vammproject4 (1)

Evaluation of Interpersonal Communication Strategies:
Hands Up Ministries
shley Bruner | Mary Bruner | Vera Lukacs | Ana Loria | Meredith Thompson
VAMM
Ashley Bruner
Mary Bruner
Ana Loria
Vera Lukacs
Meredith Thompson
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Table of Contents
3
4
5
7
9
Executive Summary
Client Summary
Project Summary
Method: In-Depth Interview
Method: Survey
12 Method: Content Analysis
15
Insight Summary
16
Recommendations
18
Appendix
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Executive Summary
When VAMM first met with Hands Up Ministries they communicated various goals they had for their organization.
As an organization, they work on numerous small projects while also focusing on their main goal of
refurbishing blighted housing. HUM needed more volunteers, more donors, more media, and most importantly,
they needed help building stronger lasting relationships with the community. That is where VAMM came in.
Moving forward, we needed to establish specific components of HUM’s relationship with the community
that needed improvement, and also figure out what they were doing that worked. Additionally,
we wanted to compare HUM’s interpersonal communication strategies with those of other nonprofits.
To find out where HUM currently stood with their interpersonal communication strategies,
we decided it would benefit the organization to get insight from three different perspectives:
Members of the organization
The community it serves (Highland Park)
Other nonprofits
First, we established what members of Hands Up Ministries’ staff thought the organization was doing
right, and what they needed to work on by doing in-depth interviews with four of the staff members.
The thoughts and ideas of those directly associated with HUM were useful because they allowed
VAMM to tailor communication strategies to fit the personality of the organization.
Second, we surveyed members of the Highland Park community to gauge their attitude
towards Hands Up Ministries. VAMM developed a set of questions designed to determine
HUM’s current relationship status with the community. Additionally, we included
questions to gauge how much time and energy the community is willing to commit to HUM.
Finally, we analyzed both traditional and alternative media to determine the normal
level of communication other nonprofits have with their community. Our content
analysis included both traditional media (i.e. newspaper articles) and alternative
media (i.e. nonprofits’ websites. Through coding, we sought to determine what
communication strategies other nonprofits used. This allowed us to determine their effectiveness.
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Client Summary
Hands Up Ministries is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization based in Richmond, Virginia. Started in
2008 by Cassie Matthew and her husband, JT, HUM is focused on providing affordable housing in
the Richmond community. To accomplish this goal, HUM purchases blighted homes and sells them
to under privileged persons and families. Because HUM purchases the houses with cash, the organization
is able to finance the homes for the families without an overseeing financial institution.
“To change lives by providing affordable, stable housing opportunities
for Richmond’s underserved.”
-mission statement, Hands Up Ministries
Goals and Objectives
Hands Up Ministries has a multi-faceted goal aimed at bettering the Richmond community
as a whole. A major facet of the organization’s goal is to purchase blighted homes, upgrade
them, and sell them to underprivileged members of the community. HUM hopes that by
being the sole institution involved in financing the houses, its beneficiaries will learn necessary
skills to be responsible homeowners and renters in the future. To complement this
goal, HUM also offers financial advising to members of the community. The overarching goal
of HUM is to provide an opportunity for stability for all members of the Richmond community.
Primary Beneficiaries of Hands Up Ministries
Hands Up Ministries aims to serve all underprivileged and impoverished members
of the community. However, to accomplish this goal, HUM focuses on one city
block at a time. Currently, HUM is focused on empowering members of the Highland
Park Community on 42nd street. Apart from its peers, Hands Up Ministries
does not discriminate against persons with prior criminal records. As a charitable
organization, HUM hopes to provide felons with an opportunity for stability.
