Request for Proposals for
ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES^[1]

The International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP; http://ispp.org/) is seeking a full-service association management company (AMC) to provide central office, membership, website, and conference management services. Full-time services would begin July 11, 2026, with appropriate advance time to become acquainted with ISPP’s current procedures and needs and to ensure a smooth transition. The transition period will include ISPP’s 2026 International Meeting, to be held in Newcastle, UK.

All proposals will be carefully considered, but preference will be given to proposals from companies that have experience in managing academic associations with international membership and in managing conferences worldwide. The first conference the AMC will need to manage will be in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, starting with the ISPP Academy on June 30, 2027.

Proposals should be received by September 30, 2025.

A Brief Overview of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP)

Purposes of ISPP:

ISPP was founded in 1979 for the following purposes (as stated in its Constitution):

The Society is a nonprofit scientific, educational, and non-partisan organization with the following purposes:

• To establish a community of scholars and concerned individuals in universities, government, the communications media, and elsewhere, who have scientific and practical interests in examining the relationship between political and psychological phenomena;
• To facilitate communication of scientific research, theory, and practice across disciplinary, national, and ideological boundaries, both among members of the Society and those outside the Society;
• To increase the theoretical and practical significance of political psychology both inside and outside academia;
• To provide mutual support among members of their freedom to generate and disseminate their findings and ideas.
• To promote the goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion, both within the Society and its governance and operations, and outside the Society in the world at large. 

ISPP Membership:

ISPP currently has approximately 900 members. Our July 2025 conference in Prague had more than 900 attendees. Most are university-based scholars in either political science or social psychology, with smaller numbers in related social sciences or engaged in practical applications of political psychology. While ISPP members reside in more than 50 countries, about 40% are North American and the majority of others are European. Members study all facets of political psychology, including political persuasion, contentious and non-contentious political participation, personality and political behavior, mass and elite political decision making, leadership, terrorism, genocide, and peace-making.

All memberships are currently individual memberships. While ISPP also has many senior members, about 40% of the Society’s members are designated as “Early Career Scholars,” defined as being eight or fewer years post-Ph.D.  Memberships may be paid for one to three years. Membership and conference fees are tiered for income and for student status.

ISPP maintains no formal relations with other organizations, but most members also hold membership in other academic societies. The majority of the society’s American members, for example, are members of national disciplinary societies, such as the American Political Science Association or the American Psychological Association.

ISPP Leadership Structure:

The Society is governed by an elected Governing Council that meets twice annually, once just before the annual scientific meeting in late June or early July and once in January. The January meeting is completely virtual, whereas the June/July meeting is primarily in-person (with a hybrid element for those who cannot attend in person). A smaller Executive Committee, a sub-part of the Governing Council, is authorized to make essential decisions between Governing Council meetings.

A President serves a term of one year, although each President serves for three years on the Executive Committee and Governing Council (as President-Elect, President, and Past-President).

Further details of ISPP governance may be found in the Constitution and Bylaws posted on the Society’s website.

Annual Scientific Meeting:

The Society holds its annual scientific meeting in July. Meetings are held both within and outside North America, though most take place outside North America. Attendance at annual meetings in North and South America is usually between 400 and 600; attendance at those held outside of North and South America is usually between 750 and 1000. The ability to arrange and manage all facets of international meetings, as well as meetings in North America, is critical.

Publications of the Society:

The Society’s scientific journal, Political Psychology, is published six times annually, currently by Wiley. Editors of the journal serve for five year terms. The Society also publishes Advances in Political Psychology as an annual supplement of the journal, but it is treated as a separate publication, with its own Editors. Whereas Political Psychology publishes original research and book reviews in political psychology, Advances In Political Psychology publishes theoretical advances and systematic literature reviews on specific political psychology topics.

Finally, the Society publishes a membership newsletter (ISPPNews) roughly 8-10 months per year.

ISPP Financial Status:

ISPP’s current annual budget is in the $500,000-$600,000 range.  Further details of the Society’s financial status will be made available to applicants invited for further consideration as finalists.

