1. Purchasing Organization

Organisation: SOS MEDITERRANEE Address: 13 294 Marseille Cedex 06 Contact : l.vandenberghe@sosmediterranee.org

This Call for Proposals is issued by SOS MEDITERRANEE for the procurement of professional services under a service contract. The assignment will be coordinated from France.

At this stage, SOS MEDITERRANEE does not operate a registered charity, permanent office, or staff presence in the United Kingdom.

2. Purpose of the Call for Proposals

The purpose of this Call for Proposals is to appoint a service provider to design, implement and operate a UK-focused digital lead-acquisition and paid-media programme, including a substantial creative-production component, in support of SOS MEDITERRANEE’s fundraising, visibility and audience-building objectives during the 2026 pilot year.

The assignment is strictly limited to paid digital acquisition and advertising activities. Organic communication, press relations, offline mobilisation and general-purpose content production are excluded from the scope of this Call.

3. Institutional and Strategic Context

SOS MEDITERRANEE is a European humanitarian organisation conducting professional search and rescue operations in the Central Mediterranean in accordance with international maritime law. Since 2016, the organisation has operated continuously at sea, developing a documented operational, legal and ethical framework for civilian maritime rescue.

Within SOS MEDITERRANEE France, the International Development Department is responsible for strengthening the visibility, legitimacy, and resource mobilisation mechanisms beyond the perimeter of the existing national associations (France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland). The United Kingdom has been identified as a priority area of development, alongside Belgium and the Gulf region.

Engagement in the United Kingdom is structured as a time-bound pilot phase (2026–2027). During this period, SOS MEDITERRANEE does not operate a registered UK charity, local office or permanent staff presence. Donations are channelled through a UK-regulated financial intermediary / fiscal host eligible for Gift Aid, ensuring legal compliance, financial traceability and governance continuity with SOS MEDITERRANEE France.

This operating configuration entails specific constraints. Certain forms of public presence (offline mobilisation, local volunteer structures, merchandising) are limited at this stage. In the absence of local infrastructure, digital channels constitute the organisation’s primary interface of presence, legitimacy and accountability in the UK.

The UK pilot is conceived as a controlled experimental phase designed to:

• establish SOS MEDITERRANEE’s mandate and credibility with UK audiences;

• test the resonance of messages, visuals and narratives in a sensitive and polarised public environment;

• operate fully compliant fundraising mechanisms, including Gift Aid;

• generate structured evidence to inform future strategic decisions, including the possible evolution of UK engagement beyond the pilot phase.

The UK market presents specific constraints and opportunities that directly affect digital donor acquisition. Public discourse on migration is highly politicised; trust in charities is closely linked to perceptions of legality, governance and domestic accountability; and audience response is particularly sensitive to tone, framing and perceived advocacy. Approaches, messages and visuals that perform in other European or international contexts cannot be transposed mechanically to the UK.

In addition, SOS MEDITERRANEE does not operate domestically within the United Kingdom. The absence of local operational presence means that perceived proximity must be constructed digitally between UK audiences and the organisation’s zone of operations in the Central Mediterranean. Establishing legitimacy, relevance and emotional intelligibility across geographic distance is therefore a core constraint, and a core design parameter, of UK digital acquisition.

UK Pilot Audiences and Segmentation Logic

The UK pilot is designed to assess SOS MEDITERRANEE’s capacity to engage distinct audience segments within the British context, recognising that different publics operate under different moral, cultural, regulatory and reputational logics.

The pilot therefore adopts a multi-segment approach, structured around differentiated engagement pathways rather than a single acquisition funnel. In particular, the pilot aims to test and consolidate:

• engagement with the general public, which constitutes the primary foundation for visibility, legitimacy and donor acquisition in the UK context;

• engagement with socially conscious and digitally literate audiences, for whom transparency, tone, representation and narrative coherence are critical to trust and conversion;

• engagement with faith-based and diasporic audiences, including Muslim communities, for whom humanitarian support is often mediated through ethical, religious and procedural frameworks distinct from general-public giving.

During the 2026 pilot year, the objective is to test message intelligibility, trust conditions and compliant donation pathways (notably through sadaqah), and to build the institutional and reputational foundations required for any future development. Performance optimisation during this phase must remain compatible with audience understanding, compliance and long-term credibility.