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Project Summary
Situation Analysis
When VAMM began work with Hands Up Ministries they were in need of an update to their website,
social media and interpersonal communication campaigns. In the realm of interpersonal
communication, Hands Up Ministries lacked diverse and overarching methods of building relationships
with the Highland Park community. While HUM does a consummate job securing
a steadfast relationship with a small section of the Highland Park community, their efforts neglected
an outlying section. Our goal in conducting research within the community was to aid
HUM in developing efficacious methods of reaching members previously unaffected by their
efforts. Specifically, VAMM’s research focused on tailoring methods for Cassie Matthew, president
of Hands Up Ministries. HUM foundered in their communication methods by choosing to involve
themselves in numerous engagements rather than injecting their full energy and attention
into one project. This method led to attenuated efforts within each project HUM took on.
Communication Objectives
VAMM’s top priority when working with HUM was to evaluate how they, specifically Cassie Matthew,
communicates and build relationships with the community members in Highland Park.
Our first objective was to look inside the organization itself to see how the staff members view
the work they produce for the community in Highland Park. We then went on to survey the community
members in Highland Park to grasp their perspective on the work HUM does and how they
interact with a nonprofit organization within their community. Lastly we coded websites and tra-
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Research Questions
After we determined Hands Up Ministries’ communication objectives, we developed three specific
questions we needed to answer through our research. The questions we sought to answer are as follows:
What is the most effective way for Cassie Matthew to reach the Highland Park Community?
What are the best ways to build a relationship with the community?
How much does a community interact with non-profit organizations?
Research Methods
To answer our three specific research questions, VAMM used three different research methods.
The methods used included in-depth interviews, surveys and content analysis of related traditional
and social media. First, we interviewed members of Hands Up Ministries to gather their
thoughts and ideas on effective methods for Cassie to use in communication with the Highland
Park community. Second, we surveyed members of the community to figure out the best way to
build a relationship with the Highland Park community. Finally, we examined news articles relating
to non-profits and nonprofits’ websites to determine their level of interaction with the community.
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Qualitative Methods of Research
Method Selection
VAMMs qualitative method was to provide in-depth interviews to the staff members and volunteers with HUM.
Our goal was to evaluate the internal perspective of the staff on how effective Cassie Matthew is in communicating
with the community in Highland Park.
Data Collection
Our goal was to interview the staff members and volunteers of HUM. VAMM got in contact with Debbie
Ireland, the executive administrator, to send out our in-depth interview to their volunteers and other
staff members. With the limited amount of staff employed at HUM, we received back four interviews.
The Interview Protocol: Interviewees had to be involved with the organization’s day-to-day internal operations
as a staff member, intern or volunteer.
Data Analysis
Vision of the Organization
The interviewees came to a consensus on a short term goal for HUM: to be able to purchase
and sell at least one house per year in Highland Park. By purchasing, refurbishing -- and eventually
selling -- homes to families, HUM hopes to develop a heightened knowledge of home ownership
skills in the Highland Park community. In five years, the interviewees see the organization
purchasing and refurbishing more than one home per year. Particularly, interviewees hope for
Hands Up Ministries to own 10 homes on 4th and 5th avenue. Making home ownership possible
and seeing a positive change within the community is the overall vision. However, the interviewees
feel that Hands Up Ministries needs to focus their time and energy on the vision of the organization,
providing affordable housing, instead of taking on issues outside of the organization’s purpose.
Interviewee #1:
“Short term – to be able to purchase and refurbish at least one home per year (minimum) to be able to provide
a family with affordable housing.”
Interviewee #2:
“To have ten homes sold to families living on 4/5th Ave in 5 years total.”
Interviewee #3:
“To buy up abandon/foreclosed homes on 4th & 5th Avenues, provide affordable rents in these homes,
eventually sell these homes to the tenants, and watch the neighborhood become revitalized.”
Interviewee #4:
“Being able to purchase at least one home per year. And secondly, be able to sell at least one of the HUM
homes each year to someone in the community to develop home ownership.”
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C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Door-to Door communication, such as handing out flyers to residents of Highland Park, wordof-mouth
and social media are the methods the interviewees have found most effective in
reaching the community.
