Essentially, we asked a computer program to group reflections from different nonprofits together. The algorithm looked at every word in each response and detected patterns in how the words were used. It clustered responses with similarly used words together into ‘topics’ and produced a table (below) that shows what words are most strongly associated with that topic. I then examined each cluster to interpret what that topic refers to. This approach is called structural topic modeling, and what follows is a comprehensive overview of the preliminary analysis I conducted in this way.

2,387 nonprofits chose to answer the question, reflecting on how listening has transformed relationships and shifted power to the people they serve. Our text analysis method sorted these 2,387 responses into the following nine topic clusters:

To find the top ways nonprofits responded to the question “How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship with them or shifted power – over decisions, resources, rules or in other ways – to them,” we interpret the words that tend to be associated with each topic. What follows is a tentative description of each topic, along with honest responses from nonprofits that clarify how these top few words under each topic were used.

  • Topic 1 – Giving Voice: this topic seems to be about providing a space where the voices of many organizations’ members feel heard.
  • Topic 2 – Resource Allocation: this topic seems to be about the allocation and commitment of resources to different community stakeholders based on feedback.
  • Topic 3 – Decision-Making: this topic seems to focus on feedback’s role in ensuring effective decision-making.
  • Topic 4 – Serving People Better: this seems to be about feedback allowing organizations to serve people better, improving programs, and empowering the people they work with, which was the most popular topic, encompassing over 15% of all responses.
  • Topic 5 – Stakeholder Differentiation: this topic seems to focus on the many stakeholders nonprofits have – clients, board members, staff, families, residents, and so on – potentially pointing to feedback practices leading to more fine-grained differentiation of key stakeholders’ needs.

Read the full article about power dynamics by Zack Tan Zhong Chen at Feedback Labs.