Paid digital acquisition therefore plays a structural role within the pilot. It functions simultaneously as a fundraising mechanism, a visibility tool and a learning system. The selected service provider will operate in an environment characterised by high reputational sensitivity, strict compliance requirements and strong governance constraints.

4. Objectives of the Assignment

The priorities of the assignment are ranked as follows:

• Operate a compliant, continuous and governed UK paid-digital acquisition programme.

• Generate measurable results in three distinct areas:

  • direct fundraising, through the acquisition of one-off and regular (monthly) donors via paid digital campaigns where donation is the primary conversion objective;

  • audience building, through the acquisition of qualified UK leads via paid lead-capture campaigns;

  • structured learning, through the systematic testing and analysis of messages, creatives, audiences and risks to inform future UK decisions.

The UK pilot focuses on both learning and progressive scale. Short-term performance optimisation must not compromise audience understanding, message testing, reputational insight or compliance discipline.

5. Scope of the Services Required

The scope of services described below is mandatory unless explicitly stated otherwise. Proposals must address each component clearly.

5.1 Strategic Contribution and Planning

SOS MEDITERRANEE retains strategic leadership of the UK pilot.

The service provider is expected to:

• contribute to the design and refinement of a UK-adapted paid digital acquisition strategy;

• propose audience segmentation hypotheses and structured testing frameworks;

• propose culturally respectful and resonant Ramadan and Sadaqah ad campaigns.

• explicitly identify UK-specific constraints, risks and opportunities (regulatory, cultural, reputational, platform-related) and integrate them into acquisition, creative and testing choices;

• contribute to media planning and budget allocation in alignment with SOS MEDITERRANEE’s 2026 acquisition strategy, priorities and budgetary framework;

• provide UK-specific market, platform and performance expertise.

Audience segmentation is expected to reflect material differences in motivation, regulatory constraints and moral framing within the UK context, and may require differentiated acquisition logics rather than a single unified funnel.

Final strategic orientations and arbitrations remain the responsibility of SOS MEDITERRANEE.

5.2 Paid Media Campaign Execution

The service provider will be responsible for the operational execution of paid digital acquisition campaigns, including:

• setup, management and optimisation of campaigns on Meta and Google platforms (additional platforms only if clearly justified);

• operation of a continuous always-on acquisition base;

• deployment of complementary test campaigns targeting specific audiences, messages or moments;

• optimisation against multiple acquisition objectives, including newsletter subscription, one-off donation and regular donor registration, P2P page creations;

• testing to evaluate effectiveness

• close monitoring of acquisition efficiency (e.g. cost-per-lead, cost-per-donation, cost-per-regular-donor);

• strict compliance with platform rules relating to social issues, humanitarian content and migration-related advertising.

5.3 Creative Production for Paid Advertising

Creative production constitutes a central pillar of the assignment.

The service provider will be responsible for the conception, production and ongoing renewal of paid advertising assets adapted to UK audiences, platforms and segments, including:

• static visuals, carousels and short video formats;

• declinations by platform, objective and audience segment;

• planned creative refresh cycles to mitigate ad fatigue;

• creative assets designed for structured A/B testing.

Creative production must be:

• performance-oriented;

• sustained over time within a continuous acquisition framework;

• explicitly adapted to UK audience sensitivities and moral frames.

Particular attention is expected to risks linked to tone, framing, representation, perceived advocacy, over-emotionalisation and inappropriate use of faith-related references.

SOS MEDITERRANEE retains full editorial, ethical and institutional authority. All assets are subject to prior validation.

5.4 Reporting, Monitoring and Learning

The service provider will be responsible for:

• monthly performance reporting covering reach, engagement, cost-per-result and conversion indicators;

• segmented analysis by audience and acquisition objective;

• explicit separation between short-term optimisation and strategic learning;

• documentation of tests conducted, hypotheses validated or invalidated, and risks identified;

• contribution to quarterly reviews and an end-of-year analytical synthesis informing future UK decisions.

5.5 Governance and Coordination

The service provider will work in close coordination with SOS MEDITERRANEE’s internal team under the following principles:

• SOS MEDITERRANEE retains final decision-making and validation authority;

• no creative or campaign element may be published without prior approval;

• no images, rescue footage, confidential data, or internal strategy and official documents can be reused or shared externally without prior authorization;

• validation timelines, documentation standards and compliance requirements must be respected;

• governance discipline and reputational risk management are considered integral components of performance.

