Members Survey Results

NICVA’s members have spoken

In our annual member’s survey the membership was given the opportunity to tell NICVA how well it was doing. The submisions have been very positive but as always there is no room for complacency.

As a membership organisation, NICVA needs to constantly assess and measure the attitudes and opinions of its membership towards the quality and relevance of the services it provides. Therefore a survey was distributed to all NICVA full members during January 2006 in order to assess their opinions of NICVA and the services it provides for members. A total of 891 surveys were circulated and a response rate of 23% was achieved.

As an incentive for taking part, a prize draw was held for a laptop, a year’s free NICVA membership and a year’s free access to Grant Tracker. The winner of the laptop was Coleraine Area Rural Transport (pictured is Sandra Millican receiving the laptop from Seamus McAleavey). The free membership was won by Home-Start NI Armagh Regional Office with Harmony Community Trust Strangford getting free access to Grant Tracker for a year. We would like to thank all the organisations that took the time to complete the survey and let us know what they think of NICVA and the services it provides.

So what did our members tell us?

• The level, quality and value of information and advice services provided by NICVA are very highly regarded by the membership.
• In terms of policy work members see it as challenging, generally representative of the views of the membership and of significant value.
• For the first time the membership survey asked about the impact of policy work on member organisations. The results showed that this had led to a better understanding of policies that impact upon the sector and a greater ability to respond to government consultations.
• In terms of how NICVA disseminates information to its members, the level of content, the general quality of the publications and their relevancy were all viewed positively.
• The three main NIVCA websites (NICVA, Grant Tracker, Community NI) were all rated positively by member organisations. The original NICVA website received the highest level of satisfaction from respondents in terms of its value, the ease of finding information and the degree to which it provides appropriate information.

As has been the case with previous membership surveys the services and advice NICVA members receive is viewed in a very positive light. This of course is not a reason for NICVA to rest on its laurels, if anything, it is a sign that NICVA must continue to be a flexible organisation that can adapt to the growing number of diverse issues organisations face in the sector.

If you want to find out more about this survey or services NICVA provides its members please contact

Frances McAtamney

Membership Officer

028 9087 77777