Audience feedback - survey results

I administered a survey in spring of 2006. The following is a summary of the goals and objectives followed by a report on the results. It would be great to start a discussion about how to best use this information, next steps to take that respond to this information, and how to re-evaluate through future information gathering.

Goals of the survey
1) To learn more about Cedar Cultural Center patrons, donors, neighbors, and constituents in order to effectively and appropriately identify their capacity and interest as donors
2) To quantify The Cedar’s success in meeting the needs of its community
3) To learn about Cedar audience and community demographics
4) To engage and cultivate Cedar constituents and community members
5) To make community members feel like they have input in the work of The Cedar

Objectives
1) Gather patron names, cell phone numbers, email addresses, and other contact information
2) Facilitate a way for constituents to spend ten minutes thinking about The Cedar Cultural Center
3) Increase publicity for The Cedar by reminding community members of The Cedar’s mission statement and the kind of programming The Cedar hosts
4) Gauge and compare subjective and objective financial situations of constituents with actual giving amounts and patterns
5) Understand where The Cedar fits into constituents’ philanthropic priorities
6) Gauge community interest in certain artists and genres to use as information for booking or investing in potential programs
7) Gather audience information and demographics that may be useful for marketing and/or to share with grantors

695 surveys were completed. 328 surveys were taken on-site at shows, and 367 surveys were taken online. 39 surveys were taken anonymously. I was able to match 285 surveys to existing records in ebase. I did this by creating a formula to find matches for email, name, phone number, and/or address. I also did some manual searches (such as running a list of those who claim to have made a tax-deductible donation but for whom I didn’t find an ebase match per contact info. If they’ve made a contribution, ideally they would already be in our database.) All surveys for which I found matching records in ebase were tagged with their ebase-assigned contact ID number. Assuming that I’ve been able to match all surveys that have existing records in ebase (not necessarily a safe assumption), this means that 412 new records were collected.

Note about the way records are stored in our database: Through this process, I came upon a number of households in ebase for which there were two records. Some of these are mistakes – simply duplicate records for the same individual - but other duplications were in the form of two records for two different people living at the same address. As we look towards transferring our information to a new database, we will need to think about how we want this information to be stored. Ideally, I’d like one “record” or “Contact ID” per household, which means that two people living together (I’m assuming that most people who live together are partners who share financial obligations) would have one contact ID. This, however, would have to allow for two “sets” of certain kinds of information under the same Contact ID. For example, 6 households have two surveys attached to them because both partners took the survey. This means two separate, legitimate surveys (legitimate in that one person didn’t take the survey twice) under one Contact ID.

Note about matching individuals/households between the survey and ebase records: Excel won’t recognize a match unless the two cell blocks are EXACTLY alike. Therefore, if Jim Rogers takes the survey and is listed as James Rogers in our database, excel will not flag a match, and, therefore, Jim Rogers’ survey won’t be linked to an ebase contact ID. Though name and addresses are the most likely contact pieces to be consistent (people more often change phone number, email), addresses are the most difficult in which to find a perfect match (Mpls vs Minneapolis; St. vs street, etc.).

Potential Action Item: It might be worth the time if we have some available intern hours to manually search possible matches, given the relatively small number of records we’re working with at this point.

To what extent can we consider these surveys an accurate sample of our audiences? To what extent should we consider these survey results when re-evaluating programming, how we carry out our mission, etc.? A couple of things to keep in mind: First, the surveys were taken by people who are on our e-newsletter list and those who came to our shows. This means that the folks who took the survey already like/already have an inclination to attend the kinds of shows we put on. Obviously, if you took a sample survey from all folks living in the Twin Cities/all folk music fans/whatever, the results would look much different. That being said, this feedback needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Feedback will obviously be more positive when given by those who choose to attend/receive updates about Cedar events. These surveys aren't the best place to look for direction if we're trying to diversify our audiences because they'll just reinforce that the programming we already do is interesting, engaging, etc. Second, we collected these surveys last spring, with perhaps a stronger push near the beginning of the "survey period." Under "favorite show" and "musicians you'd like to see," you'll find people saying "Curtis and Loretta," etc. because the surveys were distributed at the Curtis and Loretta show, etc. This simply reinforces that those who attend Curtis and Loretta shows like Curtis and Loretta (obviously).

Potential Action Item: Try to get those who are in our database who didn’t take the survey to take the survey. It will be beneficial for us to have as much information as possible about each record in our database.

The following feedback about programming was collected and shared with Bill:
-What was the best show you’ve ever seen at The Cedar?
-Name up to five specific groups or musical artists you would like to see perform at The Cedar.
-Explanation of "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your overall musical/artistic experience/s at The Cedar?"

Aggregate results:
Relationship with The Cedar:
Patron 604
Neighbor 31
Donor 79
Other 52
Volunteer 93
Musician/Performer 20
Staff 6
Press/Radio 7

Donor Activity:
444 people who took the survey (64%) said that they have not contributed to The Cedar with a tax-deductible donation. Of these, 106 were identified as having been in our database previously. 206 people who took the survey (29%) said that they have contributed to The Cedar with a tax-deductible donation. According to ebase, 117 people who took the survey have actually donated. (Of course, I can only make an estimation based on surveys that match to records in ebase. These 117 may not necessarily overlap with the 206 who said they contribute). Of those who said they contribute (206), 161 were identified as being on our database and we have record of 104 of them actually donating. This must mean that 13 people said they haven’t donated but we have record that they have donated. 45 people who took the survey did not answer the question.

Of those surveys for which I found matching records in ebase, 163 do not donate according to our records. Of these, 57 claim that they have donated. 120 do donate according to our records. 13 of these people said that they’ve never donated and 104 said that they do donate.

