Why feedback surveys are a must-have.
“Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.” —Andy Stanley
Whether you know it or not, your nonprofit is a leader within its community. Your organization affects the lives of those you serve and those who help further your mission. It’s for those reasons alone feedback surveys are so vital to sustaining and growing your success.
People have a lot to say and your nonprofit has a lot to learn. Feedback surveys help challenge perception while opening your organization to constructive criticism. Just because you think you have a good idea or understanding of how others view various aspects of your organization doesn’t mean it’s 100% true. A simple feedback survey will either reaffirm what you think you know or it will shed light on new topics, perceptions and opinions about your organization. Feedback surveys are great for employees, volunteers and donors. These targeted surveys should be short in length (fewer than 5 minutes to complete) with simple, straight-forward questions. Every feedback survey should be designed to encourage others to manually write about what your nonprofit should start, stop or keep doing for maximum effectiveness.
There are several survey sites and some free survey tools available for your nonprofit to use including:
If you’re not sure how to start, consider creating your first feedback survey with the help from an employee or two. Identify the audience the survey is for, and then identify what you want the survey to accomplish—what is the reason for taking the survey? Once you do that, creating and distributing feedback surveys will be a breeze. If you’re still stuck, read our article on How to Write an Awesome Feedback Survey.
