The Best Companies Never Stop Listening. Why Should Nonprofits?

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👋🏾 Hey! I’m Sid and this is The Philanthropy Futurist, a weekly advice column preparing you for the future of the nonprofit sector. Each Friday, I tackle reader questions about measuring impact, driving growth, and managing your nonprofit.

This Week’s Newsletter at a glance:

• The Best Companies Never Stop Listening. Why Should Nonprofits?

• Philanthropy News From This Week

• Sid’s Book Recommendation

The Best Companies Never Stop Listening. Why Should Nonprofits?

Some of the world's most successful companies spend millions developing products, hiring top talent, and building innovative technology.

Yet, even after achieving extraordinary success, they still do something surprisingly simple.

They talk to their customers.

Think about companies like Amazon, Airbnb, and Google. Despite serving customers all over the world, they continue investing time in surveys, customer interviews, live conversations, and a variety of feedback loops to understand what people need, what frustrates them, and what could be better.

And that willingness to keep listening is part of what makes their products so valuable.

Of course, not every for-profit company does this well. But there's an important lesson here for nonprofit leaders.

If some of the world's most successful companies still need to listen to their customers, why would nonprofits be any different?

Here are 4 approaches worth borrowing...

1. Interview before you implement: Before launching a new program, interview 10-15 people from the community you intend to serve. Ask what they've already tried, what's missing, and what would make their lives easier. You might discover that the program you're planning isn't the solution they actually need.

2. Ask about friction, not just satisfaction: Instead of asking participants whether they enjoyed a program, ask what almost prevented them from participating. Transportation? Scheduling? Complicated applications? Sometimes the biggest opportunity for impact is removing a barrier rather than introducing another service.

3. Collect feedback from every direction: Your beneficiaries, donors, funders, partners, volunteers, and employees all experience your organization differently. Ask your donors what would give them greater confidence, ask your partners where collaboration breaks down, and ask your employees which processes waste the most time. Different perspectives will naturally reveal different opportunities.

4. Close the feedback loop: Don't let survey responses sit in a spreadsheet. Every quarter, identify recurring themes, test 1-2 improvements, and report back to stakeholder/s about what changed because of their feedback. This builds trust while demonstrating that their voices actually matter.

The point I am aiming to make here is...

Great organizations don't stop listening and asking questions once they've become successful. Listening and asking questions is part of how they become successful... and how they stay that way.

For nonprofits, the goal isn't simply to deliver more programs, its to continuously learn how to deliver more meaningful impact. Hope you found this helpful.

Until next time y'all ✌🏾

Have questions you want answered? Submit questions using this form and I’ll work hard to get you the answers by way of this newsletter.

Philanthropy News From This Week

• Is your nonprofit building donors’ trust?: Four signals to look for

• Key takeaways on how younger high-net-worth donors give

• How to unlock gifts of non-cash assets this Giving Season

• Nonprofits are building responsible AI solutions for communities, but they need infrastructure funding

Sid’s Book Recommendation

Each week, I recommend a book or film that has impacted my life in a positive way. My recommendation this week is:

High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove

This book is a classic guide to effective management, drawing on the author’s experience as the former CEO of Intel. It breaks down the principles and practices that drive high performance in organizations, focusing on how managers can maximize their teams’ output. Learn more.

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