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Richard C. Peck Consulting, LLC & The Philanthropy Guy, LLC


Providing consulting and educational services to nonprofits, donors, and professional advisors related to impactful charitable giving

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Charitable Giving Newsletter

01/11/24 Edition


In This Week's Issue:


Are You Actually Listening?


Weekly Tips for Nonprofits, Donors, and Professional Advisors

Are You Actually Listening?

We’ve all taken the “Would you recommend?” survey during a flight or a stay at a hotel. But how often do nonprofit clients (a.k.a. those the nonprofit serves) get the opportunity to share THEIR feedback? And why does it matter?


Getting truly actionable client feedback in the social sector is WAY harder than in the corporate sector, but no less critical. It’s more difficult because of things like "response bias," whereby a nonprofit service recipient might be afraid to be critical of a nonprofit service provider for fear of having their services taken away. But using client feedback is critical in the social sector because it’s a proven way to increase impact and enhance client outcomes.


Here are some recent trends that a special group called Listen4Good---a program for nonprofits to improve client feedback systems---has noticed recently:


  • Many nonprofits are pursuing feedback as part of multi-pronged efforts to live out their commitment to more effectively center community voice, especially voices of people of color and other historically marginalized communities.
  • Organizations are assessing how power is distributed in their organization. Because surveys allow community members to shape the narrative and direction of the organization, developing a strong feedback practice is an effective power-shifting strategy.
  • Many organizations turn to Listen4Good when their "do-it-yourself" efforts to get input from nonprofit clients are not hitting the mark. For example, Bronx Defenders, a comprehensive public defender program, had tried surveying clients multiple times using tablets and interviews, but was unable to reach all their clients with those methods. With L4G’s help, they’ve been able to reach a larger share of their client base, including those currently incarcerated and awaiting trials.


Listen4Good helps nonprofits gather and analyze client feedback data for fundraising, strategic decision-making, and advancing equity goals in three ways: 1:1 coaching support; group learning; and a core web application for participatory measurement that drives impact.


Here are three ways to learn more about Listen4Good:



Valerie Threlfall, Executive Director of Listen4Good: Valerie is an industry leader in the feedback space! She also served as founding director of the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s YouthTruth project. Under her tenure, YouthTruth matured from an idea to an organization serving hundreds of schools and has since grown to survey almost two million youth today! Impressive. Click the yellow link below for more about Valerie and her incredible team:

Team - Listen4Good


A Tip for Nonprofits: Want to make it easy for donors with donor-advised funds (DAFs) to make a contribution to your organization? Check out the DAFwidget, which provides (essentially) a portal from their personal DAF to your organization when you put the icon on your website. Learn more here: DAFwidget: A free widget that helps your donors give from their donor-advised funds in a more convenient, frictionless way

A Tip for Donors: Do you just need time to get away with your family and think about what is important to you as individuals and as family members? The National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) is masterful at offering all kinds of ways to make this time meaningful. Read more here: Family Meetings and Retreats - NCFP

A Tip for Professional Advisors: Want to start the year off right and brush up on your knowledge of charitable giving in a fun and easy way? This article is a fairly short but fascinating read, including the most charitable states, the average donation per household income range, and more. Read about all kinds of things here: 80+ Charitable Giving Statistics & Demographics (2023) (definefinancial.com)

"The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer."

~Mahatma Gandhi

Richard C. Peck Consulting, LLC and The Philanthropy Guy, LLC

About Rick

228 Park View Drive

Belmont, NC 28012

+1 (603) 387-3897

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