Soulforce

Who are the people you serve with your mission?

Through relentless nonviolent resistance, Soulforce serves individuals, organizations, and communities that have experienced religious and political oppression due to their sexual identities and/or gender including LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized groups. We currently focus efforts in the US South and the Global South.

How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?

SMS text surveys, Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Community meetings/Town halls, Suggestion box/email, 1 on 1 conversations,

How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,

What significant change resulted from feedback?

We are continually working to ensure that our work and resources are relevant, readily accessible, and responsive to our Soulforce community members. In example, every theological resource we create is in partnership with directly affected peoples, and then edited and reviewed by a review board made up of a diverse group of experts and community members. In response to the need we heard for more accessible programming, we created a variety of styles and options for participation in Soulforce programming, including live on-line programming in Spanish (Teología Sin Vergüenza media project), an English language political education podcast (Go with Grace), and various self-guided programs and educational material available on our website in addition to in-person programming and consultation

With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,

How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?

Over the last few years we have intentionally shifted to serve communities impacted the most by white Christian Supremacy, namely queer and trans Black, Indigenous, People of Color. In alignment with that politic, Soulforce also centers the leadership of Queer Trans Persons Of Color (QTPOC).

Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback,

What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time,