Within the organization the most effective methods of communication
mentioned were face-to-face and email. Respondents noted, however, that HUM experiences
internal communication problems. Interviewees noted that the lack of effective internal communication
has led to difficulty making decisions and a lack of commitment by the volunteers.
Interviewee #1:
“Reality is there are only 3 people (Cassie, Debbie, and JT) that are making decisions for the organization.
Face to face communication has been most effective; emails as well. Social media has been most effective
for communication to volunteers and supporters.”
Interviewee #2:
“Word of mouth by a reliable community neighbor.”
Interviewee #3:
“Flyers given out to the neighborhood by Lena & Loretta, residents; word-of-mouth”
Interviewee #4:
“Direct contact; door-to-door. Use of social media.”
F o c u s
Hands Up Ministries needs to focus their time and energy on the vision of the organization,
providing affordable housing, instead of taking on issues outside of the organization’s purpose.
Interviewees felt that Hands Up Ministries could most effectively allocate their resources
by focusing their money on purchasing homes and completing necessary repairs in those
homes. Realigning the board members and specifying their responsibilities would create more
organization within HUM. The general consensus was the the organization is taking on too
much and have too small a staff
to effectively and successfully complete all those tasks.
Interviewee #1:
“It can pull the focus away from HUM’s prime mission (to provide affordable housing) and divert our limited
resources (people) from working on the prime mission.
Interviewee #2:
“Little libraries are a huge hit, but the return of books is almost nill. Empowering neighbors to take over the
library will help.”
Interviewee #3:
“I think they can limit our resources and potentially take funding from our mission. However, they can also
help us get to know the community better if we are careful with the projects we choose and try not to do
everything.”
Interviewee #4:
“Sometimes it can be a drain on people resources and cause HUM to get off track from their primary mission
(providing affordable housing).”
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Survey Method
Method Selection
When we first met with Hands Up Ministries we identified a fundamental problem that needed to be
solved: what are the community’s attitudes towards HUM and what can HUM do to change or improve
on those attitudes. Simply, Hands Up Ministries needed to figure out the most effective ways to build relationships
with members of the community. We decided that the most reliable way to gauge the community’s
attitudes and level of engagement with HUM was to survey members of the community.
Sampling Strategy
Hands Up Ministries serves the relatively small community of Highland Park. Because the community
is small we decided to survey as many people as possible. In order to reach a sufficient amount of
community members, we enlisted the help of Hands Up Ministries’ community liaison, Loretta Wallace.
Participation Recruitment
After considering different options, we decided that the most effective way to ensure participation
would be the use of Hands Up Ministries’ community liaison, Loretta Wallace. We developed
and printed the surveys, then scheduled a meeting with Loretta Wallace. Mrs. Wallace
agreed to distribute the surveys to members of the community at HUM’s community garden
clean-up. After the event, we reconnected with Mrs. Wallace and collected the completed surveys.
Analysis and Results
When asked to rate their level of involvement in community events on a scale of one
to ten, most participants rated their involvement in the community at four out of ten.
Meaning, he/she participates in community events occasionally.
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66% of participants indicated they are willing to dedicated one to five hours per
week to volunteering at HUM.
How much time are you willing to commit to HUM?
None
58%
1-5 Hours per week
17%
5+ Hours a week
17%
When asked whether most people can be trusted, the majority of participants said that you
can’t be too careful when dealing with people.
The majority of participants, 58%, indicated that trust is something earned over
time, specifically six months to a year.
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When asked to rate their view of Hands Up Ministries’ presence in the community
on a scale of one to ten, one being negative and ten being positive, 82% of participants
chose “7” or more.
The majority of participants have lived in the city of Richmond for at least one year, and 42%
have lived in the city for at least 10 years.
The majority of participants, 41%, get their news from the Internet.
83% of participants said they would attend a community meeting.
The majority, 25%, of participants said they are not at all involved in HUM.
When asked, on a scale of one to ten, how important it is that, in their personal
relationships, the other person dedicates time to them the majority of participants
answered “seven.” Meaning, it is important but not imperative that the other person
dedicates time.
