgomery County, MD; and Northern Virginia, including Fairfax and Arlington Counties. Today, AALEAD provides free after-school, summer, mentoring, and leadership development programs. Siu Cheung Rossmark has served as AALEAD’s Executive Director since April 2024.

AALEAD’s FY23–FY27 Strategic Framework

AALEAD’s current FY23–FY27 Strategic Plan is organized around five pillars of a thriving nonprofit: People, Money, Programs, Storytelling, and Strategy. It established goals related to organizational capacity and governance, financial sustainability, program outcomes, influence and communications, and continuous improvement centered on youth and community. The new process will assess AALEAD’s progress and lessons under the current plan, address changes in leadership and the operating environment, and develop a practical successor strategic plan beginning in FY28.

AALEAD FY23–FY27 Strategic Plan Summary

The list below summarizes AALEAD’s FY23–FY27 Strategic Plan. The full plan and additional organizational documents and data will be made available to the selected consultant during discovery.

● Vision: AALEAD envisions a United States in which all youth are supported, empowered, and celebrated within equitable, abundant and thriving communities.

● Mission: To empower AAPI youth in underserved communities through culturally responsive programming and advocacy.

● Values:

Inclusion — individuals, especially those most marginalized, can engage as their whole, authentic selves.

Community — building belonging, solidarity, and collective power.

Equity — centering equity in programs, operations, governance, and advocacy.

Relationships — investing in trusted connections that support positive outcomes.

Learning — centering youth and community in continuous improvement.

● Who We Support: AAPI and BIPOC youth in underserved communities.

● Programs: Free culturally responsive after-school, summer, mentoring, and youth leadership programming, together with advocacy supporting AAPI youth.

● Goals:

1. PEOPLE: Strengthen human infrastructure and governance to improve capacity, effectiveness, and sustainability.

2. MONEY: Establish a comprehensive financial strategy and management system to reach programming goals and maintain one year of working capital.

3. PROGRAMS: Demonstrate annual growth in identified participant outcome measures.

4. STORYTELLING: Amplify AALEAD’s ability to influence positive outcomes for the AAPI community.

5. STRATEGY: Center youth and community in continuous improvement to meet strategic plan goals.

Why Strategic Planning Now?

AALEAD’s FY23–FY27 Strategic Plan concludes on September 30, 2027. During the current planning cycle, the organization has experienced executive and staff transitions, program growth, changes in public and philanthropic funding, and continuing shifts in the needs and demographics of youth and families across the Washington metropolitan region. AALEAD is also approaching its 30th anniversary in 2028. The successor planning process should evaluate progress and unfinished work under the current plan and clarify AALEAD’s long-term impact, geographic and programmatic priorities, financial model, leadership and staffing needs, and approach to implementation and accountability.

There are several fundamental questions underlying AALEAD’s change strategy that we hope to resolve through a comprehensive strategic planning process. The process should lead to a limited set of priorities and explicit choices about what AALEAD will sustain, strengthen, expand, partner to deliver, reduce or discontinue, within realistic financial and staff capacity. These questions include the following:

● What is the impact we hope to achieve through our work?

● Should we consider intentionally expanding our key population beyond low-income AAPI youth?

● What is the right geographic footprint for doing our work in a meaningful way? How should AALEAD balance geographic reach, program depth, partnerships, and service quality?

● What process and measures should AALEAD use to implement, monitor, communicate, and revise the strategic plan?

● How should AALEAD balance geographic reach, program depth, partnerships, and service quality?

● How should AALEAD define and prioritize the youth and communities it serves, considering its AAPI-centered mission, socioeconomic need, current participation, unmet community needs, and available capacity?

● What public and philanthropic funding opportunities and constraints should inform AALEAD's priorities and a sustainable revenue mix?

SCOPE OF SERVICES / RFP QUESTIONS

In your proposal, please include responses to the following questions:

1. Facilitation:

a. What experience do you have in facilitating strategic planning processes that center racial equity? Please provide specific examples of how you have embedded equity in the overall design of a strategic planning process.

b. Describe participatory stakeholder engagement strategies you have used that effectively center racial equity.

c. Provide examples of the impact of prior strategic planning engagements, supported by quantitative and qualitative evidence where available. Describe how you assessed those outcomes and how they informed the organization’s work.

d. Explain how you help participants move from differing perspectives to clear strategic choices.

2. Research:

a. Describe a focused environmental scan and targeted stakeholder engagement approach, using existing AALEAD information where possible. Identify the proposed number and format of interviews, group discussions, surveys, or workshops; the rationale for participant selection; and any material information gaps. Explain how youth and family participation will be accessible, age-appropriate, and confidential, with consent procedures as applicable. A separate activity for every stakeholder category and original demographic research are not required.

b. How would you assess progress, unfinished work, and lessons from AALEAD’s FY23–FY27 Strategic Plan? What organizational data—including balanced scorecard measures, program outcomes, financial information, staff and Board indicators, and stakeholder feedback—would you ask AALEAD to provide? Use available information to identify the most consequential lessons and gaps; a comprehensive evaluation of every prior-plan measure is not required.

