1

LIFT–AConstituentVoiceCaseStudy

BackgroundFoundedin1998,LIFTisanationalnonprofitdedicatedtoendingintergenerationalpoverty.Sincethen,LIFThashelped100,000low-incomeindividualsachievetheirgoals.TodayLIFTconnects hardworking parents and caregivers of young children to the people, tools, andresourcestheyneed.LIFToperatesinChicago,LosAngeles,NewYork,andWashington,D.C.communities with some of the highest rates of concentrated poverty. By fosteringrelationshipsbetweenlow-incomeparentsandcaregiversofyoungchildren(members)anddedicated volunteers (advocates), LIFT helps families build the personalwell-being, socialconnections,andfinancialstrengthtosecurebasicneedsandachievelong-termgoalsandaspirations,likeasafehome,livingwages,orabettereducation.

ProblemWhenworkingwithLIFTstaff,membersalwaysdrivethemeetingagendatowardtheirgoalsbecausetheyknowwhatisbestfortheirfamilies.However,LIFTrealizedthattherewasacriticalgapinhowtheymeasuredresultsandlookedforwaystoimproveprogramoutcomes.Similartomanyotherorganizations,LIFT’sevaluationagendacountedtheeasilyquantifiableresults, like the number of job applications completed and the number of jobs secured.However,members’voiceandperceptionsofLIFTwerenotassessedsystematically.

“LIFT’sethos,valuesandprogramshavealwayshighlightedmembervoiceandmember-drivengoalplanning.Butitdawnedonusthatwewerefocusedoncollectingtraditionalinformationthatwasn’treflectingmembervoiceinourevaluation”(SophieSahaf,VicePresidentProgramandEvaluation,LIFT).

ApproachWith a commitment to rectifying themisalignment between its values andevaluationpractice,LIFTbeganworkingwithKeystone Accountability to implementConstituent Voice™.1 After a pilot phase inearly2013,LIFTrolledoutConstituentVoicetoitsfourcitiesinSeptember2014.

Howdoesitwork?Memberscompleteshortsurveysattheendofeachin-personmeetingononeof several iPads ineach LIFToffice.

1ConstituentVoice™isamethoddevelopedbyKeystoneAccountabilitytohelporganizationsimproveresultsbyoptimizingtheirrelationshipswiththeirconstituents.FormoreinformationseetheTechnicalNote.

2

Survey questions cover three broad categories: service quality, relationship quality, andmemberloyalty.Eachsurveycontainsfivetoeightquestionsthathavebeenselectedfromalargerpool,andmembersrespondtoadifferentsetofquestionseachtimetheycome.ThisapproachallowsLIFTtocollectinformationonadiversesetoftopicswhilelimitingtheburdenon individualmembers, aseach surveyonly takesone to twominutes to complete.Mostquestionsarephrasedassentencestowhichmembersrespondonascaleof0(completelydisagree) to 10 (strongly agree), which enable the results to be analyzed using the NetPerformanceScore.2

LIFT administers surveys on iPads for severalreasons.First, the iPadsallowmembers to self-administer surveys, creating space for morehonest feedback. The iPads are also a cost-effective alternative to telephone or in-personattempts to gather feedback, which can takesignificantstafftime.Finally,collectingfeedbackwhilemembersarephysicallyintheofficeallowsLIFTtoreachthosewhodon’thaveregularaccesstoaphoneorcomputer.

LIFThasalsomadeimportantstridesinincreasingandmaintainingastrongresponserate.This in part was helped by organizational leadership elevating feedback as a criticalinformation source, and – importantly – tracking to ensure feedback systems wereimplementedwithintegrity.Eachregionhadatargetsetfortheirsurveyresponserateandprogress was reported on a monthly performance scorecard. Regions then were able toreflect on the response rate and how they could improve it, leading to a significantimprovement inresponserates. Inthefirstyearof implementation, theaverageresponseratewas35percent;bythethirdyear,ithadincreasedtoover60percent.

These high rates of participation have two demonstrable benefits: Firstly, members arevestedinthefeedback,andthisisevidentinhowitcomesupregularlyinconversationswithstaff; and secondly, staff don’t need any convincing that the data gives an accurate andreliablereadingofmemberexperience.

“Weusethesurveyasaformoftriangulation,togenerateideasorconfirmsomethingwethought.Butweknowsurveysalonearenotenough”(SophieSahaf,VicePresidentProgramandEvaluation,LIFT).

2 The Net Performance Score was developed out of Bain’s net promoter score and works on a single question whererespondentsgivearatingfrom0-10.Thosewhoanswer9or10areconsideredpromoters,passivesgive7or8anddetractorsgive0-6.Detractorsareunhappyandcoulddamagetheorganizationthroughnegativewordofmouth.Thenetperformancescoreisgeneratedbysubtractingthepercentageofdetractorsfromthepercentageofpromoters.

3

LIFT regularlymonitors survey responses for trends and actionable insights and identifiesopportunitiesforimprovement.Thenstaffmembers“closetheloop”withmemberstohelpensuretheyaredrawingtherightconclusionsfromthesurveydata,andtogetmemberstohelpthemdiscovermoremeaning.LIFTdoesthisintwomainways.

