PROJECT AUDIENCE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: Business Plan

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1 CONTENTS Introduction Proposal Submission deadline Background Summary of Goals Project Details o Business Plan Participants Financial Planning o Business structure/leadership model Framework Board governance/structure Leadership model o Operating model Required Outcomes Budget Qualifications Additional Information Page 1 of 9

2 Introduction This RFP invites interested and qualified experts/firms to submit a proposal for the development of a Business Plan, and a recommendation for an operating structure, including governance and staffing, for Project Audience going forward. Invitation to submit a proposal does not constitute a commitment of work. The Business Plan will provide recommendations and specifications for the development, operation (including staffing), funding, evaluation, and governance structure for Project Audience, including a proof of concept phase; based on consultation with key stakeholders and potential service users, an examination of existing services and models that might augment the service, and a recommendation of a phased growth of the service, beginning with the proof of concept. Proposal Submission Deadline: March 4, 2011 Only proposals which are submitted complete will be reviewed and considered. Submit your proposal to: rfp@projectaudience.org. Background Project Audience is a community of individuals and organizations sharing a common interest in improving the effectiveness of nonprofit arts and culture organizations to grow participation in the arts. Project Audience is committed to the larger vision of developing solutions for community wide arts service organizations to become centers for cultural information and vibrant interactions among audience members, artists, and arts organizations. The goal of Project Audience is to increase arts and culture attendance nationally and maintain a community of practice dedicated to furthering the conversation of audience development. Project Audience believes that technology can play a key role in this effort. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has to date supported two phases of work to explore this perspective and to develop a proposed solution. The Project Audience Oversight Committee (Oversight Committee), with the assistance of the NYC based consulting firm VShift, has developed a model that envisions a national service that will aggregate event data from a large base of arts and culture organizations and potentially artist and patron data standardize it and use it to increase consumers awareness of events and increase the likelihood of including arts and culture in their leisure decision making. This approach is detailed in the Project Audience Solution Description document (a top level Requirements document) prepared by VShift. Phase III of Project Audience will put a governance structure in place and draft a business plan to support the implementation of the proof of concept described in the documents created in Phase II. Summary of Goals Project Audience seeks to engage an expert or team of experts (hereafter referred to as Contractor ) to: Develop a business plan for the proof of concept and ongoing operations of Project Audience, including staffing, governance, and funding models. The Contractor will work with the existing Oversight Committee to accomplish this work. Page 2 of 9

3 Project Details Business Plan The Business Plan will guide the development and implementation of the proof of concept phase and eventual roll out of Project Audience. It must document and clearly communicate a detailed framework for the development of Project Audience. It should include key activities, funding, governance structure, and staffing and operational requirements for the proof of concept, the subsequent build, and the first three five years of ongoing operations. The Business Plan must identify significant issues and potential obstacles related to developing and implementing a set of integrated technology components that will effectively reach and respond to the needs of arts audiences and arts organizations from many disciplinary backgrounds. This technology solution must work in a wide range of settings and a variety of local, regional, or national arts service organizations across the country. The plan will address access and usage of the data resources, services, and distribution methods as well as the logistics of end user training and support. The proposed service model presents some complex prerequisites that need to be considered: How will the service be operated on an ongoing basis? How will it sustain itself financially? What will be the obligations and rights available to participating organizations/communities? The Oversight Committee for Project Audience will provide all relevant materials (such as background, history, vision, etc.) for the plan, and will be available to the Contractor for discovery. Primary research may be required to fill in knowledge gaps. The Business Plan should, at a minimum, contain the elements and sections outlined below Executive Summary Description of Project and Products BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE, HISTORY, VISION, TARGET AUDIENCES, DESCRIPTION, VALUE PROPOSITIONS, BUSINESS MODEL, LEADERSHIP, CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS, INTEGRATION WITH EXISTING SERVICES Industry and Market Analysis TARGET MARKET, COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE, COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES Business Structure/Leadership Model STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE, EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP MODELS High Level Marketing Plan OBJECTIVES, RECOMMENDED STRATEGY AND TACTICS FOR PHASES Operations Plan TECHNICAL PROJECT COMPONENTS, INFORMATION FLOWS, STAFFING, IMPLEMENTATION, ONGOING SERVICES, CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT, SALES FORCE/MANAGEMENT Financial Plan STAFFING COSTS, INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS, HIGH LEVEL PHASED BUDGET PLAN, DETAIL PROOF OF CONCEPT PHASE BUDGET, POTENTIAL INCOME SCENARIOS Page 3 of 9