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Content Analysis Method
Method Overview
VAMM analyzed newspaper articles and websites of nonprofit organizations from November 2011 to
November 2014. In our analysis of newspaper articles, VAMM examined the attitude of the media towards
nonprofit organizations. Specifically, we sampled news articles containing keywords pertaining
to affordable and low income housing. Tailoring our sampling to be more saturated produced
a broad insight into how the media perceives organizations similar to Hands Up Ministries. Additionally,
VAMM studied how nonprofit organizations represent themselves on their websites. In our examination
we looked at how these organizations portray their events and internal news to the public. After
inputting the data into spreadsheets, we were able to gather statistics on the whole of our data sets.
Sampling Strategy and Data Selection Process
For our content analysis of newspaper articles we used the web database LexisNexis to compile a sampling.
We set our search dates to begin in November of 2011 in order to gather current and relevant information.
To cover a broad selection of news articles, we used three different keywords in our search.
“Non-profit” produced 1,000 results, “affordable housing organization” produced 84 results and “charitable
organization” produced 1,000 results. The results were sorted based on relevance. In our research
of non profit websites, we selected every other non profit on a list of 100 throughout the world. This
list allowed us a random selection of nonprofits here and abroad. From that list we coded 50 websites.
Data Analysis
While 67.3% of the articles featured a quote from a member of the nonprofit, only 22.4% of
the articles featured a quote from a member of the community.
55% of the articles took a positive tone towards the non profit and 28.6% had a
neutral tone towards the non profit. Only 16.3% took a negative tone towards the
community.
Towards the community, the majority of the articles-- 63.2% took a neutral tone
towards the community. Only 8.2% of the articles painted the community in a negative
light, while 28.6% painted the community in a positive manner.
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96% of articles did not mention a community liaison between the community and
the organization.
Articles were almost evenly split in the presence of mentions of a relationship between the
community and the non profit. 44.8% mentioned a relationship and 55.2% did not mention a
relationship.
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Webistes of Nonprofits
82% showed some kind of relationship or partnership with another organization.
Vision and mission made very clear--usually the first item on drop down menu.
62% of the websites had biographies of staff members. However, the majority of
the 62% of websites with biographies on the staff were websites of smaller non
profits.
Almost all, 98%, of the websites had links to social media. In general, the links were either at
the topmost or bottommost sections of the page.
60% of websites had their upcoming events clearly displayed on the home page.
Intercoder Reliability
To ensure the accuracy of our data, a second set of coders went through each item
and recoded it. We then compared the intercoder’s numbers to those of the original
coder. When we used the formula R = 2M / N1 + N2, R is the level of similarity between
the intercoder and coder’s numbers, or the intercoder reliability. R = .01 being 1%
similar and R = 1.0 being 100% similar. The intercoder relibaility, R, for the newspaper
article data set is 89%. For the nonprofit websites the intercoder reliability is 92%.
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Insights Summary
While we found a substantial amount of information during our content analysis, we had
limited resources for interviews and disseminating surveys to the Highland Park community
was difficult. We reached out to the HUM staff and the community members living
in Highland Park. Although both the Highland Park community members and the
HUM staff are limited, both groups were very willing to participate in our research.
The HUM organization only has 3 people on staff, that being Debbie Ireland, Cassie Matthew and her
husband JT, and only a handful of volunteers and interns. We were able to retrieve 4 interviews back.
We received constructive assessment about the organization from an internal point of view which
allowed us to better understand where HUM shortcomings are within the organization. We found that
most of the staff members and volunteers believe that HUM spends their energy on side projects and
that it has the tendency to distract them from their main objective-- to provide affordable housing.
When it came to disseminating the survey, we were able to reach 12 participants from Highland
Park. We went through HUM and Highland Park community liaison, Loretta Wallace, who was
more than willing to help us with our dissemination. Our overarching theme of the survey was
what the Highland Park community needed from HUM and Cassie specifically. In our research,
we found that 58% of participants believed that you can’t be too vulnerable in trusting other
people, which could be a potential problem for HUM in building relationships with the community.
