Background Information on Plan International

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years and are now active in more than 75 countries.

Read more about Plan International’s Global Strategy: Girls Standing Strong at https://plan-international.org/strategy

Background to this Assignment

As the world continues to change, it is clear we need to reframe how we think about and implement our sponsorship work so that we can be in the best possible position to achieve our ambition to reach 200 million girls. That is where the NextGen Initiative comes in. This initiative is to keep the best of what we have by strengthening the one-to-one fundraising model; while accelerating community sponsorship; scaling existing and proven models and, which is the main focus in this assignment, prototyping new private giving options. Modernizing will help us explore new avenues for fundraising, make processes more efficient, and create more impact for girls and young people worldwide.

NextGen will reimagine how we market and fund our programs; and ensure they remain effective and efficient at a community level. These global efforts to strengthen and modernize our private giving portfolio are aligned with National Organisations (NOs – fundraising offices) and Country Offices (COs – implementing offices) intention to stabilize income and have greater impact in the communities we work with.

Identified problem

One sponsor to one sponsorship participant (1:1’) ‘child sponsorship’ is currently a fundraising offer across all NOs however there is no unified approach to selling or servicing sponsorship. As a result, each NO uses differing acquisition and retention metrics, each NO provides a different sponsor experience and so, for example, the way in which cancellations are processed can look very different depending on the NO that a sponsor has signed up with. This means that the efficiency of servicing 1:1 child sponsorship has room for improvement. With evidence to state that our current sponsor base is Plan’s most valuable asset, Plan needs to ensure it is doing what it can to not only preserve this but also to raise the bar in terms of the sponsor experience to surprise and delight where possible.

Data analytics work was conducted through a pro-bono arrangement with Northeastern University using anonymized data. The concluding reports provide some recommendations however the data needs to be validated, and the content made appropriate for an internal audience. In order to get the most benefit from the analysis, a wider data strategy for the programme is also needed to ensure follow-through.

Identified solution

Resource augmentation of:

• FTE support with data analytics capability to cover the following questions:

1. How can we translate the analysis on Plan’s retention data into actionable, insight-backed recommendations?

• What are the narrative points or questions to extract from the analysis that will have the greatest impact across National Organisations (‘NOs’ – i.e., fundraising offices)?
• What is the perspective of National Organisations on the key findings from the retention analysis?
• How can the NextGen Initiaitive improve the data driven decision making environment related to sponsorship and individual giving channels? What processes or methods, and systems would be recommended to improve the collection and analysis processes in Plan?

1. How might we accelerate the production of key deliverables relating to the NextGen program?

Overall project goal and purpose of consultancy

• The project’s objective is to leverage insight from the existing analysis completed by Northeastern
• Confirm/validate the data and findings with a sample of NOs
• Ensure the content is appropriate for use to drive internal conversations and actions against the recommendations
• To take the opportunity to lift the impact of the work into a wider data strategy outline/ recommendation related to individual giving fundraising

Intended results

• Validated analysis that can be shared internally for the purposes of:
  1. Highlighting the value of combined data and the insight it can provide
  2. Creating a shared understanding of problems that are common across National Organisations
• Clearly articulated approach to data collection, analysis and decision making for the programme and Plan International related to sponsorship and individual giving.

1. Requirements

This project will work with existing and ready-to-go data and reporting. It will involve working alongside the global sponsorship operations team, as well as confirming and validating the data and findings with key staff from National Organisations.

This project will include the reworking of existing reports, validation of underlying data and resulting recommendations, development of internally facing documents/dashboards for NO use.

Our selected agency will:

• Work together with stakeholders across Plan to refine existing reports
• Develop versatile, digestible content that summarises key points made in the reports
• Leverage the data-rich reports from Northeastern to produce an outline data strategy for the project moving forward that includes a suggested roll-out plan

Ultimate project success will be the development of global concept adopted and rolled out by local offices in their markets.

Project period

The project is estimated to be started during Spring 2025 and completed in 6-8 weeks.

How to Apply:

Offers must be received before the deadline specified in the “Request for Quotations”

The offer must be sent via email to Procurement@plan-international.org, with the subject line

“RFQ FY25-198: NextGen Optimising Retention Data Analysis”