Nonprofit surveys clients to understand how best to allocate resources

Through Zoomerang surveys, the staff at Family Caregiver Alliance in San Francisco now has the information they need to enhance their service delivery planning and fund development.

The Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA) provides information, education, services, research and advocacy for individuals and family caregivers of adults with chronic and disabling illnesses.

Based in San Francisco, FCA is part of a network of 11 Caregiver Resource Centers throughout California. To allocate resources as effectively as possible, the staff at FCA wanted to better understand the needs and preferences of the users of their services.

Traditional surveys cost-prohibitive
"We had used a paper and pen survey before," says Leah Eskenazi, Project Manager of Link2Care, an online Family Caregiver Alliance information and support program. "But the return rate was low and managing the survey was time- and cost-intensive when you include the expense of self-addressed stamped envelopes, postage, paper, copying and follow-up. We would have surveyed for user preference and satisfaction on a more regular basis, but it wasnt feasible due to the time and cost involved."

Eskenazi discovered Zoomerang, the online survey software, when she received a survey from another organization. "When you consider the savings in mailing costs, and the fact that you get to the intended audience without duplication, and with very manageable input time, it makes a lot of sense for our budget," says Eskenazi.

Change in assumptions leads to survey use
The first step to using online surveys required the staff at The Caregiver Resource Centers to alter some basic assumptions they had about their audience. "The Link2Care Program serves family caregivers of individuals living with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease, stroke, Parkinson's disease or a similar condition," says Eskenazi. "The assumption was that the family caregivers of these folks were often a spouse and often an older adult who would be less likely to use a computer for health information and caregiver support. In fact, after reviewing our client record data, we found that 60% of the caregivers were adult children, while 40% were the spouses. With this data, we believed we had a population more likely to use computers."

First survey results successful
Their first use of Zoomerang was in mid-2002 with their online program, Link2Care. "Measuring customer satisfaction with the Link2Care program was the ideal project to try Zoomerang. Included in Link2Care is an online discussion group, so we knew that everyone had an email address," says Eskenazi. "We had sent a beta test out to a smaller group of about 10 or 12 people first" to test the questions and flow of the survey before sending it to the entire mailing list.

"When we sent out the first survey, we had responses back within 7 minutes! We also used the feature to remind those who hadnt responded. Its a nice, convenient option," she says. Eskenazi sent the survey to about 420 people and received a 25% response rate. Since the first survey, the staff has used Zoomerang for feedback from Caregiver Resource Center staff throughout California, and nationally with Caregivers who use the Caregiver Information Clearinghouse through FCA's National Center on Caregiving.

Survey results give programs input
The results are being used to further develop and modify the programs. As well, the findings give Eskenazi the ability to include relevant survey results and directly quote users of the programs in funding applications and mandatory state reporting.

"Our Zoomerang surveys deliver valuable customer satisfaction information. The tool provides FCA with a convenient, cost-effective way to gather concrete information to best meet the needs of our clients. Our clients already have high levels of stress, and more than enough to do. It is important to hear feedback directly from them, but we dont want to burden them with cumbersome surveys. Zoomerang provides a fun, easy-to-use option that has helped us to this end," says Eskenazi. "We will continue to ask clients and staff how we can keep improving and then secure and allocate our resources where they will be the most beneficial."