The Art of Listening Starts With Knowing What to Ask

I geek out on measuring how people feel about issues and the organizations they support. At Sea Change, we do this every day through our audience research assessments and Insight Panels. So I was totally geeked out to discover a new-to-me metric called the Belonging Barometer.

A recent Chronicle of Philanthropy article (no paywall at link) explores how nonprofits are getting creative about measuring things that have traditionally been hard to quantify, like trust, connection and belonging.

Developed by the American Immigration Council and Over Zero, the Belonging Barometer uses just 10 questions to measure three dimensions of belonging: social connection, psychological safety and agency. In other words, do people feel connected to their communities, safe being themselves and empowered to make a difference?

At Sea Change Strategies, our focus is on measuring how donors and prospects feel about the organizations they support, rather than the experiences of beneficiaries. But the challenge is the same: How do you measure something as intangible as connection, trust and affinity?

We often use Net Promoter Score (NPS) as a core measure of donor affinity. But we’re always looking for additional questions to measure those notoriously hard-to-measure feelings and perceptions that shape relationships between nonprofits and their supporters.

And I love that organizations aren’t just collecting Belonging Barometer data and calling it a day. They’re using what they learn to make meaningful changes in their programming, then measuring again to see if those changes actually move the needle. That’s the real power of listening: creating a continuous feedback loop where insights inform action and action leads to measurable improvements. After all, the goal isn’t just to understand how people feel. It’s to use that understanding to build stronger connections.

We talk a lot about the importance of listening. But knowing what to ask is equally important. And turning what we learn into meaningful action? That’s where the magic happens!