First,LIFTsharessurveyresultsviatelevisionscreensin each office. Like most human serviceorganizations, LIFT’s literature features lots ofmembersuccessstories.Whiletheseareinspiring,the survey results add awhole newdimension tohow LIFT communicates member experience -- astoryinattractivegraphsandnumbersthatcapturesall member voices. It’s also valuable to hear howmembersperceiveandinterpretthedata.

Second,tomakesureLIFTisinterpretingthefeedbackcorrectly,andtodigdeeperintothetrendstheyseeintheirresults,LIFTrunsConstituentVoicefocusgroups,thefirstofwhichweredonein2014.LIFTwantedtocollectqualitativedetailsthatwouldconfirmorchallengetheir assumptions about certain findings and provide insight into the rationale behindresponses.ThisprocessallowedLIFTtonotonly better understand members’responses – andhow they could improvethe phrasing of questions – but also cre-atedaspacetohaveadialoguewithmem-bersaround the challenges they faceandhowLIFTcanbettermeettheirneeds.Forexample, throughthese focusgroupsLIFTheard resounding interest frommembersin more opportunities to connect withpeers.Theseincludedoccasionstoshareadviceonjobsearchesandparentingaswellastosimplyreceiveencouragementfromothersinsimilarsituations.LIFThassinceintegratedpeergroupsinmanyofourprograms.

ResultsTestingtheTheoryofChange

LIFT believes that a strong relationship is a critical first step to supporting its members’progress towards their goals; a trusting relationship, rooted in dignity and respect is afoundationofLIFT’stheoryofchange.Tovalidateandtestthistheoryofchange,LIFTmatchesmembers’surveyresponsesagainstmeasuresoftheirprogressatLIFT(likethenumberofgoals they’ve completed), to explorewhetheror not survey scoresof relationshipquality

4

consistentlyrelatetomemberprogress.Toensureindependenceandqualitythisanalysisisdonebyindependentconsultants.

Byanalyzingthisdata,LIFTwasabletoestablishapositivecorrelation between high member scores in theirrelationshipwithLIFT,andsuccess inachievingtheirgoals.Forexample,memberswithhighscoresonquestionsrelatedto relationship quality make almost three times as muchprogressontheirgoals.

Inaddition,LIFTfoundthatmemberswithstrongersocialnetworksandinnerresiliencemademoreprogressontheirgoals.

Italsofoundthatmemberswithstrongerconfidenceandcapacitytoaspiremake40%moreconcretestepstowardstheirgoals.

ChangestoServiceDelivery

Over the last three years, these and otherinsightsfromLIFT’sConstituentVoiceprocesshave helped LIFT elevate their members’voice and think critically about areas forimprovement. As a result, LIFT has madevariouschangestoitsoperations.

ü Introduction of peer support groups –Both survey data and focus groupspointed tomembers’ demand to get toknow their peers and learn from oneanother.Asaresult,peersupportgroupswereintroduced.Atitsoffices,LIFTnowoffersquarterly parent cafes in Los Angeles, a weekly peer support group in Chicago, andinformalfamilysuppersforparentsinNewYork.

ü Changesinopeninghours–Toaccommodatememberswhostruggledtoattendmeetingsduringworkinghours,someLIFTofficesstartedopeningintheevenings.

ü Moreemphasisonhighqualityreferrals–LIFTfoundthatsomememberswerebetterconnectedtothecommunity,andwereachievingmuchmoreprogressinachievingtheirgoals. As a result, LIFT collected coherent data on referrals to better identify, whichreferralshad thehighest value.Moreover, LIFT investedmore involunteer training toensure that clearandprecise informationwas sharedwithmembers.Asa result, LIFTincreased the number of members who received services from trusted communitypartners.

Co-designingprogramswithmembersLIFT recently embarked on a co-design process,building new pilots around financial capabilities andsocial capital. The voices of LIFT’s members helpedidentifycriticalbarriers,brainstormmethodstotack-lingthosechallengesandmaketheprogramapproachstronger.ThisconstantcycleoffeedbackallowedLIFTtocontinuouslyrefineandimprove.ThisgaveLIFTtheconfidenceofdevelopingaservicethatisvaluableandaccessibletoallofitsmembers.

5

Overthelastfewyears,LIFThaslearnedthroughtrialanderrorabouthowtomeaningfullyintegratefeedbackintotheirwork.Whatstartedwithasurveyevolvedintoamuchbroaderapproachtogatheringmemberinputthathasinfluencedthedesignofprogrampilots,helpedLIFTtweakitsprogramofferings,andhasillustratedtomembersthatLIFTvaluestheirinputandwilluseittoensuretheyarealwaysdesigningandimplementingprogramsthatservethem better. LIFT’s organizational culture has always aspired to be 100 percentmembercenteredandmemberdriven.WithConstituentVoice,LIFThastheorganizationalsystemsthatunderwritethatcultureeveryday.

Looking ahead, LIFT hopes to collect more open-ended feedback, dive into analysingqualitative feedback, andbenchmark its performance against other organizations. This allleadstousingfeedbacktodrivebetterresultsformembers.

FurtherReading

- KeystoneAccountabilityhttp://keystoneaccountability.org/- FeedbackCommons:http://feedbackcommons.org/- LIFT:http://www.liftcommunities.org/- LIFT’s report Listening Better: 10 Lessons from LIFT’s Member Feedback Survey:

http://www.liftcommunities.org/content/uploads/2016/12/Listening-Better_Dec-2016.pdf