IN PERSON EVENT | Survey Rx: Better Surveys, Smarter Visuals, Real Insight

Survey Rx
Better Surveys, Smarter Visuals, Real Insight

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

2:00 – 2:30 Registration
2:30 – 5:00 Workshop

Evanston Public Library
1703 Orrington Avenue | Evanston, IL
First-floor community meeting room (Room 107)

Other Considerations

• Parking and transit information will be sent with registration confirmation
• Feel free to stay afterwards for happy hour at a location near the library
• This event is open and free to ACN members and staff from nonprofit organizations. Non-members consultants who wish to attend should purchase an ACN membership, here, to qualify for a ticket.

Workshop Description

Most organizations use surveys to improve their work—but often, the data doesn’t deliver. The questions miss the mark. The response rate is low. The results feel thin or confusing. And when it’s time to act, the charts don’t reveal much you can trust or use. This workshop (aka survey clinic) is here to fix that. With guidance from data experts, you'll gain practical tips to confidently review survey design and survey data visualizations—so you can spot what’s meaningful (and what’s missing), even if you don’t have a stats degree. Whether you’re gathering feedback from staff, clients, or community members, this hands-on session for consultants and nonprofit staff will help you stop wishing for better data—and start using surveys as a real tool for learning and improvement.

Objectives

• Spot problems in a survey’s design and know options for fixing those
• Choose visualizations that clearly communicate survey results
• Keep surveys and visuals tightly aligned with intended use

Facilitator Bios

Monica Kaiser, MEd is an evaluation and data consultant who helps nonprofits strengthen their use of data for performance improvement and learning, impact reporting, and fundraising. She brings more than 25 years of experience in applied research, program evaluation, and data capacity-building. Prior to founding her own practice, Monica served as Senior Researcher and Director of Operations at Lodestar Management/Research, where she led large-scale, multi-year, mixed-methods evaluations. She brings a learning-centered, hands-on approach to consulting, helping organizations move from “data we have” to “data that helps.”

Amelia Kohm, PhD is the founder of Data Viz for Nonprofits, where she helps organizations turn complex data into clear, compelling visuals that drive learning and impact. With more than 25 years of experience in human services research, funding, and evaluation, Amelia has led studies at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and served as a program officer at the Sears Roebuck Foundation and Illinois Humanities Council. She designs custom dashboards, reports, and infographics for nonprofits and leads trainings on practical, decision-focused data visualization.