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  About the Listening Post Project

Who are the Listening Posts? | How are they selected?
Who guides the project? | What is a "Sounding"?
How are Sounding topics selected?

Who are the Listening Posts?

The Listening Posts are nonprofit organizations that work in one of four major fields of nonprofit activity:

  • family, children, and youth services
  • elderly services
  • community and economic development
  • arts and culture
    • In addition to representing such diverse fields of nonprofit action, they also include organizations of all sizes — from small, neighborhood-based groups, to large multi-state ones — and from all regions of the country. Currently, there are about 850 Listening Posts participating in the project.

    How are they selected?

    There are two sets of Listening Post agencies. The first, has been recruited by our project partners. The second, is a random sample of similar agencies drawn by our Center from the IRS Exempt Organization Master File to ensure our initiative captures the full range of nonprofit trends and developments.

    Who guides the project?

    Consistent with the general "practice-first" orientation of the project, the project is guided by the Center in conjunction with our project Steering Committee comprised of senior staff at our partner organizations. Peter Goldberg of the Alliance for Children and Families is the Committee's current chair.

    What is a "Sounding"?

    To reflect this quick turn-around, we are referring to these surveys as "Soundings." To identify trends and developments affecting nonprofits, the project will issue web-based Soundings to the Listening Post agencies about four times a year. Each Sounding will focus on a discrete issue that the project Steering Committee identifies as especially pressing and important. To ensure that the Soundings touch on the most critical topics and are as user-friendly as possible, they are reviewed by field experts as well as practitioner focus groups before being released in the field.

    As the web-based instrument enables us to streamline reporting and analysis, preliminary project findings are made available shortly after the Soundings are sent to the participating agencies.

    How are Sounding topics selected?

    Sounding topics are identified by the project Steering Committee, the Center research staff, and the Listening Post agencies themselves. The project Steering Committee then selects a topic for each particular Sounding from this mix based on its consideration of which issues are especially pressing and important.

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    © 2003 The Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore, Maryland | Center for Civil Society Studies
    The Listening Post Project | Last updated 24January05