4 Participants The business planning process should take care to involve representatives from the major disciplines and stakeholders who will be participants or beneficiaries of the project. These include: Arts & culture organizations such as local presenting organizations, museums or theater groups; Arts service organizations such as regional support organizations or arts promotion organizations; Foundations who may supply part or all of the funding for this project will come from foundations; Subject matter experts to support the business planning process and provide expertise on technical subjects such as non profit finance, intellectual property, operations, marketing or technology; and Potential partners who can be solicited for advice and who may be participants in the project on an ongoing basis. Financial planning The Project Audience Solution will require significant financial resources to build and operate. It is intended to benefit the arts and culture community at large, and thus it may be a good candidate for financial support by foundations and others. The exact budget details will need to be separated into both a build budget and a proposed ongoing operating model. Both will need to be fairly well understood before financial commitments can be solicited and secured. There may be opportunities, for example, for revenue to be generated by commercial participants in the project, by implementing usage fees for some users, or for commercial organizations to provide in kind support during the service development or operations. These potential models need to be explored, and a financial model needs to be constructed that takes them into account. The financial plan portion of the Business Plan should specifically call out the phases of the project going forward, with careful and accurate estimates to build the proof of concept, market it, and operate it. Below are the framing recommendations for the proof of concept work, some key underlying assumptions and intended outcomes. These should guide the financial modeling for the proof of concept planning, build, execution and operations and inform the subsequent phases of the project and their budgets. Project Audience is a large project that will include multiple separate components and initiatives; as a result, it will be implemented and released in phases that will be determined in conjunction with the various partners and developers. Initial phases likely will focus on developing the core data acquisition and data repository components & services, followed by the data access API and administrative and consumer facing websites. Later phases will implement analytics, the recommendation engine, and additional services. Page 4 of 9

5 Business Structure/Leadership Model Framework Although the initial framework should address the needs of a start up organization the structure and accompanying governance documents should anticipate the following: A growing, national entity over a ten year period. The need for representation of communities using the Project Audience solution as well as experts individuals with expertise the organization will need (i.e. intellectual property, technology, fundraising, etc.) but who aren t end users. The percentage of each should be specified in bylaws with the majority being held by the representatives. Representation should reflect the diversity of the communities (size of community, geography, organization type). The early governance needs will revolve around organizational structure and capacity, but other long term needs should be anticipated such as fundraising, succession planning, and growth. It is anticipated that a non profit structure will be most suitable for this project; all frameworks should be explored to confirm this assumption. Board/Governance structure Prepare a transition plan from the Oversight Committee structure to a permanent governance structure that allows for continuity while still providing opportunity for new organizations and skill sets to be incorporated in the start up phase. The governance entity should anticipate: Staggered terms, with first term members being the drawn from the users in next phase of work and/or the Oversight Committee/Governing entity. The appropriate officer need for start up and the best location to incorporate for ultimate flexibility. An indication of what type of standing committees should be required at start up should be indicated as well as provisions for other committees to be established later as necessary. Relationship between governance entity and the paid leadership. The pros and cons of setting up a membership organization and the relationship to both the financial and governance model. Leadership model It is anticipated that the governance structure will have a set of officers and the roles of those officers should be well defined as well as the relationship it has in hiring the paid executive leadership. The plan should reflect: How the slate of officers are nominated, vetted, and elected. The relationship between the governance structure and paid staff. The need to represent a diverse set of communities and organizations. Operating model Unlike earlier phases of Project Audience which was managed by volunteer part time committee members, the implementation of this service is a consumptive, labor intensive activity that will require dedicated staff and a transition to a formal legal entity. As the service moves forward, an organization will be required to manage the implementation, sign contracts and pay for services, integrate work between different partners or participants and maintain the legal and contractual requirements for a business. Page 5 of 9

6 At a minimum, the operating model planning process should consider and incorporate: Management & staffing beyond the key chief executive both for project startup and for ongoing operations; The role of partnerships including both commercial and/or non profit organizations; Marketing of the service to the broadest public, the potential participating arts and culture organizations, and communities of organizations; Technical management of the service including ongoing development and improvements and support for content creators; Promotion of the services to consumer audiences on both a local and a national basis; Financial management of the entire service. Scenario One: Create a New Organization Under this scenario, Project Audience will incorporate a legal entity that would be designed to build and operate the service. It would be funded (potentially with support from foundations and/or individual contributions, and/or member fees), owned and operated by its beneficiaries arts and culture organizations. The organization either would provide directly or would contract with other organizations to provide the necessary activities to build and support the service, including technical development, financial and operational management, marketing and support. The pros and cons of this approach are fairly simple to understand: running the whole operation brings the greatest control for ensuring that it is built and operated from a centralized perspective, but building an organization that represents the needs and values of a diverse constituency is no simple task, bringing with it all the complications of funding, staffing, and operating that a new business brings. Scenario Two: Establish a Program Inside an Existing Organization Under this scenario, Project Audience would partner with an existing non profit organization to create the service as a program. There may be currently existing non profit organizations for which Project Audience would be a natural extension of currently offered programs. Under this scenario, potential organizations would be identified to work with Project Audience to find funding for implementation and operations. The advantage of this approach is that existing organizations may have some or all of the necessary prerequisites to structuring, staffing, launching and managing the project, potentially bringing the service to market more quickly and reducing the burden on Project Audience to build it. The skills a non profit partner may bring include technical expertise and operations, a legal operating entity, financial management resources, customer support capabilities, pre existing expertise in arts marketing or relationships with regional or local arts organizations. However, this approach would cede a significant amount of responsibility to an entity outside of Project Audience, which may or may not be acceptable. It also would require a ramp up phase to fully understand the work that has progressed thus far. Timeframe Begin no sooner than March 11, Finish no later than week of May 23, Incremental milestones will be built in by Contractor and the Oversight Committee/Governing entity. Page 6 of 9

