Before you begin any outreach for feedback, consider the time your community might spend to help our goals. In the long term we should be creating something that supports them. In the short term we should show our appreciation with a gift for their participation. You can offer an e-book, subscriber only benefit, gift card (even as little as $5), ticket to something special, mug, item from local artist, etc. If purchasing, consider supporting local values aligned stores. We often shop from Bookshop or Libro.fm when we can’t consider a local store since they donate part of their revenue to local bookstores.
Highlighting restaurants, stores and and organizations that are values aligned is our preferred method but we know it’s often difficult to find the funds for this within your organization, consider asking other companies and organizations for support. A lot of restaurants, museums, sports teams etc will donate to nonprofits. Here are some we’ve heard about:
- Go to local restaurants or stores and just ask for a donation of a small item or meal. Promote them in return. While working or volunteering for nonprofits, in past jobs rootid team members have helped bookstores gather funds and kids celebrate the holidays by just asking restaurants or companies for donations.
- Many sports teams tend to have an in-kind page on their websites (e.g. Women’s Pro Baseball League, Mets, Knicks, Warriors) and big chain restaurants too (e.g. Olive Garden).
- Cirque du Soleil offers free tickets to organizations. Go to sustainability page and scroll down to “send your request”. They have limitations you’ll have to meet.
Start planning incentives early, as it may take time to secure funding or donations. Offering a small token of appreciation can significantly boost participation by showing respondents their time and input are valued. Whenever possible, we recommend providing an incentive to every participant. If that isn’t feasible, you can offer one or more raffle prizes instead. In those cases, rootid typically selects winners at random, or you can use a simple tool like Wheel of Names to draw a winner.
Incentives can show appreciation, but they don’t replace genuine community-building. The true reward is when participants see their feedback reflected in your work, because that is what really fosters a sense of community and shows them that their voices helped shape it.