3. Engagement of Board and Staff: How would you advise engaging the full board and all staff in the process to ensure there is meaningful ownership of the strategic plan beyond the members of the strategic planning committee? Propose a small number of purposeful sessions, supplemented by brief surveys or separate input where useful, and state the time required from Board and staff.

4. Vision, Mission, Values: This strategic planning process will include a review of AALEAD’s mission, vision, and values. What is best practice in considering whether to revisit these areas, and best practice in making such changes? Recommend changes only where needed to resolve strategic choices; a separate rebranding process is not required.

5. Final Reporting: The core engagement should produce three concise, integrated deliverables: (1) an assessment summarizing progress and lessons from the current plan, targeted stakeholder findings, and the most relevant external opportunities and constraints; (2) a strategic plan setting out intended impact, a limited set of priorities, goals, strategies, and outcomes, with the rationale for key choices; and (3) an implementation roadmap identifying first-year actions, accountable roles, broad sequencing, high-level financial and staffing implications, and a small set of progress measures and a review cadence. These may be combined in a single document with supporting materials. Provide editable final files and include a final presentation and implementation handoff in the agreed meeting schedule. Describe the format, level of detail, and included review rounds.

6. Scope: Are there any aspects of your role in supporting a strategic planning process that have not been identified in this RFP? If so, please describe. Identify core-scope exclusions, assumptions, and AALEAD responsibilities. For any additional research or data collection, explain what specific strategic decision it would inform and why its expected value justifies the time and cost. Price optional services separately; the core scope should produce a usable strategic plan without them.

7. Timeline: Provide a detailed work plan beginning January 2027, and concluding with a complete draft in August 2027 and Board-ready final plan for approval in September 2027, ready for implementation beginning October 1, 2027. Identify key phases, meetings, stakeholder activities, draft and review periods, decision points, and the time required from AALEAD Board and staff. State the proposed number of meetings and review rounds and estimated AALEAD time by phase.

8. Cost: AALEAD has budgeted $25,000 for these strategic planning efforts. Describe the costs associated with each piece of the consultation you are proposing, noting any applicable fees and recurring costs, and highlighting any line items that may be optional. Identify payment milestones and process for approving any scope or fee changes. No additional services or expenses will be assumed approved.

9. Geographic, AAPI community, and Youth Development Knowledge/Experience.

Briefly describe your firm’s experience working:

● In the Greater Washington region

● With AAPI and/or other communities of color

● With youth development nonprofits.

10. Team Member Backgrounds and Experience: Identify the proposed project lead and team members, their roles, availability, and relevant strategic planning and racial equity experience. Specify who will facilitate sessions and draft the plan. Describe cultural responsiveness and experience with the communities AALEAD serves. Individuals may voluntarily share demographic information; disclosure is not required. Resumes may be attached.

11. Comparable Work Sample: Provide one relevant strategic plan or implementation roadmap, redacted if necessary. Briefly describe your role and how the work helped the organization make and implement strategic choices.

12. Location: Describe your organization’s location(s) and your ability to be on site if needed in the Washington, DC area. State which proposed activities would be in person or virtual, and whether travel is included in the core price.

13. Quality Assurance and Revisions: Describe how you incorporate feedback, address concerns about deliverables, and manage the included review and revision rounds.

14. Contract Sample. Include, if applicable, a sample contract for services similar to those being requested by AALEAD. Identify proposed terms for confidentiality, stakeholder data protection, AALEAD’s use of final deliverables and editable files, payment, scope changes, and termination.

15. References: Include at least three (3) references that your firm has led strategic planning processes for. Include the organization name, the specific contact’s name, email address and phone number, and note the project(s) which you led for the organization. Where possible, include a reference who can discuss the plan’s usefulness during implementation.

PROPOSAL SCORING

AALEAD’s Strategic Planning Committee will score submitted proposals on the criteria below. Proposals will be assessed on the usefulness and feasibility of the core engagement within the $25,000 budget, not the volume of activities, reports, or optional services offered.

● Strength and feasibility of the proposed scope of work, timeline, implementation plan, and budget

● Meaningful engagement of stakeholders throughout the proposed process

● Demonstrated knowledge and experience in strategic planning with a strong racial equity analysis

● Cultural responsiveness, complementary perspectives, and relevant experience of the proposed project team

● Breadth and depth of experience and qualifications Practicality of the implementation roadmap, progress measures, and final deliverables

● Experience working with organizations similar to AALEAD (e.g., size, budget, geography, population)