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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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 single change would save you the most time on reporting?

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where are you primarily located?

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

What is your typical work setting?

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

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

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!