Recently, through the Nonprofit Resource Network (NPRN), I invited local nonprofits to suggest an article topic for this column. I received an interesting response from a nonprofit grant writer. She suggested standard grant question that many nonprofits dread: Who is your audience?
The funder usually wants to know who will benefit from the program for which the nonprofit is requesting funds. An understandable and appropriate question, right?
This nonprofit grant writer says, “Of course, every organization should track and understand its audience(s), but collecting even basic demographic information can be daunting for smaller nonprofits and especially for offering diverse, one-off events and activities in nontraditional venues.
“Beyond not having the staff or technology resources to efficiently collect personal data, some nonprofits don’t feel they have enough cultural training and/or legal knowledge about what they can or can’t ask a customer, client, or audience member.”
How well do you track customer data?
This grant writer asks nonprofits the important question: “How well do you know your audience? What information do you track, and what information would you like to track? And what are the barriers to obtaining this information?”
She points out that in an increasingly data-driven society, many nonprofits don’t have enough information about who is using and/or benefiting from their programs. Nor do they have adequate ways of capturing this data.
For example, if your organization provides services to the homeless, do you track the difference your services make in their lives or just the number of individuals served? Do you know the “so what?”
How did the clients actually benefit from using your services? What difference are you making in their lives and in the overall well-being of the community? It’s harder to track the “so what?” but it’s really important, especially when applying for funding.
Documenting the outcomes of your service also helps with your strategic planning.
Using this example, you could possibly use a simple pre and post tool. Or you could collect powerful stories and anecdotes. Of course, you would also track the number of clients who found housing and jobs. Tracking the number of clients you were able to prepare for job interviews would be helpful, too.
Using data for action and impact
Stanford Social Innovation Review carried an article in its Summer 2016 issue discussing the difficulty and importance of collecting data. Nowadays, everyone in the social sector seems to be talking about how to demonstrate they are contributing to social good.
Nonprofits and funders alike point to the importance of data-driven decision-making and planning. Yet, a nonprofit’s multiple bottom lines and multiple stakeholders make collecting and using data complex.
The article’s author highlights the importance of using data for organizational planning as well as for meeting funder demands to prove impact. Yet many of an agency’s programmatic interventions are intended to have positive long-term social impacts that their programs don’t actually measure.
Unfortunately, knowing what data to collect and how to collect it eludes most social service entities. I hope those who design data collection systems will consider both the program staff and the donors to improve long-term social impact.
One of Drucker’s five most important questions might help
Peter Drucker, credited with being the father of modern management, recommends businesses and nonprofits assess themselves by continually asking these five questions: What is our mission? Who is our customer? What does the customer value? What are our results? What is our plan?
In this article, let’s focus on the second question: Who is our customer? Don’t get hung up on the terminology. A customer is simply someone your organization must satisfy.
Whether you call them clients or patients or volunteers or donors or something else. The focus must be on what it takes to satisfy their needs and wants so your agency can achieve the desired results.
Nonprofits typically have two types of customers: primary and supporting. The primary customer is the one whose life is changed through your work. Supporting customers are volunteers, members, partners, funders, referral sources, employees, and anyone else who must be satisfied.
Don’t be confused by the complexity of identifying your primary customer
In the example above with the homeless center, the primary customer can be the one who receives direct services. However, if your goal is to have a positive impact on homelessness, your primary customers can also be those at risk of losing their homes.
What services can you provide to single mothers, low-income families, those with disabilities, and the elderly that will address the high cost of housing and living expenses?
Anyone who is impacted by challenges that could result in homelessness can be your primary customer. Sometimes your primary customer is someone you haven’t met, perhaps an infant or future generations.
Be prepared for your primary customer’s needs to change over time, necessitating continuous evaluation of their needs.
There may even be some customers you should stop serving because your organization has met their needs or they can be better served elsewhere.
Customers are never static
As your primary customer’s needs change, so too will your supporting customer. You may even have to identify additional supporting customers. Ask yourself who helps make your services possible — those people are your supporting customers.
Spend time finding out what your supporting customers want. How can you help make them feel more a part of the team? What will it take for them to understand deeply how their support changes lives? Ask for their opinion, advice, and input on how you can serve them better.
If the supporting customer is a business that contributes funds or resources, find out how you can help increase their visibility in the community. If the customer is a local foundation, ask how you can help them meet their mission goals.
In the process of asking these critical questions, you will also deepen your relationship with these essential people.
Remember, your nonprofit’s business is not to please everyone casually but to please your target audience deeply. To do that, you must first define your primary and supporting customers and find out what they want.
Drucker says, “Your success ultimately depends on what you have contributed to the success of your customers.”
— Dr. Cynder Sinclair is a consultant to nonprofits and founder and CEO of Nonprofit Kinect. She has been successfully leading nonprofits for 30 years and holds a doctorate in organizational management. To read her blog, click here. To read her previous articles, click here. She can be contacted at 805.689.2137 or cynder@nonprofitkinect.org. The opinions expressed are her own.