A budget line you do not have to argue for.
Nonprofits ask a lot of questions of people who are giving their time or their money for nothing in return, which raises the bar on both brevity and follow-through. The organizations that keep volunteers are usually the ones that ask, report back, and visibly change something.
There are four audiences and they want different things. Volunteers want to know their time mattered. Donors want to know what happened to the money. Members want a say. The people your program serves want to be asked without it feeling like an assessment.
When a survey goes out here
- After a volunteer shift or the end of a season, while it is still fresh
- Donor feedback that is about the relationship rather than the next ask
- Member consultation before a decision, so the decision has something behind it
- Program feedback from the people you serve, anonymous so the answer is not shaped by gratitude
- Event feedback, which for most nonprofits is the largest single source of new supporters
The survey types this sector runs most
Each one comes with its questions already written, the scoring explained, and the mistakes named.
NPS survey
Net Promoter Score℠ is the most asked question in business, and the most wasted. The score tells you where you stand. The sentence after it tells you what to do. FreeSurvey gives you both on the same page.
See the questions EventEvent feedback survey
Event feedback has a short half-life. Ask in the room and you get detail. Ask on Monday and you get a mood. Everything about this survey is built around being answerable on a phone, standing up, in under a minute.
See the questions PulsePulse survey
A pulse survey is short, repeated, and always asks the same core questions so you can watch a line move. The point is not the score in any single month. The point is the shape over six of them.
See the questions Market researchMarket research survey
Market research goes wrong in a predictable way: you ask people whether they would buy something, they are polite, and you build it. The questions here are shaped to ask about what somebody has already done rather than what they imagine they might do.
See the questionsQuestions worth asking in nonprofits
What is different about asking here
- Ask less often than you think. The same people are on your volunteer list, your donor list and your member list.
- Report back publicly. For a nonprofit, showing what changed after the last survey is most of what drives the next response rate.
- Anonymous matters more here, not less. People who give their time find it hard to criticise with their name attached.
Answers are anonymous by default and nobody needs an account to reply. Nothing is sold and nothing is passed on. Export or delete whenever you like, and the answers stay yours.
Security and dataIs it really free for a charity?
The survey tool is free to start with and there is no card involved in signing up. Build one, send it, and read the answers.
Can we brand the survey?
You can set your own link so what people receive looks like it came from you rather than from a survey company.
What is the best way to reach volunteers?
One link that works everywhere. Put it in the group chat, the newsletter and on a printed code at the venue, because your volunteers are not all in the same place.