In our analysis of newspaper articles, wed found a severe lack of a mention of reciprocal
relationships. Most articles featured quotes from members of the organization, but lacked
any input from members of the community they serve. Conent analysis of websites showed
that most websites of nonprofits featured photos of community members on the homepage.
Overall, mediated representaion of a reciprocal relationship faltered when the nonprofit was
not in control of the content displayed.
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Recommendations
Our evaluation of Hands Up Ministries’ interpersonal communication strategy, and subsequent research of the
topic yielded three recommendations. They are as follows:
Monthly community forums
Suggestion box
Newsletter
Community Forum
Monthly community meetings would provide a forum for the community to express their wants, needs, or concerns
to Hands Up Ministries. Based on data acquired from surveying the Highland Park community, 58% of members
are willing to commit one to five hours per week to HUM. That being said, a monthly community forum would likely
be well received by the community. Community forums would be effective because they are a regularly occurring
event where leadership of HUM is present. For Cassie Matthew, her presence at the monthly forums would
provide not only firsthand information about what the community wants, but also time for her to build important
relationships with the community. We believe monthly forums would be well received because they fit the time
constraints express by community members in the surveys, they make community feel they are more involved
in the decision-making process, and because they provide an opportunity for community members to interact
with leadership. In addition, information gathered at the forums would help provide a focus for HUM’s projects.
Suggestion Box
The suggestion box would be an anonymous box for a form that the community members of Highland Park can
fill out and leave at a designated spot in the neighborhood. The form would entail a short survey and a section
where the community members can express their concerns and give suggestions. At the aforementioned
monthly forums, leadership would have the opportunity to address the concerns and suggestions provided in
the suggestion box. As interviewee number four said when asked to comment on communication strategies,
face-to-face communication is the most effective way to communicate. However, because of availability and
staff size restrictions, face-to-face communication opportunities are limited. The suggestion box acts a pseudo
face-to-face form of communication, because the suggestions would be addressed at the monthly forums.
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Newsletter
As staff members noted in their interviews, word-of-mouth communication is highly effective in spreading
news and information about an organization. As the suggestion box functions as a pseudo face-to-face
strategy, so would the newsletter function as a pseudo word-of-mouth strategy. Because word-of-mouth
communication is already in place within the community, a newsletter would act as a catalyst to this preexisting
communication strategy. A newsletter also presents the opportunity of community involvement in the
manner of letters to the editor or op-ed pieces by community members. When asked how they access news,
41% of respondents said they access news online and 41% answered either flyer or newspaper. Therefore,
VAMM recommends a bi-monthly print newsletter to keep production costs low and a bi-weekly e-newsletter.
Providing both forms of the newsletter on a consistent basis ensures that, no matter how they get their news,
members of the community are well informed of events and news related to Hands Up Ministries.
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Appendix A: Qualitative Method
Instruments
1. What is your vision for the organization?
2. In 5 years, where do you see the organization?
3. What problems do you see the organization facing? Are any issues long term?
4. What methods have you found are the most effective in communicating with the neighborhood?
5. How do you feel Hands Up Ministries could most effectively allocate their resources?
6. Within the organization, what methods of communication are most effective? Are there any shortcomings
as far as effective communication between staff members?
7. As an organization, how do you feel Hands Up Ministries has been received by the community?
8. In what areas do you think the community needs the most help?
9. How do you see the side projects Hands Up Ministries takes on affecting the organization?
10. Currently, where does the community provide the most help?
Transcripts
Interviewee #1:
1. What is your vision for the organization?
“Short term – to be able to purchase and refurbish at least one home per year (minimum) to be able to pro
vide a family with affordable housing.”
2. In 5 years, where do you see the organization?
“Long term – to be able to sustain that year after year and purchase multiple houses per year. Secondly, to
be able to sell the homes to the families via rent-to-own agreements and financing (essentially HUM becomes
the bank to the homeowner and provides low interest loans since many of the people we are trying to help have
bad credit and would be hard pressed to qualify for conventional loans).”