259 people said that they haven’t donated and haven’t been asked to donate to The Cedar. 22 said that they have contributed and haven’t been asked to contribute. A total of 286 said they have NOT been asked to contribute. 169 people said that they don’t contribute and have been asked. 177 people said that they do contribute and have been asked.

Giving Priorities:
My number one philanthropic priority 9
One of my top three priorities 32
On my list of organizations to support 276
Not on my list of organizations to support 247

Potential Action Item: Targeted solicitations to people based on philanthropic priority. How can we “move up the ladder?” For those whose lists we’re not on, why is this?

Potential Action Item: Create a special solicitation to those who
1) Donate without having been asked
2) Haven’t donated but don’t feel like they’ve been asked

How often do you attend shows at The Cedar?
102 said “less than once a year”
69 said “once a year.”
313 people said “a few times a year.”
92 people said “every other month.”
67 said “once a month.”
25 said “every other week.”
12 said “once a week.”
15 did not provide an answer

Potential Action Item: Send comp tickets, a two for one ticket deal, or develop a strategy to cultivate audience members with a target of those who attend Cedar shows only once a year or less than once a year.

American Indian or Alaskan Native: 22
Asian: 13
Black or African American: 5
Native Hawaiian or other pacific islander: 5
Hispanic or Latino: 6
Some other race: 17
White: 616
Answered: 659
No Answer: 36
Only 10.3% non-white people of those who answered.

Which category best describes the cultural background with which you most strongly identify?
First generation immigrant: 18
Second generation immigrant: 42
Third generation immigrant: 207
Canadian: 18
Scandinavian: 165
Celtic: 126
Other Western European: 268
Eastern European: 76
Mexican: 6
South American: 9
East African: 3
West African: 1
South African: 2
Middle Eastern: 10
Asian Indian: 3
East Asian: 9
Pacific Islander: 4
Australian: 4
Native American: 30
Some other cultural background: 57
Answered: 650
No Answer: 45
86% identify as Western European, Celtic, or Scandinavian.

Which kinds of shows/events are you most interested in attending at The Cedar?
Blues: 328
Jazz: 256
Folk: 541
World: 452
Local: 295
Dances: 144
Workshops: 59
Singer/Songwriter: 358
Hip Hop: 57
Bluegrass/Old Time: 321
Rock: 194
Childrens: 47
Open Stage: 56
Folk and world come to the top of the list, obviously.

Do you consider yourself to be a member of the GLBT Community?
No: 539
Yes: 84
No Answer: 72
Out of the 623 answers, 13% of these consider themselves to be part of the GLBT community.
Ages:

I’ve divided ages into the following categories based on generations and patterns of giving:

Born Age Range Category Number Percent
>1989 Under 18 Under 18 4 0.6%
1984 – 1989 18 – 23 College Aged 24 3.8%
1977 – 1983 24 – 30 Post-college (Gen Y) 76 12.1%
1961 – 1976 31 – 46 Gen X 177 28.3%
1942 – 1960 47 – 65 Boomers 327 52.2%
<1941 Over 65 Adaptive/Civics 18 2.9%
No Answer 69

Lots of Boomers, barely any “Under 18,” and not many college-aged students, especially considering our geographical propinquity to the Universit(ies).

Potential Action Item: Strategize to better diversify our audiences - better serve younger people, people of color, immigrants, and people of a wider variety of cultural backgrounds (non-Western European).

Income:
$200,000 or more 18
$100,000-$199,999 94
$50,000-$99,999 236
$20,000-$49,999 164
Less than $20,000 89
No Answer 94

Potential Action Item: Target those who make $100,000 or more, no kids, and say that they haven’t been asked to contribute with special solicitations.

Where people get their information:
City Pages 392
The Onion 133
Vitamn 57
Star Tribune 328
Pioneer Press 124
Newsletters 248
Websites of specific venues 325
Word of Mouth 316
Radio K 38
The Current 266
KFAI 237
Other Radio 111
Posters or fliers 156
Phone Lines 6
Television 20
Email lists 241

Potential Action Item: Use this to come up with a press strategy. Determine to what extent these results reflect the advertising we already do and to what extent these results reflect advertising that our “target audience” (not necessarily the audience we already reach) pay attention to.

How many children do you have?
I don’t think the “0”s are transferred into Excel
1=82
2=144
3=47
4+=35

Interested in becoming more involved?
No: 308
Yes: 277
No Answer: 110

Patron interest in music: Obviously, these results are going to reflect the kinds of shows that we already present. The people who are taking this survey are doing so in the first place because they were on our email list or because they came to a show here. Obviously Folk, World, Singer/Songwriter, and Bluegrass/Old Time are going to rise to the top of the list. This question was more for target marketing purposes than to determine what genre of music we should be presenting.

Blues 329
Jazz 257
Folk 542
World 452
Local 295
Dances 144
Workshops 59
Singer/Songwriter 359
Hip Hop 57
Bluegrass/Old Time 322
Rock 194
Children’s 47
Open Stage 56

Potential Action Item: Use this information to target advertising for certain genres of shows.

Zip code:
339 people are from Minneapolis zip codes (55401-55455)
170 people are from Saint Paul zip codes (55101–55130)
149 listed other zip codes

Communication:
Action Items: I handed off to Jason lists of people who said they were interested in learning more about volunteering at shows. I handed off to Steve those who said they wanted to receive The Cedar’s enewsletter and these were entered into the system. An intern will help us enter into our database information from those who said they would like to receive The Cedar’s paper newsletter.

Action Item: Solicitation to those who said that they are interested in “becoming a donor.”