Our aim at Listen4Good is to give social sector organizations the tools and resources to listen and respond to their clients’ needs and experiences through high-quality, sustainable feedback loops. We believe high-quality feedback practices can provide an effective vehicle for getting actionable data to shape strategy, prioritization decisions and tell the story of your work….
Originally shared by the Center for High Impact Philanthropy – University of Pennsylvania High-impact philanthropy requires more than good intentions. It demands clear goals, continuous learning, and the discipline to make evidence-based decisions. Community feedback can be a key ingredient in supporting this practice. This blog, co-authored with Listen4Good (L4G), draws on their work supporting over 1,300 organizations…
This blog was originally published by Candid Nonprofits and grantmakers alike increasingly recognize that listening to their ultimate constituents is essential to their mission. They understand that hearing directly from the people most affected by their work–and making changes to their programs and practices based on that feedback—increases the impact of their work. Indeed, a…
Listen4Good’s client engagement pyramid elegantly describes how feedback loops lay the groundwork for deeper client engagement and are best complemented by smaller forums that shift and share ownership with community members.
L4G’s pyramid of client engagement strategies outlines ways in which clients can contribute to, advise on, and effect change within organizations. No matter how you engage clients in your organization, we recommend keeping the following best practices in mind: Additional Client Engagement Resources Want more resources on how to effectively engage clients? Check out the…
Focus groups can be a useful tool to probe deeper on patterns in your survey. A crucial part of developing your focus group will be to determine first what you are hoping to learn, then build questions off of that. In this article, we’ve suggested a draft outline for building a focus group around the…
It’s a good idea to share survey results with program staff before closing the loop with clients. Staff may well feel “blindsided” if any critical feedback is not discussed with them first. Beyond that, staff are often the best positioned to help put feedback into context and to help you brainstorm your response. Before sharing…
Paper surveys are easily accessible across a range of populations, generally inexpensive to produce, and avoid challenges of digital access and literacy. Among L4G organizations, we see average response rates with paper surveys to be among our highest. But, paper surveys do require additional staff time to manually input responses so that you can analyze…
We recommend only using email surveys if email is already a primary way that you communicate with your clients. You will likely receive the most responses on the first day you send the survey invite, followed by days on which you send out email reminders. Your survey should have a stated closing date, and you…
Not getting enough survey responses is called a “low response rate.” This is a common challenge for organizations. The first step to increasing or ensuring high response rates is to better understand the reasons for low response rates. Some of the most common reasons include:
There is an art and a science to survey design. You need your questions to be valid and provide high-quality data. But, methodology aside, survey questions need to be written for real people — diverse, busy people whose voices aren’t often heard. If you’re wondering or worried about how to do this well, we have…
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