Advancement · Data & Impact

What do the people
you serve think?

The people a program serves know where it works and where it does not. A short survey each round, with the same items and one 0-to-10 question, gives a nonprofit numbers it can track and a reason to change. Print the survey, enter the results, write what you heard and what you will do, and print a notice to close the loop.

Add a feedback roundWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Grant writer’s desk, $49 for 60 items.

Feedback rounds

The worked example is made up: a food pantry where wait times slipped, a tutoring program with strong scores and a small job-readiness cohort. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Advancement · Data & Impact$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A record per feedback round: people served and answering, the 0-to-10 recommend answers as promoters, passives and detractors, each item’s percent agreeing now and last round, what you heard and will change, and five practice checks. Prints the participant survey and a we-heard-you notice; works out the response rate, net promoter score and changes; flags low and falling items and a round with no change written down.
Who it is for
Program, evaluation and development staff at nonprofits and community programs, including school-based and youth programs.
Format
Browser tool with a saved record per round. Prints the participant survey, a we-heard-you notice, one round’s results, every round in a table or a blank form; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Grant writer’s desk ($49) and the Advancement Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Data & Impact space in Caveat Advancement.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Write a few items and the 0-to-10 question.
  2. Print the survey and collect it safely.
  3. Enter the counts and percentages.
  4. Write what you heard and will change.
  5. Print the notice for participants.

Add a feedback round

Listening to the people you serve

Closing the feedback loop1Ask simplyOne 0-to-10 question, a fewitems2Ask safelyNot by the person who servesthem3Read the low and fallingUnder 70%, or down 10 points4Decide one changeOr why you cannot5Tell participantsA notice, a meeting, a text6Ask againSame items, next roundClosing the feedback loop1Ask simplyOne 0-to-10 question, a few items2Ask safelyNot by the person who serves them3Read the low and fallingUnder 70%, or down 10 points4Decide one changeOr why you cannot5Tell participantsA notice, a meeting, a text6Ask againSame items, next round
Participants answer the next survey when they saw something happen after the last one.

The 0-to-10 question

The net promoter score is the percent who answer 9 or 10 minus the percent who answer 0 to 6, so it runs from -100 to +100. It began in business, and nonprofit feedback programs have adapted it because one repeated question is easy to ask and compare from round to round. Read it beside the items: the score says how people feel overall, the items say why.

Making answers honest

People who depend on a service may worry that criticism will cost them. Collect answers through someone who does not serve them, say plainly that answering never changes their services, and offer paper and phone as well as a link. Most of all, show what changed: that is what makes the next round worth answering.

Sources

  1. Feedback Labs. Closing the loop: the feedback cycle for nonprofits (feedbacklabs.org).
  2. Reichheld, F. F. (2003). The one number you need to grow. Harvard Business Review, 81(12), 46 to 54.
  3. Threlfall, V. (2019). Listen4Good: building high-quality feedback loops in nonprofits. Fund for Shared Insight (fundforsharedinsight.org).
  4. Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., and Christian, L. M. (2014). Internet, Phone, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys: The Tailored Design Method, 4th edition. Wiley.

The worked example is made up, including the programs. The 70%, 10-point, 1-in-5 and 30-answer thresholds are working rules stated on the page. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.