Form 1 AFI Outreach Assessment

2015 AFI Outreach

Survey Materials

Contents

Email to Respondent Pool 2

Questions for Subgroup 1 3

Questions for Subgroup 2 6

Email to Respondent Pool

All requestors (Survey links will correspond to the subgroup)

Dear {First Name},

The Assets for Independence (AFI) program is gathering information to understand how the AFI Resource Center supports potential applicants in pursuing AFI funding and requests your participation in a survey. Your opinion is important because it will help us improve our services and materials. We are interested in your responses whether or not you submitted an AFI application and regardless of the result of that application.

Please complete the survey at this address: [link] by [date 10 business days after email is sent].

AFI is a federal program administered by the Office for Community Services (OCS). AFI provides grants to eligible entities to implement projects that demonstrate an asset-based approach for addressing poverty. AFI projects provide individual development accounts to low-income individuals to facilitate the purchase of a first home, fund post-secondary education or training, or capitalize a business.

This survey should be completed by the person at your organization who worked most closely with the AFI Resource Center during the application process. Your responses will be kept confidential; responses will be de-identified and aggregated for analysis.

We greatly appreciate your participation in this survey. If you have any questions about this effort, please contact the AFI Resource Center at 1-866-778-6037 or via email at [email protected].

Sincerely,

AFI Resource Center Outreach Team

Questions for Subgroup 1

Requestors who submitted an application since Sept. 2013 and were not funded.

Page One: Welcome

The Assets for Independence (AFI) program is gathering information to understand how the AFI Resource Center supports potential applicants in pursuing AFI funding and requests your participation in this survey. Your opinion is important because it will help us improve our services and materials. We are interested in your responses whether or not you submitted an AFI application and regardless of the result of that application.

This survey should be completed by the person at your organization who worked most closely with the AFI Resource Center during the application process. Your responses will be kept confidential; responses will be de-identified and aggregated for analysis.

Page Two: Outreach

Q1. How did you initially learned about the AFI program? We seek to understand which of our outreach methods are most effective.

() From a listserv

() At a conference

() On a webinar

() In an email from a colleague

() Other: ______________________________________

Q2. Please list the specific name (e.g., United Way of the National Capital Area) of the organization that introduced you to AFI.

(Conditional upon response to Q2)

Listserv organizer/sponsor: ______________________________________

Conference organizer/sponsor: ______________________________________

Webinar organizer/sponsor: ______________________________________

Colleague email - what organization did they work for at the time? ______________________

Page Three: Application Submission

Our records indicate that your organization has submitted an application for AFI funding since Sept. 2013.

Q3. Describe any challenges you encountered while preparing your AFI application.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q4. Did you experience any other challenges while preparing an application? (Select all that apply)

() Raising non-Federal cash contribution

() Recruiting implementation partners

() Not enough time to plan AFI project before application was due

() Application process was not clear

Page Four: AFI Resource Center Resources

Q5. Please indicate how useful you found each service offered by the AFI Resource Center. Please rate on a scale from 1 to 5 where ‘1’ is Not Very Useful and ‘5’ is Very Useful.

	1 Not Very Useful	2 Not Useful	3 Neutral	4 Useful	5 Very Useful	Not Appli-cable
Application information and materials available on the AFI Resource Center website (e.g., AFI Project Builder and Toolkit, Guidance on Documentation of Non-Federal Cash Commitment, Guidance on Completing the Standard Budget Forms)
Prospective Grantee Webinars (e.g., Introduction to the 2015 AFI FOA, Understanding the AFI Program, Preparing an AFI Application, Developing Resources and Partners, Grants.gov and the Two-File Requirement)
Email updates (Blast emails sent from the AFI Resource Center [email protected])
One-on-one technical assistance (Assistance provided by AFI Resource Center staff via email or phone)
June 2015 Intensive Coaching Cohort (Small group conference calls held in May and June 2015 for potential AFI applicants to discuss progress and challenges)

Q6. If you rated any service at a ‘1’ or ‘2,’ please provide any feedback on how it could be improved.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q7. Did you participate in any other services offered by the AFI Resource Center?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q8. What other services, if any, do you think would be helpful for the AFI Resource Center to provide?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q9. If you have any additional comments, please enter them here.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page Five: Thank You

We greatly appreciate your time in completing this survey.

If you have any questions about this effort or additional feedback, please contact the AFI Resource Center at 1-866-778-6037 or via email at [email protected].

Questions for Subgroup 2

Requestors who have not submitted an application since Sept. 2013.

Page One: Welcome

The Assets for Independence (AFI) program is gathering information to understand how the AFI Resource Center supports potential applicants in pursuing AFI funding and requests your participation in this survey. Your opinion is important because it will help us improve our services and materials. We are interested in your responses whether or not you submitted an AFI application and regardless of the result of that application.

This survey should be completed by the person at your organization who worked most closely with the AFI Resource Center during the application process. Your responses will be kept confidential; responses will be de-identified and aggregated for analysis.

Page Two: Outreach

Q1. How did you initially learned about the AFI program? We seek to understand which of our outreach methods are most effective.

() From a listserv

() At a conference

() On a webinar

() In an email from a colleague

() Other: ______________________________________

Q2. Please list the specific name (e.g., United Way of the National Capital Area) of the organization that introduced you to AFI.

(Conditional upon response to Q2)

Listserv organizer/sponsor: ______________________________________

Conference organizer/sponsor: ______________________________________

Webinar organizer/sponsor: ______________________________________

Colleague email - what organization did they work for at the time? ______________________

Page Three: Application Submission

Our records indicate that your organization did not submit an application for AFI funding.

Q3. Describe the barriers that prevented you from submitting an application.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q4. Did you experience any other barriers to submitting an application? (Select all that apply)

() Raising non-Federal cash contribution

() Recruiting implementation partners

() People we serve don’t meet AFI IDA eligibility guidelines (e.g., income guidelines)

() Not enough time to plan AFI project before application was due

() Application process was not clear

Page Four: AFI Resource Center Resources

Q5. Please indicate how useful you found each service offered by the AFI Resource Center. Please rate on a scale from 1 to 5 where ‘1’ is Not Very Useful and ‘5’ is Very Useful.

	1 Not Very Useful	2 Not Useful	3 Neutral	4 Useful	5 Very Useful	Not Appli-cable
Application information and materials available on the AFI Resource Center website (e.g., AFI Project Builder and Toolkit, Guidance on Documentation of Non-Federal Cash Commitment, Guidance on Completing the Standard Budget Forms)
Prospective Grantee Webinars (e.g., Introduction to the 2015 AFI FOA, Understanding the AFI Program, Preparing an AFI Application, Developing Resources and Partners, Grants.gov and the Two-File Requirement)
Email updates (Blast emails sent from the AFI Resource Center [email protected])
One-on-one technical assistance (Assistance provided by AFI Resource Center staff via email or phone)
June 2015 Intensive Coaching Cohort (Small group conference calls held in May and June 2015 for potential AFI applicants to discuss progress and challenges)

Q6. If you rated any service at a ‘1’ or ‘2,’ please provide any feedback on how it could be improved.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q7. Did you participate in any other services offered by the AFI Resource Center?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q8. What other services, if any, do you think would be helpful for the AFI Resource Center to provide?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q9. If you have any additional comments, please enter them here.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page Five: Thank You

We greatly appreciate your time in completing this survey.

If you have any questions about this effort or additional feedback, please contact the AFI Resource Center at 1-866-778-6037 or via email at [email protected].

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