Request for Inquiry for New Website Design and Development

Intro, Project Overview

YA’s website is more than 10 years old and it’s time for a complete overhaul and re-build. We’re a successful, but small nonprofit that brings arts programming to children in schools.

We are a turnkey solution for schools, we are easy to work with and the programs are easy to schedule, and fit into the current curriculum.

At the core of what we do, we are a B2B business. The website is a valued online catalog of our offerings, with 82 artists and more than 100 programs and pricing, in a searchable format. The customer must complete their purchase by connecting with staff. The website needs to prioritize being a commerce website. The other website users are connected to us as a nonprofit: donors and funders. We welcome ideas to find solutions that serve these different users. 

We are seeking requests for inquiry from qualified web design and development firms to create a modern, user-friendly, and accessible website that amplifies our impact, enhances our user experience, and better represents our organization.

We would like all requests for inquiry to be received by March 24 and a final decision on a web designer will be made by May 1. We are hoping to have the website launched by January 2026.

Our budget is $15-20k for website development. We are open for discussion on pricing.

Company Overview

With YA artists, our aim is for students to imagine new possibilities for themselves and others, experience their own strengths and talents, foster a sense of community, and remove obstacles that prevent them from understanding and connecting with each other.

Request for Inquiries

Web designers interested in this project are asked to complete a questionnaire to help us understand you better, (questions and link below). Based on responses to the questionnaire, we will have follow-up 30-40-minute meetings with those most aligned, available, and interested. If necessary, we will have longer follow-up discussions to make our final selection. We will offer a $150 honorarium for the initial 30-40 minute meeting, and an additional honorarium for any other follow-up discussions.

Website Audience

  • PTO/PTA Parents: Volunteers who rotate from year to year. They make decisions about bringing programming to schools using fundraised dollars. This audience is always looking for a good deal and wants to schedule programs for schools that everyone will be talking about. 
  • School Leadership: Programs must have curriculum connections, and bring joy and excitement to schools
  • Teachers: Influence school decision-makers, and are drawn to programs that are easy to work with and provide connections to required curriculum.
  • Artists: We want to represent all artists with equity and have a way to showcase their talent using our website with photographs and videos
  • Donors/Funders/Nonprofit community: They are looking at the website to see how YA impacts the community. For this audience, we want to emphasize our impact as a nonprofit and make it easy to give/contact us

Website Objectives

  • The website should reflect a B2B format and be like an e-commerce site; however, in order for a school to schedule a program, they must contact someone in our office to discuss scheduling and pricing.
    • The sales team then works with the school to find the best fit and they consider many things such as size, space, grade level and availability of the artist. 
    • We want to move people from browsing to calling or emailing us as efficiently as possible.
  • Secondary objectives
    • Share our commitment to diversity and inclusion
    • Showcase the work of artists equitably
    • Highlight different awards, grants, and community impact; also honor those in the community who have made an impact
    • Allow schools to apply for grants quickly and easily

New Website Wish List – Design

  • Modern look
  • Highlight artistry and student engagement
  • Amplify and align with YA brand standard
  • Reflect our focus on education without falling on cliche images
  • Create a more consistent, intuitive website navigation

New Website Wish List – Functionality

  • Search functionality
  • Program/Artist search feature that is more robust and easy to navigate
  • An easy foundation to make it manageable for multiple people to edit (no special skills or coding required)
  • ADA-compliant (best practices)

Resources and Assets

  • Dedicated director of marketing and a part-time marketing associate
  • Full library of images
  • Approved copy for most website pages
  • Openness to collaboration across stakeholders

Budget

  • $15,000-$20,000

Submission Guidelines

Project Timeline

  • Questionnaire received by March 24
  • Virtual  interviews with top three companies March 31-April 15
  • Decision made by May 1
  • Start working on the website in July 2025
  • Website launched January 2026

Questionnaire

Young Audiences NJ & Eastern PA Website Design Inquiry – 2025

* Indicates required question

  1. Name (and pronouns)*
  2. Phonetic pronunciation of first name*
  3. Organization/Firm*
  4. Email address:*
  5. Phone number:
  6. Please share how you have worked with similar organizations in the past (arts, nonprofit, B2B, and education) and share examples of your work.*
  7. What makes collaboration with a client successful?*
  8. Describe the work environment that supports your success (i.e. meeting timing, location, virtual/in-person, captioning, audio descriptions, video recordings, etc.).*
  9. Share why you would like to work with YA.*

Arts United

YA has an initiative called Arts United which is our comprehensive effort to focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and access. You can read more about it here.

As part of this process, we ask all vendors to summarize how they are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access. You can provide a summary reflecting on our mission and how your services uphold those values or you can use the questions below to guide you.

  • Do you identify with a marginalized group?
  • Do you have a goal of having a certain percentage of clients who are from underrepresented groups?
  • Do you participate in any of the pledges or programs:
  • Offer Non-Profit Discount
  • Business Development Program
  • Living Wage Pledge
  • Certified Diverse Business

Are there ways you give back to the community?

Please include your answer/response below.

10. Response to inclusivity prompt.*

 

11. After reviewing what we’ve provided, do you have any questions for Young Audiences?

12. Is there anything else you’d like us to know about your work?

Thank you for your time.

We will be in touch if we have any questions or if we have chosen to move forward with your application.