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3. What problems do you see the organization facing? Are any issues long term?
“Sustainable fundraising – being able to raise $50,000 or more per year to support the short and long term
goals mentioned previously (possibly gain corporate sponsorship).”
4. What methods have you found are the most effective in communicating with the neighborhood?
“Face to face communication. Have also used flyers and social media.”
5. How do you feel Hands Up Ministries could most effectively allocate their resources?
“Money – focused on purchase of housing and necessary repairs to the housing.
Manpower – need to realign the board members and assign areas of responsibility (get new board members
and spread the work/responsibilities amongst them). Currently all work and planning are completed by Cassie,
Debbie, and JT.”
6. Within the organization, what methods of communication are most effective? Are there any short comings
as far as effective communication between staff members?
“Reality is there are only 3 people (Cassie, Debbie, and JT) that are making decisions for the organization.
Face to face communication has been most effective; emails as well. Social media has been most effective
for communication to volunteers and supporters.”
7. As an organization, how do you feel Hands Up Ministries has been received by the community?
“Well received. HUM has made commitments and lived up to those commitments. HUM has delivered on everything
they said they would do, which has created credibility.”
8. In what areas do you think the community needs the most help?
“Financial management; better access to health care and grocery store options.”
9. How do you see the side projects Hands Up Ministries takes on affecting the organization?
“It can pull the focus away from HUM’s prime mission (to provide affordable housing) and divert our limited resources
(people) from working on the prime mission.”
10. Currently, where does the community provide the most help?
“Care of the community garden. Garden was established to serve the community – some from the community
have helped to weed and tend garden. Some members from the community have helped in repairs to HUM
owned housing. Community involvement has been more centered on HUM serving the community vs the community
providing help.”
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11. Where would you like to see the members of the community participate more?
“Developing ideas or suggestions where HUM can help or coordinate resources to help develop the community.”
Interviewee #2:
1. What is your vision for the organization?
“To have ten homes sold to families living on 4/5th Ave in 5 years total.”
2. In 5 years, where do you see the organization?
“I see us with 10 homes on 4/5th Ave, moving this community to work together to achieve
more stable neighborhood.”
3. What problems do you see the organization facing?
“We have no paid staff, so infrastructure is always a problem. Keeping motivated board members. Are any
issues long term? Again, keeping donors motivated to keep donating to the cause and to keep volunteers interested
in helping long term. Obtaining long-term sponsors.”
4. What methods have you found are the most effective in communicating with the neighborhood?
“Word of mouth by a reliable community neighbor.”
5. How do you feel Hands Up Ministries could most effectively allocate their resources?
“Money purchasing homes.”
6. Within the organization, what methods of communication are most effective?
“Email and facebook Are there any shortcomings as far as effective communication between staff members?
Yes, “staff” is minimal. And there is just not enough time. This is a fulltime job for me, no one else. Commitment.
With the exception of Debbie Ireland is low.”
7. As an organization, how do you feel Hands Up Ministries has been received by the community?
“I think with the people we have encountered, we have been well received.”
8. In what areas do you think the community needs the most help?
“Empowerment, getting things done, taking a leadership role in their issues. Need to get more homeownership,
which will have rippleffect on the way neighbors take ownership of the neighborhood.”
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9. How do you see the side projects Hands Up Ministries takes on affecting the organization?
“Little libraries are a huge hit, but the return of books is almost nill. Empowering neighbors to take over the
library will help.”
10. Currently, where does the community provide the most help?
“Very little help is provided, unless we have a community clean up, otherwise it is not the community.”
11. Where would you like to see the members of the community participate more?
“Ownership of clean ups, problems, keeping their own property’s tidy, just involvement.”
Interviewee #3:
1. What is your vision for the organization?
“To buy up abandon/foreclosed homes on 4th & 5th Avenues, provide affordable rents in these homes, eventually
sell these homes to the tenants, and watch the neighborhood become revitalized.”
