Transforming Community Feedback into Meaningful Change
Background
A nonprofit organization regularly collects quantitative and qualitative feedback from program participants through surveys and focus groups. Their goal is to improve service delivery and long-term outcomes by measuring areas such as program effectiveness, satisfaction, simplicity of processes, and responsiveness of team members.
Problem
The organization struggled to turn their qualitative data into actionable insights that improve their community’s satisfaction with services. While word clouds were being used to visualize common terms, the data wasn't being fully integrated with the quantitative survey results, leaving gaps in understanding how participants' feedback could improve program outcomes.
Solution
To address the gap between data collection and program improvement, KGS helped the organization use a 3 step process to turn qualitative feedback into actionable insights. Together we:
Identified key themes from qualitative feedback;
Correlated qualitative themes with quantitative data; and
Analyzed programmatic impacts
After completing these steps, the organization noticed a pattern: Participants who expressed frustration with the client management system in focus groups were also more likely to give low ratings on program efficiency in the survey. Operational data further revealed that participants facing this challenge also experienced longer wait times and required more support, indicating a system-level barrier.
With this understanding, the organization simplified the system by streamlining the design, offering clearer instructions, and providing additional guidance. As a result, the ratings for program efficiency, simplicity, and community satisfaction increased.
Key Benefits
Identified hidden bottlenecks: Qualitative feedback revealed that a single frustrating system was negatively impacting participants' overall experiences, which was not clear from quantitative data alone.
Enhanced operational efficiency: Addressing the root cause led to a reduction in support requests and improved staff efficiency.
Improved community satisfaction: After simplifying the grants system, participants reported a 25% increase in satisfaction with the program overall.
“We realized that the barriers our community faced weren’t just about the service - it was about navigating the systems in place.
Once we simplified the process, we saw a dramatic shift in people’s experiences. It wasn’t about improving numbers; it was about making a meaningful difference in people’s lives”
