ORS Impact surveyed nonprofits one year after the end of their participation in Listen4Good to learn if they were still implementing high-quality feedback loops and what that work looked like after they were no longer receiving support through Listen4Good. To gauge the quality of feedback, organizations were asked to what extent they continued using practices associated with the five steps identified by Listen4Good as comprising a high-quality feedback loop: design, collection, analysis, response, reporting back to survey takers. The report breaks down responses among Listen4Good cohorts in 2017 and 2018 and examines how feedback work was impacted by the pandemic.
Among the key findings
- A majority of organizations in the 2017 and 2018 cohorts continued to collect feedback after their participation in Listen4Good ended. The COVID-19 pandemic affected feedback work in different ways, but no organization stopped collecting feedback indefinitely, signaling that feedback work is sustainable, even in challenging times.
- Almost all organizations are engaging high- and medium-quality practices in steps 2 and 3 of the feedback loop, data collection and data analysis. Responding to data and closing the loop continue to be the most difficult steps for organizations.
- There are specific practices within each step of a high-quality feedback loop that can help advance equity, diversity or inclusion (such as by uncovering disparities in services or making the survey process more inclusive). Most organizations are engaging in these practices during data collection and data analysis, but half or less are engaging in these practices in other steps of the loop.
- At least half of the organizations from both cohorts reported that feedback work after Listen4Good was primarily driven by one person tasked with collecting and analyzing data and then sharing it with other staff.
Other Insights
- Sarah Stachowiak
- ORS Impact