2. In 5 years, where do you see the organization?
“Making progress in renting affordable homes, seeing the neighborhood begin to change.”
3. What problems do you see the organization facing?
“Funding; Trying to take on things outside of our purpose – trying to do it all. Are any issues long term? Funding”
4. What methods have you found are the most effective in communicating with the neighborhood?
“Flyers given out to the neighborhood by Lena & Loretta, residents; word-of-mouth”
5. How do you feel Hands Up Ministries could most effectively allocate their resources?
“By sticking to our mission statement of providing affordable housing and not getting side tracked by other
needs; limiting “one and done” mission/volunteer groups”
6. Within the organization, what methods of communication are most effective?
“Email, phone calls Are there any shortcomings as far as effective communication between staff members?
Sometimes it is hard to keep up with all that is going on, especially if we take on things that are not really part
of our mission statement.”
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7. As an organization, how do you feel Hands Up Ministries has been received by the community?
“I think we have been well received. Lots of positives from neighbors.”
8. In what areas do you think the community needs the most help?
“Housing--Hard to say what else. I think we need to ask.”
9. How do you see the side projects Hands Up Ministries takes on affecting the organization?
“I think they can limit our resources and potentially take funding from our mission. However, they can also help
us get to know the community better if we are careful with the projects we choose and try not to do everything.”
10. Currently, where does the community provide the most help?
“Honestly, other than a couple of residents, they don’t really help. If Loretta & Lena ask, help increases.”
11. Where would you like to see the members of the community participate more?
“Help with maintaining the Community Garden, help maintaining the Little Free Libraries, volunteer to help with
Work Days.”
Interviewee #4:
1. What is your vision for the organization?
“Being able to purchase at least one home per year. And secondly, be able to sell at least one of the HUM
homes each year to someone in the community to develop home ownership.”
2. In 5 years, where do you see the organization?
“Very much the same answer as question 1. An organization that can help to make homeownership possible
for members in the community.”
3. What problems do you see the organization facing? Are any issues long term?
“Raising capital to purchase multiple homes.”
4. What methods have you found are the most effective in communicating with the neighborhood?
“Direct contact; door-to-door. Use of social media.”
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5. How do you feel Hands Up Ministries could most effectively allocate their resources?
“If we were able to purchase one home per year, then our resources would be focused on completing necessary
repairs and helping the future tenants.”
6. Within the organization, what methods of communication are most effective? Are there any shortcomings
as far as effective communication between staff members?
“Direct contact (face-to-face). Use of email.”
7. As an organization, how do you feel Hands Up Ministries has been received by the community?
“I think very well. HUM says they are going to do something, and then they deliver on that.”
8. In what areas do you think the community needs the most help?
“Repairs to their homes.”
9. How do you see the side projects Hands Up Ministries takes on affecting the organization?
“Sometimes it can be a drain on people resources and cause HUM to get off track from their primary mission
(providing affordable housing).”
10. Currently, where does the community provide the most help?
“The community has provided help with projects we have done at 2000 4thAve. Having partners in the community
has helped to do joint projects together.”
11. Where would you like to see the members of the community participate more?
“If we do a project /event that is for the community (ex. Alley cleanup and picnic), would like to see more members
there.”
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Appendix B: Survey Method
Instruments
Research Question: What are the best ways to build a relationship with the community?
Dear Residents,
We are students at Virginia Commonwealth University conducting a study related to Hands Up Ministries and
community involvement. We are researching more effective ways for Hands Up Ministries to interact with your
community. Your participation in this survey would be much appreciated.
Hands Up Ministries goal is to provide affordable, stable housing opportunities for Richmond’s under served.
Currently Hands Up Ministries is purchasing and restoring damaged houses in Highland Park to prepare them
for residency.
The purpose of this survey is to provide Hands Up Ministries with information that will help them develop relationship-building
strategies.
This survey is completely anonymous and confidential. None of your information will be given out at any point.
