Applied Research

Using an established track record for rigorous methodology and unflinching analysis, we can get you beyond the anecdotes and stories, and help you develop the kind of metrics that unleash creativity and innovation in your field of work. We are widely regarded as one of the strongest applied research organizations in the field.

Although we bring academic rigor to our research, we are not an academic organization. The emphasis of all our research is its practical application. But we do believe in the value of good research and, in fact, consider the common aversion to research in the nonprofit funding community to be highly dysfunctional.

Please contact us if you’re interested in working together on a research project for your organization.
 

Case Studies

Available Titles Measuring the Value of Nonprofit Data Portals: An i4 Case Study on Backlinks as a Relevance Metric By Michael Gilbert & Mike Bergfors Exploring Email Marketing: An i4 Case Study on Applied Research By Michael Gilbert & Mike Bergfors Grantmaker Collaboration: An i4 Case Study on Talking the Talk vs. Walking the Walk By Michael Gilbert & Mike Bergfors Pageviews vs. Visitors: An i4 Case Study of Web Analytics By Mike Bergfors & Michael Gilbert Learn More About Case Studies

Doing Well by Doing Good?: A Report on Work Satisfaction in Civil Society A LifeWork Report by Michael C. Gilbert We conducted a survey of the readers of Nonprofit News and others on the topic of life work satisfaction in civil society organizations. With a total of 433 respondents, we acquired a base of fairly useful data. We then aggregated this information with other reports, including the Pew American Work Life Survey in order to draw conclusions in three main topic areas: comparing work satisfaction in civil society to work satisfaction in society at large, how people reflect critically on their work life, and the relationship of a personal practice of such reflection to work satisfaction.This report focuses on the quantitative results of that analysis. (Learn More)

The Guide to Nonprofit Email: Essential Strategies, Practices, and Resources By Michael C. Gilbert, et al We’re very pleased to be offering this extensive new publication to you. It contains thirteen feature articles, seven Quicksheets, and 111 resources, which are divided into seventeen categories, including Communication Strategy, Email Newsletters, Fundraising, Knowledge Management, and Web Related Issues, and are meant to be perused in any order you like. (Learn More) Related Articles from The Nonprofit Email Survey Following the publication of the Gilbert Email Manifesto, the dam seemed to break on the subject of nonprofit use of email. As a result, we conducted a survey of 900 Nonprofit Organizations and their use of email. The analysis of the Survey Results is here: Disconnected: The First Nonprofit Email Survey (HTML version) And a related article on those results is here: The Email Savvy Organization (HTML version)

Work-Life Satisfaction Survey

• Lifework Website with Survey Results (HTML version)
  • You can also download a free (PDF) copy of the report.
  • Or Purchase a copy in book form.
     

Blogging Survey

• Free Article: Readers as Resources: A First Look at our 2006 Blogging Survey
  • Published at Nonprofit Online News (HTML version)
     

RSS Grants Survey

• Free Article: Toward Network-Centric Philanthropy: Some Insights from the RSS Grants Survey
  • Published at Nonprofit Online News (HTML version)
     

The Nonprofit Email Study

• Section Links: About | Participating Consultants | Participating Organizations
   

The Nonprofit Email Survey

• Following the publication of the Gilbert Email Manifesto, the dam seemed to break on the subject of nonprofit use of email. As a result, we conducted a survey of 900 Nonprofit Organizations and their use of email.
   
• The analysis of the Survey Results is here: Disconnected: The First Nonprofit Email Survey (HTML version)
  • You can also Order a Free White Paper (PDF version)
     
• And a related article on those results is here: The Email Savvy Organization (HTML version)
  • You can also Order a Free White Paper (PDF version)
     

The Nonprofit SiteAnlyzer Reports

• Free report available here on the website (html version)
  • Section Links: Top | About Site Analyzer | Past Reports | Feedback
  • You can also Order a Free White Paper (PDF version)
     
• Related Article: Why Websites Fail
  • As the author of the Nonprofit Site Analyzer Reports Michael Gilbert had looked at thousands of nonprofit web sites. This lead to his teaching a workshop at the 1998 Nonprofit Day in San Francisco, to 80+ local nonprofit representatives, titled: “Why Web Sites Fail and What To Do About It”. Here is a related article, Published at Nonprofit Online News, the following Spring. (HTML version)
     

Nonprofit NetMeter

• Free Article: Information Is Not Knowledge: Six Months of the Nonprofit NetMeter
  • Published at Nonprofit News (HTML version)