Request for Proposal Compensation Benchmarking Recommendations

Request for Proposal

Opportunity: Compensation Benchmarking & Framework Recommendations

Time Frame: May September 2025

Budget: up $40000 CAD (before tax)

Deadline for Applications: 27 April 2025 11:59 PM EDT

Any questions can be directed to the People Equity & Culture team:

Introduction to the Equality Fund

The Equality Fund is transforming the way that resourcesand powerflow into the hands of women girls and gender expansive people worldwide. Designed by feminists for feminists it is a model for sustainably resourcing feminist movements everywhere through global grantmaking genderlens investing policy advocacy and feminist philanthropy. Launched in 2019 the Equality Fund has activated $100 million to date flowing to more than 1000 womens rights organizations working across 100 countries.

Context and Opportunity

The Equality Fund has a staff of over 50 about 85 located across Canada and the other 15 around the globe. Cutting across sectors our staff work in global feminist grantmaking philanthropy policy advocacy investment operations and more. We work with core competencies under our four key organizational values: antiracism antioppression and inclusion; feminist leadership; radical love; and accountability. In a global context defined by complexity rapid change and disruption were reviewing our compensation framework this year such that it is not only equitable and transparent but also adaptive and resilientready to meet future shifts in funding talent needs and structural evolution.

Our last compensation review happened in 2022 and supported the organization to establish a job evaluation tool/system complete a job leveling review by using the new tool conduct a compensation review and provide market data on the broader total rewards programs and make related recommendations. We attempt to review our compensation framework every three years and this year we intend to continue the work of refining defining and aligning our compensation framework as it relates to elements such as total rewards benefits design and placement and movement within and between pay bands. The People Equity and Culture team has recently closed a comprehensive employee engagement survey collecting data across a range of factors for compensation & benefits and job satisfaction which is to say we have lots of data.

Were seeking an experienced collaborative and valuesaware partner to support us in this Compensation Framework review. Specifically were looking to an external partner to benchmark our compensation and benefits for our global crosssector organization and act as a thought partner for improvements to our policies and practices related to total rewards.

Additional information about our context is available upon request.

Scope of Work & Deliverables

1. Initial Assessment
   1. Review of 2022 compensation review documents relevant policies and data related to the 2024 employee engagement survey and any other relevant data to understand our context and the starting point for this body of work.
   2. Collaborate with EF staff where needed to ensure full understanding of issues gaps etc.
2. Benchmarking
   1. Undertake benchmarking of Equality Fund total rewards across our pay grid considering the unique nature of the work the diversity of locations of employees and the crosssector realities of EFs work.
   2. Produce a comprehensive benchmarking report for salaries & benefits across the organization.
3. Compensation Policy & Practice Recommendations
   1. Provide recommendations for updating and improving our compensation policy practices and tools particularly for salary adjustments salary banding and job evaluations.
   2. Support the articulation of Equality Fund values in a comprehensive Compensation Philosophy to be updated and shared with all staff.
   3. Partner with the PEC team to identify implementation pathways for new practices.
   4. Clarify how initial placement and progression are reflected in salary bands and tiers including career development pathways nonpromotional growth opportunities and transparent criteria for salary adjustments.
   5. Make recommendations on future improvements to the compensation framework.
4. FutureReadiness & Change Resilience
   1. Provide recommendations for maintaining the relevance and equity of the compensation framework over time including strategies for future adaptation and staff engagement.

Who We Are Looking For

The nature of our workplace is rooted in multiple realities and spaces there is no single industry that directly reflects what it is we do. Were looking for a thought partner who has a strong technical background in this work and gets what it means to be valuesoriented in our policies and practices understanding why we reimagine our human resources team to be about People Equity and Culture (PEC).

Were looking for a consultant who brings with them a wide range of experiences in compensation framework within multisectoral organizations with experience in Canada and global nonprofits and grantmaking who understands nuance and who is excited by values and adaptive contexts. You will be working closely with a dynamic group from our PEC & Finance teams and will need to be able to accommodate the rich breadth of feedback we receive from our highly engaged team.

Specifically we need a consultant who understands that intersectional feminism antiracism antioppression equity and inclusion are central to all of our decisions and to be able to articulate the why behind our process & policy choices that reflect these values. We need you and/or your organization to feel confident handling complex Canadian and global employment realities and to bring best practices and tangible recommendations for the future of our compensation strategy.

Budget & Timeline

Our budget for this project is up to $40000 CAD.

The Equality Fund team youll be working with is based in Canada working primarily in UTC/GMT4 (Eastern Time). Applicants should be willing and able to collaborate on synchronous work during our standard work day.

The timeline we predict for this work will be commencing in May 2025 and we expect to complete it by September 2025 to account for our office closures and pace of work in the summer.

Selection Criteria

• Compensation & benefits benchmarking experience in crosssectoral nonprofit & Canadian organizations with employees globally
  • Ideally within the feminist fund landscape and in global funds grantmaking and/or philanthropy
• Competence with valuesalignment and articulation in policies and practices
• Understanding of the unique nature of the crosssector roles at Equality Fund
• Willingness to listen and collaborate with the voices of staff and stakeholders at Equality Fund
• Ability to balance the technical & compliance aspects of compensation strategy with the humancentred feminist and valuesdriven nature of our organization

Response Requirements

Company Summary & Qualifications

• Please include details of the team members who would be working on this project as well as why you are interested in working with us on this project.

Proposed Approach & Work Plan

• Please provide the breakdown of activities including your approach to incorporating best practices with values feedback and collaboration and deliverables for each aspect of the project.
  • We welcome you to shape and challenge the process with your own frameworks or insights.
• Please include how your team approaches compensation design and what frameworks or methodologies you draw on.
  • We welcome approaches that surface insights beyond benchmarking including reinvention or unlearning methods equitycentered design or adaptive organizational strategy.

Timeline

• We expect this work to take place between May 2025 September 2025 with regular touchpoints to ensure alignment and milestones to reach; actual dates to be finalized at time of contract negotiation.

Cost Breakdown & Budget

• Please include the breakdown of activities including payment schedule for the expected deliverables.

References

• Please provide at least 2 client references for clients with a similar scope values or sector location as the Equality Fund. We would ask these references to speak to your past scope of work company culture feminist values and success with projects comparable to this one.

Required Experience:

Senior IC