Instructions
The questions in this survey are formatted in a way that provides the most useful information. If a question
has multiple choices, please circle ONE that best applies to you. If the question asks you to rate your agreement
on a 1 to 10 scale, please circle the number that best describes you.
1. How often do you participate in community events? 1 being never and 10 being very frequently.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2. How much free time are you willing to commit to hands up ministries?
a. None
b. 1-5 hours per week
c. 5+ hours a week
3. In what way do you usually access local news and information?
a. newspaper
b. flyers
c. internet
d. word of mouth
4. Would you attend a community meeting?
a. yes
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. no
5. How would you rate your current involvement in Hands up Ministries? 1 being not involved at all and 10
being involved very frequently.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6. In your personal relationships, how important is it to you that the other person dedicate their time to you? 1
being not important, 10 being extremely important.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7. Generally speaking, do you believe that most people can be trusted or do you think that you can’t be too
careful when dealing with people?
a. most people can be trusted
b. you can’t be too careful when dealing with people
8. How long do you feel a relationship must be present before you can trust the other person?
a. 0-6 months
b. 6 months-1 year
c. 1 year+
9. In general, would you say you like to see immediate benefits from relationships or a greater reward over
time?
a. I like to see immediate benefits
b. I like to see a greater reward over time
10. In general, how do you view Hands Up Ministries’ presence in the community? 1 being negative and 10
being extremely positive.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11. Which choice best describes your age?
a. 18-30 years old
b. 31-45 years old
c. 45-55 years old
d. 55+ years old
12. What is your gender?
a. male
b. female
c. would rather not say
13. Which best describes your completed level of education?
a. primary school
b. high school diploma/GED
c. associates/bachelors degree
d. masters degree/doctorate
14. How long have you lived in the city of Richmond?
a. less than a year
b. 1-5 years
c. 5-10 years
d. 10+ years
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15. Which choice best describes your annual total household income?
a. under $25,000
b. $25,000-$50,000
c. $50,000-$75,000
d. $75,000+
e. would rather not say
16. What is your relationship status?
a. single
b. married
c. divorced
d. widowed
17. How many people live in your household?
a. 1-2
b. 3-5
c. 5-7
d. 7+
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Appendix C: Content Analysis
Instruments
News Article Codebook #1
1. Coder:
2. ID #:
3. News organization:
4. Title of article:
5. Date article was published:
6. Source Categories:
1. broadcast
2. print
7. Article features quote from member of the community
1. Yes
2. No
8. Mentions community liaisons
1. yes
2. no
9. Mentions event between nonprofit and community
1. yes
2. no
10. Tone towards nonprofit
1. positive
2. negative
3. neutral
11. Tone towards community
1. positive
2. negative
3. neutral
12. Mentions relationship between nonprofit and community
1. yes
2. no
13 Commitment
1. Yes
2. No
14. Trust
1. Yes
2. No
15. Article features quote from member of organization
1. yes
2. no
16. Article contains link to nonprofit website
1. yes
2. no
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Codebook #2: Website
1. Coder:
2. ID #:
3. Organization Name:
4. Website URL:
5. Summary of Nonprofit:
6. How often is the website updated?
1. daily
2. weekly
3. monthly
4. yearly or less
7. website provides resources (types)
1. news articles
2. infographics
8. links to other websites
1. hotline phone numbers
2. videos
3. all of the above
4. some of the above
5. none of the above
9. contact us page
1. yes
2. no
10. links to social media
1. yes
2. no
11. upcoming events section
1. yes
2. no
12. bios on staff
1. yes
2. no
13. testimonials/success stories present
1. yes
2. no
14. visual media that includes community
1. yes
2. no
15. displays relationships with other organizations
1. yes
2. no
16. website makes directors/staff accessible to community, volunteers, and other organizations
1. yes
2. no
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Appendix D: Charts and Graphs
How much time are you willing to commit to HUM?
None
58%
1-5 Hours per week
17%
5+ Hours a week
17%
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