Knowing how beneficiaries perceive the quality of your nonprofit’s services can influence mission impact and supports a culture of improvement. Constituent voice provides a more complete understanding of the value a nonprofit mission brings to the community in which it operates. Despite the benefits, it’s estimated fewer than 20 percent of organizations include beneficiary feedback when assessing program impact. This presentation provides an overview of what nonprofit practitioners should consider when implementing a feedback process.

1. How to Collect
Beneficiary Feedback
Tips for gathering constituent voice
to improve nonprofit programs

2. Why Collect Beneficiary Feedback?
Knowing how beneficiaries perceive the quality of a nonprofit’s services can
greatly impact an organization’s strategies to improve and to assess the value of
a mission in the communities in which it operates.
There are five important considerations when developing a beneficiary feedback
program, which include:
• Collect actionable data
• Determine which beneficiaries to survey
• Decide whether you will collect data in-house, or hire a third-party
• Choose a data collection method based on budget, population characteristics,
rigor of the feedback you desire and how you plan to use the findings.
• Use a frequent, light-touch approach for continuous feedback
• Make program course corrections based on feedback

3. Collect Actionable Data
Collect actionable data by asking
questions in four performance categories:
Service quality.
•
•
Would you recommend this service to someone else?
Did you get the resources and support you needed?
Relationship quality.
•
•
Do you want to try new services or products?
Do you feel empowered by what your provider does?
Importance.
•
•
How important is this issue to you?
Will you need this service again in the next 12 months?
Outcomes.
•
Are you making progress with help from your provider’s
service?
•
Are there positive changes in your life?

4. Determine Which Beneficiaries to Survey
Decide which beneficiaries will be
surveyed:
Key considerations.
•
Nonprofits with a small number of beneficiaries can
likely collect feedback from all beneficiaries
•
Nonprofits with hundreds or thousands of beneficiaries
can choose a smaller sample size
•
No matter the size of the organization, surveying
around 300 beneficiaries will provide statistically
significant results
“Focus Group Discussion” created by WhyOhGee used under CC BY / Cropped & resized.

5. Choose Who Will Conduct Survey
Most data can be collected in-house, but
sometimes it may be better to use a
third-party service.
Key considerations.
•
Anonymous feedback is typically more valid than
non-anonymous feedback
•
If beneficiaries trust an organization, it may be
possible to collect non-anonymous feedback, which
can be more useful than anonymous feedback
•
Whether an organization collects feedback in-house
or through an unbiased third-party depends on the
number of respondents, budget and depth of the
feedback an organization desires
“Question mark chalk on pavement”
created by Virtual EyeSee used under CC BY / Resized.

6. Select a Data Collection Method
Which data collection method an
organization chooses is dependent on
several factors:
Key considerations.
•
•
•
•
Budget
Characteristics of the survey population. For example, an
online survey is a poor choice if the majority of
beneficiaries lack Internet service
The type of data to collect
How an organization plans to use the data. For example,
if an organization needs to collect data in real-time, a
paper survey is a poor choice

7. Use a Continuous Feedback Approach
Make collecting beneficiary feedback an
integral part of program operations:
Key considerations.
•
Survey frequently, as often as every three to six
weeks
•
Keep the number of survey questions limited to one
or two
•
Use in conjunction with in-depth feedback surveys
conducted every 12-24 months

8. Make Course Corrections
A continuous feedback loop enables
continuous program improvements:
Key considerations.
•
•
Adjust, remove or create new service offerings
•
Predict future performance based on survey
responses
Identify bottlenecks and other problems in the
delivery of program services
“You Can Change the World”
created by Anciss used under CC BY / Cropped & resized.

9. Read Report
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