Overview of Services Sought from Association Management Company:

The AMC should be prepared to provide full management of the Central Office, membership, historical records, website and annual scientific meeting. While it is not possible to detail every specific need, the AMC should be prepared to do the following:

Executive Director

• Serve as the principal contact with the Society and coordinate the work of all AMC-assigned administrative staff for the ISPP Central Office.
• Coordinate, schedule, attend, and staff meetings as needed with the ISPP officers and committees. Most meetings will be online with the primary exception of the ISPP Governing Council (“Governing Council”) meeting at the annual ISPP conference which is hybrid.
• Proactively track, coordinate and facilitate all operations by staff, committee chairs, and leadership.
• Provide monthly update reports to the ISPP Personnel Committee.
• Coordinate, schedule, and participate in the two meetings each year of the Governing Council and report on Central Office operations.
• Provide support to the Society’s standing and special committees, as well as the ISPP Academy as needed.
• Negotiate all Society contracts and consult with Society attorneys prior to execution of contracts.
• Attend the annual meeting beginning at least one day before the pre-meeting ISPP Academy, through the end of the meeting.
• Act as on-site contact for meeting venue staff.

Central Office Operations

• Maintain staff as needed and approved by Society leadership to complete all work for the Society.
• Ensure availability via telephone and email during stipulated working hours.
• Provide full-time office for the receipt of mail and telephone calls.
• Process incoming and outgoing mail.
• Provide cloud?based storage for electronic files and onsite storage of physical files.
• Ensure maintenance of legal and tax status.
• Recognize the worldwide membership of ISPP in managing staffing hours to the extent possible.

Records of the Society

• Receive, maintain, and update all ISPP records.

Membership Services

• Maintain a comprehensive database of members of the Society, including past members (within the limitations of GDPR and any other data management regulation that may affect ISPP).
• Run data reports as needed/requested for analysis (e.g., the percent of membership from each country, percent who have identified as early career scholars, etc.).
• Remind members of the need to renew memberships in a timely manner.
• Process membership renewals.
• Respond to all inquiries from members and prospective members. 

Financial Management

• Maintain all financial records of ISPP including a system for budgeting and accounting.
• Assist the ISPP Treasurer in preparing the annual budget of the Society and the annual ISPP meeting (the “Annual Meeting”) budget, including registration fee recommendations, membership fee recommendations, revenue and expense projections.
• Receive, deposit and record all income from conference registration, membership, donations, and other sources.
• Pay all bills twice a month or on a schedule agreed upon by ISPP and the AMC.
• Keep track of expenditures within each budget line and keep the ISPP Treasurer informed of the financial status of the Society monthly.
• Open and/or maintain checking accounts for ISPP, pay all bills in a timely fashion, maintain records, send out invoices, and deposit all income.
• Pay approved invoices on behalf of ISPP for direct expenses.
• Provide monthly financial statements to the ISPP Treasurer, ISPP Finance Committee Chair, and the ISPP President. Carry out post?annual meeting reviews of event bills, process awards and reimbursements, coordinate outstanding payments and reconcile budget.
• Maintain credit card capability for collecting dues and annual ISPP meeting registration fees.
• Provide fiscal year?end reports and coordinate an annual audit (when needed) of the accounting records by an independent accounting firm, if requested by the ISPP Finance Committee (the “Finance Committee”).
• Assist in preparation of an RFP for audit services, if requested by the Finance Committee.
• Invest reserve funds as directed by the ISPP Treasurer and Finance Committee and provide quarterly reports on these funds in accordance with the ISPP Investment Policy. Available cash received should be invested until it is needed, given ISPP’s front-end loaded cash flow.
• Prepare all tax forms, including 1099 forms and reports to the federal and state governments for signature by the ISPP President and/or ISPP Treasurer as needed. File all forms or provide information necessary for the Treasurer to file if required.
• Prepare all reports necessary for the preparation of Form 990 by a selected accounting firm in a timely fashion.

Journal

• Provide a monthly new/renewed membership list to the journal publisher for online journal access.
• Update the ISPP web site with the current issue of Political Psychology and Advances in Political Psychology.