6. Budget Framework

Proposals must clearly separate:

• service fees, itemised by function;

• media spend, presented separately and excluded from fees.

The 2026 UK digital budget includes a mid–six-figure overall envelope, combining paid media and creative production. Proposals must demonstrate scalability within an agreed budget range.

Hidden margins on media buying will not be accepted.

7. Deliverables

The deliverables listed below apply only to the selected service provider and form part of the contractual obligations for the 2026 pilot year.

Deliverables are conceived as continuous, recurring and cumulative outputs, not one-off campaign artefacts.

7.1 Strategic and Analytical Foundations

• Initial UK digital acquisition strategy for 2026 (always-on + test layers);

• Documented UK audience, risk and constraint analysis informing segmentation and creative hypotheses;

• Segmentation logic and testing roadmap (hypotheses, test plan, success measures);

• Always-on campaign architecture and initial media plan.

7.2 Always-On Campaign Operations

• Continuous operation and optimisation of paid acquisition campaigns throughout 2026;

• Maintenance of a permanent acquisition base on agreed platforms;

• Deployment of complementary test campaigns aligned with agreed priorities and moments.

7.3 Creative Production (Rolling Deliverables)

• Ongoing production and renewal of paid advertising assets across the year;

• Planned creative refresh cycles to mitigate fatigue;

• A/B-test-ready creative variants and structured creative iteration logs.

7.4 Reporting and Learning

• Monthly performance and learning reports;

• Quarterly synthesis documents supporting governance decisions;

• One end-of-year analytical synthesis with recommendations and documented learnings for 2027+.

Mandatory deliverables include:

• initial acquisition strategy and media plan;

• campaign structures and testing roadmap;

• creative assets or creative specifications;

• monthly performance and learning reports;

• end-of-year synthesis with recommendations.

8. Duration, Review and Exit Conditions

The contract will cover the 2026 calendar year.

Quarterly review points will assess performance, learning quality, governance and compliance.

SOS MEDITERRANEE reserves the right to suspend or terminate the contract in the event of persistent underperformance or breach of governance, compliance or ethical standards.

All data, accounts, documentation and creative assets produced under the contract, including derivative works, are the exclusive property of SOS MEDITERRANEE, with full rights of use, adaptation and reuse.

How to apply

9. Eligibility and Participation Requirements

Candidates must demonstrate:

• proven experience in paid digital acquisition and paid media operations;

• experience in fundraising or high-sensitivity cause environments;

• demonstrated familiarity with the UK regulatory, cultural and reputational context, including Gift Aid, UK GDPR, and platform rules for social-issue advertising;

• full legal, fiscal and social compliance.

10. Content of the Proposal

Proposals must include, for evaluation purposes only:

1. organisation profile and relevant experience;

2. understanding of the UK pilot context (constraints, risks, opportunities);

3. proposed methodology for strategy, execution, governance and learning;

4. approach to UK-specific segmentation and test design;

5. approach to creative production;

6. team composition and roles;

7. financial proposal (fees and indicative media spend);

8. relevant references

9. selected examples of paid digital campaigns and creative assets relevant to this scope of work, including a brief description of objectives, audiences, formats and results where available.

11. Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated according to the following weighted criteria:

• understanding of the UK context and objectives, including regulatory, cultural and reputational constraints: 25%;

• methodology, governance and learning framework: 25%;

• quality and relevance of past campaign examples and creative assets in comparable contexts: 20%;

• experience and references: 15%;

• financial proposal: 15%.

12. Submission Modalities

Proposals must be submitted in English by email to: l.vandenberghe@sosmediterranee.org

The subject line of the email must read: “UK Digital Acquisition RFP – [Name of Applicant]”.

If artificial intelligence tools are used in the preparation of the proposal or creative materials, their use must be disclosed, including a brief description of which elements were generated or assisted by AI.

The written proposal (excluding appendices and creative examples) should not exceed 30 pages.

Deadline for submission: 5 February 2026.
Proposals must remain valid for a minimum of 90 days from the submission deadline.

13. Additional Information

Requests for clarification must be submitted in writing to the above address no later than 26 January 2026.