Is your RFP unintentionally excluding qualified consultants?
This is a guest blog by Consultants for Good (C4G).
When your nonprofit sets out to hire a consultant, your team will need to define candidate requirements:
A certain number of years in the field
A specific certification or degree
Familiarity with a particular tool or platform
Choosing a consultant can be a high-stakes decision, so it makes sense to set a high bar! But is your list of requirements unintentionally driving away qualified candidates?
The problem with traditional RFPs and consultant requirements
There’s a longstanding issue with hiring practices when organizations define their list of requirements. Often, teams default to prerequisites that they’re used to seeing in traditional RFPs.
But it’s worth asking: Which skills and experiences are truly essential to achieving project outcomes?
This matters more than you may realize:
Many traditional or “standard” requirements aren’t reliable indicators of whether someone can provide high-quality support.
Qualified consultants often pass over opportunities if they don’t meet the listed requirements — even if they believe they’re a good match — which shrinks your candidate pool.
And the qualifications you mark as “required” don't just describe your ideal candidate; they also shape who feels welcome to apply in the first place.
Take a common example: the college degree
It's such a standard line item that few teams pause to ask whether it’s needed.
In their free Consultant Hiring Toolkit, Consultants for Good (C4G) encourages nonprofit leaders to consider the downside: “Requiring a college degree can exclude people from marginalized groups — and shrink your candidate pool.”
In other words, a default degree requirement that excludes capable people doesn't only raise an equity concern; it also leaves your nonprofit with fewer strong options to choose from.
Questioning whether default requirements genuinely serve your mission
One of the simplest shifts a hiring team can make is to sort every qualification into two buckets: “Need to Have” and “Nice to Have.”
With each item, ask: Could a consultant do excellent work on our project without this condition?
This small exercise can dramatically change who ends up in your candidate pool. A requirement could turn away an amazing consultant who would have thrived; naming it as a preference instead keeps the door open while still signaling what you value.
Why professional skills and lived experiences both matter
Another reason to loosen your grip on conventional credentials? Some of the most valuable experiences a consultant brings to the table can't be as easily captured on paper.
C4G — the leading nonprofit consultant community — urges teams to consider the crucial importance of consultants’ lived experiences. Someone who shares your participants' cultural context or has navigated similar challenges may understand your work in ways no résumé line could convey.
None of this means lowering your standards.
It means widening your lens so that “qualified” reflects the full range of what actually helps your project succeed.
Customizable, equity-centered templates for your consultant search
Shifting to a more inclusive hiring process can feel daunting, but C4G’s free Consultant Hiring Toolkit does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Inside, you’ll find:
A step-by-step guide to conduct an equitable hiring process
Customizable tools, including a scope of work template to replace a traditional RFP
Checklists to support your shift from “standard” practices, including ways to vet candidates who don’t have traditional client references
Download C4G’s free toolkit to get started.
