Our Member and Stakeholder Survey 2022 has provided us with some great insights into what we are doing well and key areas for improvement. Molly our Data and Research Officer has brought the key findings and learnings together into a blog.
In December 2022, I conducted a series of Member and Stakeholder surveys which have now been analysed and documented within a final report for us to use and understand how we can improve our services.
VONNE aims to conduct these type of surveys with our Members & Stakeholders once every few years to act as a barometer test when developing understanding of our Member and Stakeholder experience and it gives us a great opportunity to listen to what you have to say!
Importantly, we understand the value of transparency and sharing our key learnings and reflections with those who interact with VONNE and making sure to evidence the work that has gone into the survey report which is attached below as a pdf.
If you took the time to contribute to any of the surveys, we would like to thank you! We really appreciate your input and want to demonstrate the impact that it has had. Additionally, I would like to congratulate again the Gold Membership+ winners, The PFC Trust who were selected within our prize draw!
This is a snapshot of the findings rather than a conclusive view- we would encourage you to read the full report if you are interested in finding out more!
Stakeholder Survey: What have we learnt?
The VONNE Stakeholder Survey 2022 received an 814.3% increase in response rate from the Stakeholder Survey conducted in 2018.
A breakdown of the stakeholders by group can be visualised here:
Why do Stakeholders interact with VONNE?
Stakeholders form a vital part of our networks, despite not being a part of our primary membership base, we have really positive interactions with them through VONNE’s partnerships and projects work. Stakeholders shared that they interact with VONNE in order to network and share information and intelligence on the North East VCSE Sector. As a collective they shared that VONNE strengthens the voice of the VCSE sector with one Respondent sharing that:
[VONNE has] ‘in depth knowledge, action-based ethos, developmental approach, enabling, encouraging. VONNE encourages ambition and thinking out of the box, not afraid to lead from the front if that's what's required to get something started. All round very impressive.’
Using the Net Promoter Score (NPS) asking ‘how likely are you to recommend VONNE to a friend or colleague ?’ we calculated that VONNE’s stakeholders rate our NPS as 38% and this is a favourable score. This is the first year this benchmark has been used but it will be useful to see if we can make an improvement to gain an excellent score (<50%) the next time the survey is conducted.
What do Stakeholders want more of?
Stakeholders shared that it is important that VONNE facilitates more opportunities for networking and collaboration. They recognised our expansive networks and want to become a part of those to learn and integrate with organisations within the North East VCSE sector. We recognise that this is a valuable opportunity and take this on board to develop our understanding of what our Stakeholders need and how we can share current opportunities to collaborate on our event pages and through our Ebulletins. Additionally, ensuring we signpost our specific forums and opportunities for networking such as the Health and Wellbeing Network subgroups, VCSE Partnership Forum, Social Prescribing Networks, and informing you on future North East Policy Forum events.
Have Stakeholders’ views changed over time?
When comparing the 2018/19 Stakeholder survey results to the 2022 survey we can see that stakeholder’s interactions with VONNE have changed over time. Interestingly, developing partnerships and collaborative working is less of a priority for Respondents in 2022 than it was in 2018 instead networking and sharing information is of higher importance and for 50 Respondents is their primary purpose for interacting with VONNE. It is important to gather comparative analysis like this to understand the changing needs of VONNE’s stakeholders over time and to question the changing interactions and needs throughout the sector.
What can we improve on moving forward?
From the survey we can deduce that our Stakeholders are unaware of VONNE’s services and have inadequate information to share this with their partners. Raising awareness of our services such as Job Finder, Recruitment Support, FINE online Funding Directory, Salary Benchmarking Services, and Associate+ membership is important for stakeholders to get the best out of their interactions with VONNE. In fact, 80% of Respondents were not aware of our Associate+ membership so we can recognise the importance of this task.
Additionally, we can also explore further opportunities for networking and signpost our stakeholders to current collaboration opportunities that are occurring within the VCSE Sector.
Lastly, it is important to understand our stakeholders needs over time and to ask the same questions to continue learning about the value of our interactions.
