RFP Development for Member Management System

We are seeking to implement a membership system for our nonprofit organization, the College Autism Network. We would like a knowledgeable volunteer to identify, review and recommend a potential AMS that will best serve our organization's needs. While we have met with representatives from several well-known firms, we don't have the kind of knowledge needed to evaluate these and determine if they will meet our needs in the long term. This is an extremely important (and potentially expensive) decision and we would like some guidance in this process.

Our organization has grown significantly in the past three years, though is still quite small (mailing list of 2000, paid members--organizational and individual--of around 300, annual budget <$200k, one paid staff member and numerous volunteers). We have a lot of potential to grow and monetize our memberships more effectively, but have been limping along using tools that are inadequate. There are several "best-in-class" association management systems, but we are concerned they may offer more than we need. Alternatively, we are concerned about lower-end products not being what we need for our longer term needs (e.g., integration with a website, payment system, etc). We are seeking someone who knows what questions to ask, how to evaluate these possibilities (including website, learning management and other aspects of association management). Our organization serves primarily educators focused on supporting autistic college students--not a well-off group by any means. But we provide useful services and education to help them do their work, and would like to be better at what we offer them. A more efficient member management system would make a significant difference.

We have two team members willing to craft an RFP of sorts, but need more expertise from an experienced professional who can see challenges we don't. Once our volunteer makes a recommendation (or recommendations) of potential AMS options for us, we can immediately move toward a contract and implementation.