In the past few years, there have been a lot of urgent conversations about the need to center work on communities, commit to equity, and rethink how systems like philanthropy and services are carried out. However, in some circles these conversations have avoided...
Valerie Threlfall
Fulfilling Philanthropy’s COVID-19 Pledge: Listening in a Time of Crisis
As COVID-19’s rapid spread has wreaked havoc on our sector, more than 550 foundations (at the time of writing) have signed a pledge to support our nonprofit partners and the people and communities hardest hit by the pandemic and associated economic impacts. The pledge...
Turning the Rhetoric of Listening Into Genuine Practice
During the past 15 years, I’ve spent a lot of time (some might say an unusual amount, even) thinking about the importance of gathering and responding to feedback from the people social sector programs are designed to help. I initially got the “feedback bug” in 2008...
Getting on the Same Page: Defining Perceptual Feedback
The other week, I was presenting at a conference about the importance of nonprofits systematically eliciting perceptual feedback from clients, or those they seek to help, about how things are going from the clients’ own perspectives. This practice, often termed...
Imagining a World Where Beneficiary Feedback is the Norm
I was extremely heartened to read CEP’s latest research report, Hearing from Those We Seek to Help: Nonprofit Practices and Perspectives in Beneficiary Feedback. In particular, it was amazing to see that more than 92 percent of nonprofits surveyed collect feedback...
YouthTruth Announces Strategic Partnership with The New Teacher Project
I am pleased to announce a new partnership between YouthTruth and The New Teacher Project, which will bring student perspectives to teacher performance evaluations. See the video below for details. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hly9aFTu33s Valerie Threlfall is Vice...
Listening to Beneficiaries: Why Are We So Bad At It?
CEP has been actively exploring the topic of beneficiary feedback through its YouthTruth project since 2008. We were very pleased to share what we are learning – and to challenge the status quo -- on the Tactical Philanthropy blog this week, where the following post...
Student Feedback: A Missing Link in Education Reform
Valerie Threlfall shares a post that was originally published on the Huffington Post: “Student Feedback: A Missing Link in Education Reform.”
Age is Not a Prerequisite for Insight
Valerie Threlfall challenges education funders and leaders to listen to students’ thoughtful feedback and to recognize that youth add an important perspective to education reform discussions.
YouthTruth: Engaging Staff and Students in Gathering and Processing Feedback
Valerie Threlfall shares two keys to transforming student feedback into meaningful change in high schools.
Student Feedback: The Missing Piece in Education Reform
In response to current events such as Zuckerberg’s gift to Newark and the DC mayoral campaign, Valerie Threlfall asks, “Are these reform efforts adequately considering students’ perspectives?”