Listening to Underserved People

SPARQ's third Research Clinic featured GreatNonprofits, a Redwood City-based organization that hosts a website where volunteers, donors, and clients can review charities. GreatNonprofits' CEO, Perla Ni, presented SPARQ with two intriguing questions: How can her website better amplify the voices of poor, mentally ill, or otherwise disenfranchised clients of nonprofits? and How can she measure the impact of her website on each of her stakeholder groups? The SPARQ team suggested techniques for locating, establishing relationships with, and soliciting feedback from socioeconomically and ethnically diverse audiences. They also helped Perla clarify how to identify and operationalize the most important outcomes for her project.