Does Your Nonprofit Event Need a Feedback Survey?

Events are a cornerstone of many nonprofits’ calendars. Gatherings, from networking events to educational panels to full-fledged conferences, are a common membership benefit, but they’re also a key way to raise funds and spread the word about your mission. But to ensure they’re a success, you’ll need cold, hard data to help you iterate and improve future events. That’s where event feedback surveys come in.

While there are plenty of ways organizers can collect data, an event feedback survey provides feedback straight from your attendees. Virtual event statistics indicate that 90% of event organizers rely on surveys to gauge their attendees’ satisfaction. Getting input directly from your target audience helps you assess your events’ strengths and weaknesses.

But how can you put together a survey that gets right to the heart of what attendees really think? In this guide, we’ll explore event feedback surveys in-depth, run through their many benefits, and discuss when to leverage them.

The Benefits of Event Feedback Surveys

Nonprofits need to gauge their attendees’ feelings in order to measure an event’s success. This information can be supplemented with insights from other success metrics like the amount of funds raised or the number of people who showed up.

However, event feedback survey data offers its own unique advantages, such as honest assessments of your events. After all, you planned the event with that target audience in mind, so shouldn’t you consider their input?

Organizers can compile all that crucial feedback, review it, and use it to make decisions about future events. But these surveys provide several other benefits, including:

A direct line of communication with your supporters. Regular surveys help you stay in touch with your existing supporters and nurture those relationships. The act of asking for their opinion demonstrates that they’re a valued member of your community.
Firsthand information. With event feedback surveys, you’re gleaning insights straight from the proverbial horse’s mouth. As a nonprofit event coordinator, you want to plan events that resonate with your audience. But sometimes, as organizers, we have blind spots when it comes to the actual guest experience. Direct input from your supporters helps you avoid assumptions about the guest experience, learn what works, and fix what doesn’t.
Learn more about your supporters. Not only do surveys give you great insights into your events, but they also help you learn a lot about your attendees. A carefully crafted survey can help your nonprofit figure out your supporters’ priorities, interests, and other relevant information you can later use to personalize messages and optimize your fundraising strategies.

And while surveys can be a source of truth for your nonprofit, be wary of using them as your single source of truth. Consider who will typically fill out surveys—your most devoted supporters and those who may have had a particularly bad experience at your event. And while the insights from both these groups are valuable, just keep in mind that you won’t hear much from attendees in the middle of the pack.

When Should My Organization Use a Feedback Survey?

While you may be tempted to send out a survey after every function, this form of feedback is more helpful for some events than others. To decide whether a feedback survey is the right addition for an upcoming event, ask yourself these following questions:

What is the survey’s goal? While every survey helps you collect data to iterate on future events, what specific information do you hope to get out of this survey? Are you looking for insights into how to encourage your current supporters to give more? Or are you interested in attracting new ones?
Will we host a similar event in the future? If your event is a one-off, it may not be as necessary to ask attendees for feedback, since there won’t be a future event to make improvements on.
Have we already sent out a lot of surveys? You don’t want to flood your supporters’ inboxes with surveys or other promotional emails — you risk annoying them and potentially losing them. To avoid spamming supporters, limit the number of feedback requests.

Once you decide in favor of a survey, you have a few other factors to consider to ensure you’re creating the right kind of questionnaire for your event. Weigh the type of event and your audience when building your survey.

For example, if you’re hosting a short webinar, you can follow up with a brief questionnaire rather than a lengthy survey. Or, let’s say you’re hosting a fundraising dinner with donors paying $500 a plate. In that case, it might make more sense to follow up in-person or on a call versus emailing them a survey.

Structuring and Distributing Your Survey

Not all surveys are created equal—which is why it’s crucial for nonprofits to get it right the first time. How you structure and send your surveys can impact the value of responses you get in return.

When creating your survey, you can lean on a few best practices to help you get the prized feedback you want while also increasing the likelihood that your audience will actually respond. Be sure to:

Keep it short and simple. Your supporters are busy, so keep that in mind when building your survey. Keep your questionnaire as brief as possible, include more multiple-choice questions such as strongly disagree-to-strongly agree scales, and either make long-answer questions optional or keep them to a minimum.
Be specific. Avoid broad questions. Instead, drill down to get more valuable answers. For instance, instead of asking guests to rate the overall event experience, ask them which activities they specifically enjoyed and why.
Ask about the big picture. Go beyond just asking about the event itself—also ask about experiences leading up to the event. Check to make sure your supporters could access any related resources, such as your nonprofit’s donation page. Include survey questions about how attendees learned about the event, whether the registration process was easy to navigate, and whether instructions on how to attend were clear.

Moving Forward With Your Own Event Feedback Survey

Now that you’re empowered with the right tactics to deploy your own event feedback survey, you can start gathering insights for your own nonprofit. A comprehensive post-event plan will ensure that your organization successfully wraps up your event and sets yourself up for better results in the future.

Kerry McCreadie, Wild Apricot, Senior Content Marketing Manager

What matters most to membership organizations? As the Senior Content Marketing Manager for Personify’s Wild Apricot and MemberClicks products, this is the question always on Kerry’s mind. Their goal is to help nonprofits, associations, and clubs discover the solutions that solve their most frustrating pain points—while growing and retaining their member base. The CEO and Founder of their own nonprofit organization, Kerry is passionate about nonprofit and charitable work—especially in the arts.