Nonprofit Reporting Workflow Staff Assessment

Welcome to the Reporting & Workflow Assessment. This survey asks about your recent experiences with reporting tasks — the tools you use, where delays occur, and what could be improved. Your responses will be used in aggregate to identify operational improvements. • Participation is voluntary and you may stop at any time. • All responses are confidential and will be reported in aggregate only. • There are no right or wrong answers — we want your honest perspective. • Estimated time: 6–8 minutes. Please proceed when you're ready.

In the past 60 days, which types of reports did you contribute to? Select all that apply.

• Grant/funder reports
• Board packets/updates
• Donor/communications reports
• Program/outcomes/impact reporting
• Compliance/regulatory reporting
• Financial/budget reporting
• Internal performance dashboards
• Narrative impact stories/case studies
• Other (please specify)

Across your last two reporting cycles, which issues created the most difficulty? Select up to five.

• Data scattered across systems
• Manual copy-paste/reformatting
• Unclear requirements/templates
• Last-minute changes from stakeholders
• Slow reviews/approvals
• Conflicting or poor data quality
• Tool limitations/access issues
• Tight timelines/competing priorities
• Insufficient training or guidance
• Version control problems

Which tools did you use for reporting in the last 3 months? Select all that apply.

• Excel
• Google Sheets
• Salesforce or CRM
• Raiser's Edge or fundraising CRM
• M&E platform (e.g., DHIS2, DevResults)
• Survey/data collection tool
• BI/dashboards (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, Looker)
• Document templates (Word/Docs)
• Project management (e.g., Asana, Trello, Jira)
• Scripting/automation (e.g., Python, R, Power Query)
• Other (please specify)

Rank the following improvement areas by potential impact on your reporting workflow next quarter (1 = highest impact). Select your top five.

1. Integrating data sources
2. Automating data preparation/calculations
3. Improving report templates/guidance
4. Streamlining reviews/approvals
5. Training/support on tools/process
6. Clarifying requirements/timelines
7. Enhancing access/permissions to tools
8. Standardizing submission/portals

What is your primary role?

• Programs/MEAL
• Development/Fundraising
• Finance/Operations
• Executive/Strategy
• Communications/Marketing
• Data/Analytics
• IT/Product/Engineering
• Administrative/Support
• Other/Multiple roles
• Prefer not to say

Based on your responses in this survey, please share any additional thoughts or suggestions about streamlining reporting at your organization.

Over the past 6 months, what best describes your typical reporting cadence?

• Weekly
• Biweekly
• Monthly
• Quarterly
• Biannually
• Annually
• Ad hoc/irregular

Overall, how burdensome were your reporting tasks in the past month?

For your last major report, how many distinct data sources did you pull from?

• 1
• 2–3
• 4–5
• 6–8
• 9–12
• More than 12

What single change would save you the most time on reporting?

How long have you been in your current role?

• Less than 6 months
• 6–11 months
• 1–2 years
• 3–5 years
• 6–9 years
• 10+ years

Thank you for sharing your perspective! Your responses will help us identify actionable improvements to our reporting processes. All data will be analyzed in aggregate. You're all set — have a great day!

In the past 4 weeks, approximately how many hours per week did you spend on reporting tasks?

• Less than 1 hour
• 1–3 hours
• 4–6 hours
• 7–10 hours
• 11–15 hours
• 16–20 hours
• More than 20 hours

Rank the following reporting stages by where delays most often occur (1 = most frequent delay).

1. Collecting data from sources/partners
2. Cleaning/validating data
3. Analysis/calculations
4. Drafting narrative/visuals
5. Review and approvals
6. Formatting/exporting/publishing
7. Submission process/portals

How satisfied are you with the report templates and guidance you used in the past 6 months?

We'd like to explore your ideas for improving reporting workflows in a bit more detail. An AI moderator will ask you a couple of follow-up questions based on your responses.

How large is your organization (full-time employees)?

• 1–9
• 10–24
• 25–49
• 50–99
• 100–249
• 250–499
• 500+

Which of the following reporting steps are still mostly manual in your current workflow? Select all that apply.

• Collecting data from sources/partners
• Cleaning/validating data
• Analysis/calculations
• Drafting narrative/visuals
• Review and approvals
• Formatting/exporting/publishing
• Submission process/portals
• None — most steps are automated

Would you be open to piloting a streamlined reporting process next quarter?

• Yes
• Maybe — I'd need more information
• No

Where are you primarily located?

• North America
• Latin America/Caribbean
• Europe
• Africa
• Middle East
• Asia
• Oceania
• Prefer not to say

What barriers or concerns, if any, do you foresee with streamlining your reporting process?

What is your typical work setting?

• On-site
• Hybrid
• Remote
• Field-based
• Prefer not to say