Research for Nonprofit Organizations: Do It Right from the Start
Nonprofit organizations exist to create meaningful impact, often while balancing limited resources, growing community needs, and increasing expectations from donors, grant-makers, boards, and stakeholders.
Whether expanding programs, measuring outcomes, strengthening fundraising efforts, or demonstrating community impact, today’s nonprofit leaders rely on credible research to make informed decisions and tell compelling stories.
RMS has the knowledge, expertise, experience, and services to help.
Who We Work With
We Understand the Not For Profit Ecosystem
RMS provides research services to organizations throughout the not for profit sector, including:
- Human and social service organizations
- Healthcare and community health nonprofits
- Foundations and charitable organizations
- Museums, historical societies, and cultural institutions
- Arts organizations, theaters, and music venues
- Environmental and conservation organizations
- Animal welfare organizations, shelters, and zoos
- Educational and youth-serving organizations
- Faith-based and community organizations
- Professional associations and membership organizations
RMS Specialties
Research That Supports Better Not For Profit Decisions
Understanding Stakeholders
Understanding the perspectives of those you serve—and those who support your mission—is essential to long-term success. RMS stands ready to help achieve that goal, with:
- Donor satisfaction and engagement studies
- Member and patron surveys
- Client and participant satisfaction research
- Visitor experience assessments
- Community perception and awareness studies
- Brand awareness and reputation research
- Stakeholder interviews
- Focus groups
- Volunteer and partner feedback studies
Supporting Programs, Services & Capacity
As community needs evolve, nonprofit organizations must ensure their programs and services continue to deliver meaningful value. RMS provides research that helps organizations evaluate performance, identify opportunities, and plan for sustainable growth. Research may include:
- Insights for strategic planning
- Program, service, and operational evaluations
- Outcome, impact, and performance measurement
- Needs assessments for new programs
- Program expansion research
- Capacity assessments
Getting a Gauge on the Community
Many nonprofit organizations exist to address critical community needs. RMS employs a wide range of strategies and tactics to help achieve success in achieving their mission
- Community needs assessments
- Population and demographic analysis
- Market and service area studies
- Unmet needs identification
- Community asset mapping
- Competitive and service landscape analysis
- Health, education, housing, and social needs assessments
- Grant support research and documentation
- Strategic recommendations and public presentations
Strengthening the Internal Organization
Strong organizations depend on effective leadership, engaged employees, committed volunteers, and high-performing boards. To that end and as suitable, RMS employs:
- Employee engagement and satisfaction surveys
- Volunteer satisfaction research
- Board governance assessments
- Board and leadership effectiveness studies
- Organizational culture assessments
- Internal communications research
- Change readiness assessments
- Organizational development research
Supporting Collaborations & Development
Increasingly, nonprofit organizations are exploring partnerships, shared services, strategic alliances, and mergers to increase impact and improve efficiency. And, of course, fund development remains mission critical, be the source individual donors, foundation, or government. RMS can help evaluate—and therefore seize–opportunities for partnerships and financial support:
- Feasibility, collaboration, merger and acquisition research
- Strategic planning and opportunity analysis
- Market expansion research
- Development research, including:
- Donor segmentation/ journey mapping/ motivation studies
- Capital campaign feasibility studies
- Prospect research
- Planned giving research
- Case-for-support and messaging testing
- Data to support grant applications, outcome reporting, and more
Profit from RMS Non-profit Experience!
Successful nonprofit organizations are driven by purpose—but sustained by informed decisions.
RMS understands the unique operating environment of nonprofit organizations, including governance structures, grant and funding requirements, accountability to donors and boards, and the importance of demonstrating measurable impact.
Our experienced professionals work closely with executive leadership, boards of directors, staff, volunteers, consultants, foundations, and community partners to provide research that strengthens organizations, supports funding, improves programs, and advances mission-driven results.
Do it right!
Simply put, the best not for profit organizations don’t rely on assumptions.
They rely on evidence.