7 Contract Contractor will enter into a contract with ArtsFund on behalf of Project Audience. This will be a fixed price contract. There is no allowance for project expenses, travel (other than that noted below), or any ancillary expenses that the Contractor may incur. Deliverables must be accepted by the Project Audience Oversight Committee/Governing entity. Consultant will have the entire volunteer committee to draw from, but will likely work most closely with a subgroup, with one primary contact person identified. Required Outcomes Participation in at least one in person meeting with the Project Audience Oversight committee/governing entity. Project Audience will pay for travel, accommodations, and food while at meeting site. The meeting is set for April 20 21, 2011 and will be held at the Andrew W. Mellon offices in New York City, NY. Business Plan as outlined herein including recommendations for structure, governance, and operations. The plan will also include a detailed financial plan for the proof of concept Phase and draft financial modeling for the implementation and operational phases. Additional elements are outlined below. These documents will be in sharable form, as they are deliverables to Oversight Committee/Governing entity and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Contractor will share all work products with client; work products become the property of Project Audience, with ArtsFund as fiscal agent. Some documents may be published to the wider Project Audience community, at the discretion of the Project Audience Oversight Committee/Governing entity. Budget Maximum payment for this project is strictly capped at $34,125. Under no circumstances will any change orders, overages or any requests of any kind for payments exceeding that amount be considered. All proposals must include a detail budget supported by a budget justification. The budget justification must provide a breakdown by elements and/or sections. Qualifications The selected contractor must meet a majority of the following requirements: Specific experience working with arts and cultural organizations. A professional consulting practice with a demonstrated track record of success in business consulting on technology based, start up projects. Significant experience working with collaborative communities. Experience in creating/evaluating business and governance models for collaborative enterprises. Advanced proficiency financial, analytical, and organizational and project management skills. Expertise in the area of system requirements, system design and accompanying policy and procedure. Recognition and reputation with same or similar business plans. Must have adequate time available to complete contract on time. Page 7 of 9

8 Additional Information PROJECT AUDIENCE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF PROPOSED SOLUTION PROJECT AUDIENCE PROPOSED SOLUTION DOCUMENT IN ENTIRETY Additional information can be found at PROOF OF CONCEPT The proposed Project Audience service model is a major undertaking. Implementing it will take a substantial period of time (likely to be about 6 months) and a significant amount of resources, and the effort will need to be sustained even after launch. Further, it is a speculative effort that although grounded in good research and a wide consensus that it will be effective still needs to be proved out in the marketplace. Because of this, we are recommending that Project Audience undertake a proof of concept that will test out some of the key assumptions and gain some feedback from the market place before committing to the complete project. We believe that this initiative should test a number of key assumptions: Will arts and cultural organizations participate, taking up the tasks of contributing events to the database? Does the consumer experience appeal to end users, and does it generate a user base and/or audience? Does the service itself accomplish its primary goal of growing participation at and awareness of arts and cultural offerings and information? In order to test these assumptions, we are suggesting a proof of concept be established with the following components: Market Representation: proof of concept market(s) should reflect a representation of arts service organization, partnership, and end user markets. Data acquisition: The proof of concept should have a both a screen based method and an automated (XML) method of event data acquisition. Lightweight Technology Infrastructure: The proof of concept should be built on a simplified infrastructure that sacrifices redundancy, reliability and scalability for simplicity of implementation. Simplified Taxonomy: The taxonomy of arts and cultural events should be simplified during the proof of concept. Distribution: The proof of concept should include simplified versions of the four major types of event data distributions: o o o A geo sensitive mobile app for smartphones, A consolidator website that offers a subset of functionality (TBD) described in the Solution Description document, but to include alerts, a ticketing option, ratings & reviews and display of events on a map, A widget TBD to allow for arts and cultural events to be presented on other participating websites, Page 8 of 9

9 o An RSS feed of events in specific geographies. Analytics: The proof of concept should keep data to support analytics used in evaluating the test, including user activity, event entry, clicks throughs to ticketing, collected addresses and repeat visits. In planning for the proof of concept, Project Audience should consider how the service will integrate with other marketing oriented projects in the arts and cultural space such (such as cooperative data sharing agreements), and how functionality or data from those initiatives can be used to accelerate or enhance the proof of concept. The proof of concept should run for a sufficient period of time (6 months minimum to allow for enough information (both analytic data collected on the service and reports from participants) to accrue and provide a good basis for future decisions on implementing the service. Governing Body Transition Page 9 of 9