Success Story - Association of Lutheran Development Executives (ALDE)

This customer brings members together via survey feedback

by The Marketing Team,  Constant Contact Customer Success Stories

Association of Lutheran Development Executives (ALDE)
Customer Since: 2007
List Size: 1,777
Response Rate: 26.4%
Website: http://www.alde.org

When the Association of Lutheran Development Executives (ALDE) was founded 30 years ago by a group of St. Louis-area Lutherans seeking support and learning for their philanthropic work, it was easy for them to meet in person to discuss issues. But as the group expanded to its current footprint of 17 chapters spread across the United States and Canada, it needed a more efficient manner to build consensus and stay informed. Enter the Online Survey tool from Constant Contact.

"The survey tool provides us with the means of connecting more frequently with specific messages and questions, with all our members if need be, or with chapter members," says Phyllis Castens Wiederhoeft, the executive director of ALDE, which today works with faith-based development staffs on fundraising and communications.

Frequent surveying of an audience without offering an incentive might go against typical best practices, but for Phyllis and the ALDE, it's been a success. "I think the key is that we work very hard at making our members feel included so they generally respond well when we ask them to complete surveys," Phyllis says. "We also intentionally keep the surveys short."

Phyllis says the group has nearly all of its members' email addresses, making distribution easier. ALDE also segments its 1,777 contacts by various planning groups, so it can send specific project assessment surveys to the most appropriate people.

The use of online surveys replaced ALDE's prior practice of sending out paper surveys to members and manually collecting and tabulating the data. Now, Phyllis can see graphical results right away online and can easily download data into Excel for further distribution to ALDE decision makers, saving the group both time and money. The ease in sharing survey data provides an added benefit for ALDE: "There's more ownership by volunteers within the organization itself," Phyllis says.

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