Board's survey connects community to nonprofit

• Published date: 01 August 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.31133
• Date: 01 August 2020

Editor: Jeff Stratton

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Board’s survey connects community

to nonprot

As part of their role, board members should

not only represent your organization to the

community, but also let you know how your

organization is viewed in the community. So

who better to determine your organization’s

reputation, its perception in the community

and whether or not potential customers know it

exists than board members who commit to their

advocacy role?

Executive Director Marty Blumenstock (Penn

Yan, New York) gave each of his board members a

brief questionnaire and asked them to survey five

acquaintances in the community about their orga-

nization’s services and reputation.

Blumenstock said the family planning services

agency performed the activity as a way of assess-

ing the nonprofit’s visibility. It’s a board activity

nonprofit executives and their boards should un-

dertake to increase community education efforts,

and to reinforce the board members’ role as advo-

cates for their organization.

“Our agency serves a wide area, and our

board members are active in several communi-

ties,” Blumenstock said. “We were interested in

knowing what the perception is of our services—

and our reputation and credibility is crucial to our

success.”

Blumenstock asked his board members to use a

15-question survey (see page 4) to determine:

• whether the community was aware of the

location of the nonprofit’s three sites,

• whether potential customers know the non-

profit serves both women and men,

• if the community knows the extent of ser-

vices the agency provides and

• whether people see/hear the nonprofit’s ads.

All 12 board members participated in the

project. The effort took four weeks to conclude—

the time between regular board meetings. “I’d

August 2020 Vol. 36, No. 12 Editor: Jeff Stratton

continued on page 4

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Improve your school district board/

administrator communication processes 2

Lions don’t tame themselves 3

Follow these 4 tips to better

communication 4

Board educates during survey

The Yates Family Planning Services Inc. community

survey effort provided the board with an opportunity to

educate people about the agency.

“It gave the board a reason to bring up our family

planning program,” Executive Director Marty Blumen-

stock said.

“Needless to say, the nature of our agency’s work

is sensitive,” Blumenstock said. “Our board members

are well-versed in our mission and philosophy, so this

exercise gave them the opportunity to have discussions

and help educate people about our services. That’s an

important focus for us.” ■