Website, Technology and Social Media:

• Maintain and regularly update the ISPP website and multiple social media channels.
• Work within a selected platform for membership, donations, conference submissions, and conference registration. Send acceptance and rejection messages for conference submissions.
• Post on and monitor all of ISPP’s social media platforms at the direction of the Executive Committee, in consultation with the Vice President for Communications.
• Evaluate technology platforms and make recommendations to the Executive Committee. 

Conference Planning:

• Working with appropriate ISPP leadership and committees, research and handle all logistical aspects of conference planning and management including site and venue options (as per the Conference Committee), contracts, insurance/risk management, VAT filings, budgeting and reporting, receptions and special events, registration, program book (PDF), on-site staffing (volunteers and paid local staff as appropriate and per budget), and post-conference follow-up and lessons learned/recommendations.
• Establish a planning calendar.
• Coordinate future conference site locations, including preparing RFPs, making recommendations to the Vice President for Conferences, the Executive Committee, and Governing Council, and preparing contracts.
• Design, publish and distribute preregistration and promotional materials for the Annual Meeting.
• Create, update and manage calendar for all communication and social media related to the Annual Meeting.
• Work with annual meeting Program Chairs to administer sessions and distribute invitations, manage speaker materials, honoraria etc. as it is necessary.
• Train Program Chairs and Section Chairs on the technical details of how to record accept/reject conference submissions, and Program Chairs on how to create the conference schedule as needed.
• Produce a mobile program app and an online program schedule at ISPP’s expense.
• Manage meeting registration, record and deposit receipts and provide necessary staffing (within budget parameters) for on?site registration and meeting coordination.
• Develop onsite signage.
• Manage the awards process and awards ceremony (if needed): Coordinate with the President regarding the composition of award committees, provide award committees with nominations, and follow up with award committees to make sure committee work is being completed.
• Oversee all on?site management.
• Coordinate audio?visual needs.
• Manage room block with hotel, if applicable.
• Assist with the development of sponsorship and fundraising connections with suitable organizations.
• Manage reimbursement process for Governing Council.
• Review and revise (as needed) reimbursement policies.
• Review reimbursement requests.
• Process payments.
• Prepare a comprehensive post-conference report for the Governing Council, including a final financial accounting of the meeting.

Funding:

• Seek funding opportunities as directed by the Executive Committee and Governing Council to support ISPP operations.

[1] ISPP is also advertising for an Executive Director and will make a decision about hiring an Association Management Company or its own Executive Director after all applications are received.

Information Requested in AMC Proposals:

1. A brief overview of your AMC.
2. A description of how your AMC is organized to serve its clients.
3. An indication of your ability to provide support for each area of the services requested above, indicating also the services typically outsourced.
4. Specific examples of your company's experience in serving academic societies, particularly of similar size and international membership.
5. A clear explanation of how your firm charges for its services and how these expenses will fit into our budget.
6. A detailed financial proposal indicating all expected costs to ISPP, and the manner of all remuneration expected by the AMC, including transparency on all commissions and financial arrangements with hotels and vendors that would be engaged on behalf of ISPP.
7. The qualifications and responsibilities of the person who will serve as Executive Director of ISPP and in any other defined role, including financial manager if different.
8. A description of how your AMC will help ISPP meet a number of core goals: (a) growing our membership beyond its typical range (700-1000 members); (b) increasing attendance at the annual meeting to a consistent level (in the 650-800 person range) across locations, (c) further internationalizing the membership of ISPP, with an emphasis on growth in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia; and (d) exploring and obtaining additional sources of funding, including through grants and sponsorships.
9. A specific transition schedule.
10. Costs for the transition activities.
11. A list of representative clients
12. A list of work references.
13. A list of financial references.

Application Timeline:

The following timeline will apply to this process:

Contact Information:

Proposals should be submitted via email to:

Dr. Joanne Miller
President, International Society of Political Psychology
Department of Political Science and International Relations
University of Delaware
jomiller@udel.edu

Dr. Miller may also be contacted for further information.