"There is a famous quote that I am not sure who said “In God We Trust, All Others Bring Data.”

The CNM surveys have provided an opportunity to generate baseline data that is customized to our individual agency services and our clients’ perceptions, thoughts, and needs. The value was greatly enhanced by completing the survey a second time. This allowed for comparison and provided a picture of how we improved (or worsened) services, addressed concerns identified in the first survey, and overall are perceived in community.

The area’s identified of high importance became the framework for strategic and tactical planning goals. The data generated also became the Club’s most significant data in the application for new grants as well as providing outcome measurements for current grants.

The areas identified in the surveys as having the highest potential for impact formed the plan for service expansion and investment that has driven organizational development for the past two years. These include improvements in educational services, transportation, facility safety, and teen services.

We have - simply put – let the data make our case for organizational development. Following the second survey results we have completed $200,000 in facility renovations and expanded program in the areas of teen and educational services. These changes were financially driven by foundation and individual donors that were presented with the data generated through the survey process."

James Gaskin
Executive Director
Boys & Girls Club of Greater Flint
www.bgclubflint.org

"We are a unique nonprofit in that we own a golf course with a banquet and catering business. Telling the story of how or entrepreneurial ventures support our mission-driven programs is always a challenge. Are we a nonprofit or aren’t we? I believe the CNM data helped us sort through those issues and be much clearer in promoting our mission, as well as our business. This has been a priority for the last five years and the follow up data from CNM confirms that our recipients now have a clearer understanding of that relationship.

One area we were ranked low on was ease of registration for our programs and events. With investment in our technology and expanding the expertise of our marketing director into web-based applications – we now have a streamlined electronic registration system that is gaining in use. We also continue to create paper forms and expand our range of advertising.

When we did our strategic planning for 2006 – 2009, we focused on the areas identified in the CNM Quadrant Chart of Implied Importance that were ranked in the First and Second quadrants of Opportunity. These items centered on personal impact and recognition of the IMA’s contribution to the community (sports & recreation) and its need to be supported as a nonprofit. Since January 2010, the IMA Recreation Association has received two prestigious community awards of recognition. We stepped up and put our name out there – especially on some programs where we had been “shadow players”. It paid off.

We learned we had an identity problem. We had both a 501 c 6 and a 501 c 3 organization, and it was causing confusion at all levels. We determined to merge the two organizations, and did so in 2008. This process would have been much more difficult without the hard data to support its need."

Sherlynn Everly
Executive Director
IMA Recreation Association
www.imarecreation.org

"The results we obtained from the 2009 Performance Management Survey aided the Admiral Nimitz Foundation and the National Museum of the Pacific War substantially in obtaining funding from our City’s Hotel Occupancy Tax disbursement. We were able to demonstrate, with data from a respected survey organization, the exact numbers of visitors that came from outside of the local market area and stayed overnight in a hotel or B&B. Our data was more clear and convincing than that of the other applicants for the available funding. The City Council complemented our ability to address the qualifications for funding with clear data. As a result, our share of the Hotel Occupancy Tax incased from $50,000 to $100,000 in 2010."

Robert Esterlein
Chief Operating Officer
Admiral Nimitz Foundation

"The use of strategic data collection has allowed us to critically examine our own effectiveness as a partnering agency with local nonprofit organizations. We value the significant contribution that the staff at CNM has provided in the development of useful survey tools as well as with the process of compiling and analyzing the data."

Catherine Self
President & Chief Operating Officer
Baptist Healing Trust
www.baptisthealingtrust.org

"It is critical for us to measure our employee’s perceptions of our organization given the competitive environment for excellent talent. Outsourcing the employee survey to CNM allows us to objectively view the perceptions of our organization and prioritize where we can improve. We have instituted a much more robust training program for all staff in the past two years and are focusing much effort now on leadership development.

It has allowed us to reflect on strategies to continue to recruit and retain outstanding, compassionate talent. In our field compassion is absolutely critical but competence is equally important. Achieving that balance is challenging but our survey results help to point us in the right direction.

What always becomes clear is just how critical it is for us to overcommunicate everything – especially any change in business operations. Communicating the why of our changes is more critical than just the what. We now address communication at the end of every meeting to ensure that we have thought about what and how communication needs to occur. "

Jan Jones
President & CEO
Alive Hospice
www.alivehospice.org

“The work of the Center for Nonprofit Management (CNM) has been invaluable for many organizations participating in the BEST Project. Surveys and subsequent analyses have provided organizations with concrete data for key programmatic decision making such as dissolution or expansion. CNM understands the nonprofit sector and goes above and beyond to provide agencies with meaningful information. Additionally, the information collected by the CNM process has helped organizational leaders shape the future direction of the agency. The BEST Project has benefited directly from CNM services through an external review of the nonprofit local nonprofit sector. The information was used several times to make the case for an increased focus on nonprofit governance programming for local agencies. We thank CNM for their quality work and partnership over the last six years.”

Jennifer M. Acree, MSW
Project Director
BEST Project