Here are some key conclusions from the Stakeholder Survey:
- Stakeholders value the role that VONNE has within the North East VCSE sector. They appreciate VONNE’s ability to act as a voice for the sector and its commitment to championing the sector.
- Promotion of VONNE’s Associate+ membership package is essential to encourage awareness and uptake by Stakeholders.
- Promotion of VONNE’s enhanced recruitment support service, salary benchmarking services and Trustee finder service is needed to increase awareness and uptake by Stakeholders and their networks.
- Networking and sharing information and accessing intelligence on the VCSE sector and/or the issues affecting it are currently the most important reasons for Stakeholders interacting with VONNE.
Member Survey: what have we learnt?
The Vonne Member Survey 2022 has had a 44.9% increase in response rate since the survey conducted in 2018/2019.
Why do members interact with VONNE?
We found that our members interact with VONNE and use our services for a wide range of purposes. Most popular interactions were around gaining information and intelligence through our range of Ebulletins and most popularly our FINE Ebulletin that we offer as apart of our Membership+ packages. Members also shared that they valued the FINE Online Funding Directory which is a Silver and Gold Membership+ benefit. Additionally, advertising job and trustee roles using Job Finder was also a priority for many members when interacting with VONNE.
Motivations to interact with VONNE have changed over time, in 2018/19 members joined VONNE to most importantly influence policy which is now the least important motivator, in 2022 members are more concerned about receiving information on relevant issues. For those members who feel that that there isn’t as much opportunity to influence policy, we would like to guide them to future opportunities as part of our NE VCSE policy forum events. Understanding motivations behind joining VONNE over time is important to understand our changing role as a membership organisation.
Interestingly, we found that members use our services for more than their primary purpose for example, members shared that they use our Job Finder pages to see what is going on in the sector, understand which organisations are expanding and use it to benchmark salaries as well as for the original purpose of advertising roles.
Members gave VONNE a 38.6% Net Promoter Score- this is also favourable and shows us we are on the right track!
What challenges are our members currently facing?
By asking our members which challenges their organisations are currently facing we found that 57.74% of the responding organisations are facing a lack of capacity when delivering their services. Additionally, Respondents from all membership levels shared that they are also challenged by a lack of access to funding.
What do members want more of?
Members shared that they want more opportunities to network and collaborate across our networks and hear more about funding information. Within the survey interestingly when Core members were asked, 60% of them did not know about our Membership+ services which include more opportunities for gathering funding information. Knowing about Membership+ was important to Core members who shared that this may incentivise them to join.
How can we improve moving forward?
Throughout the survey we learnt that members are unaware of their member benefits and therefore are potentially not aware of the opportunities that they have. Lots of members requested the need to ‘hear about more Funding opportunities’ who are eligible for our funding information services, additionally we felt that Silver and Gold members were unaware of the premium benefits offered to them. We must do more to speak about the services which we offer at VONNE and demonstrate their value to our members.
Here are some key conclusions from the Member Survey:
- The FINE Ebulletin and Funding Directory are recognised and valued services for Respondents of all Membership+ types. However, the awareness of these services could be improved as some Respondents who are eligible for these services through their Membership+ package demonstrated a need for these services but lacked awareness of their availability. Additionally increasing awareness of Membership+ benefits for all membership types will allow members to maximise their experience.
- VONNE’s intelligence and information services such as its Ebulletins were very important to the Respondents who shared the value of these for gaining updates on the VCSE sector and these services acted as a key motivator for the majority of Respondents when interacting with VONNE.
- Respondents shared that VONNE is effective in fulfilling is strategic aims and gave VONNE a favourable Net Promoter Score (NPS).
- Motivations for joining VONNE have changed over time. It is important to understand temporal changes in Respondents values to gain a perspective of VONNE’s changing role within the North East VCSE sector from an external audience.
- VONNE’s members use the services in different ways. For example, Job Finder is used by jobs-seekers to find jobs, but also by organisations for salary benchmarking, monitoring organisational expansions and understanding what is going on in the sector.
- Respondents highlighted the need to have more opportunity to network and collaborate with the wider VCSE sector recognising VONNE’s role as a facilitator and connection maker.