Appendix F - Advance Letters and Reminders Postcards Emails

Appendix F: Advance Letters and Reminder Postcards/Emails

D EPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

370 L’Enfant Promenade, S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20447

Date

Executive Director GRANTEE ADVANCE LETTER

ORGANIZATION NAME DRAFT per 06-16-2011

STREET ADDRESS

CITY, STATE ZIP

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families has asked the Urban Institute to conduct an evaluation of the Strengthening Communities Fund (SCF) program. The Urban Institute (UI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization based in Washington, D.C. You may recall that this evaluation and the Urban Institute team were introduced at the SCF grantee conference in January 2010.

The purpose of the study is to assess how well the SCF program is meeting its objective of improving the organizational capacity of nonprofit and faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs). All SCF grantees are being asked to participate in a brief on-line survey and telephone interview. In addition, the FBCOs that received your help through a capacity-building grant or intensive technical assistance will be contacted and asked to participate in a brief on-line survey. Please encourage these organizations to participate in the survey.

It is important that your organization be represented in this study, so we can obtain information from all grantees that received awards under the SCF program. The Urban Institute will be contacting you soon with instructions on how to log-in and participate in the online survey. Later, a UI team member will call your organization to schedule a telephone interview.

The information you provide will be seen only by Urban Institute staff for the sole purpose of learning about the effects of capacity building services supported through the SCF program. Your answers will be combined with those of other organizations that received SCF grants. Results of the study will be reported across organizations. Information you provide will be treated in a private manner and neither you nor your organization will be identified to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.

While participation in the study is voluntary and refusal to participate will not affect your grant in any way, you are strongly encouraged to participate so your organization’s unique experience is reflected in the study and the overall findings represent organizations such as yours.

If you have any questions, the UI team will be glad to answer them. Please call the UI Survey Hotline 1-800-xxx-xxx and ask for the “SCF Capacity Study” or email questions to NonprofitSurvey@urban.org. Thank you in advance for your help and participation.

Sincerely,

Rafael J. Elizalde, MPA

Program Manager

Strengthening Communities Fund

Office of Community Services

Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy ▪ 2100 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037 ▪ (202) 261- 5397 ▪ www.urban.org

Date

Executive Director LETTER FOR FBCOs with grants

ORGANIZATION NAME DRAFT per 06-16-2011

STREET ADDRESS

CITY, STATE ZIP

We need your help! The Urban Institute has been asked by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, to conduct an evaluation of the Strengthening Communities Fund (SCF) program. The purpose of the study is to assess how well the SCF program is meeting its primary objective of improving the organizational capacity of nonprofit and faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs). The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization in Washington, D.C.

Your organization was selected to participate in this important study because it received capacity-building assistance, such as financial assistance (a grant), training or technical assistance from a SCF-funded organization. We are asking you to complete a short questionnaire about your experience with the SCF program. It is important that your organization be represented in this survey so we can obtain complete and accurate information from the organizations that received assistance under the SCF program. In fact, the success of the study depends on your participation.

To take the survey online, please go to the following website:

https://surveys.urban.org/[ADD CODE NAME]

Enter the following username and access code:

Username: <<USERNAME>> Access Code: nonprofit

The survey should take approximately 30 minutes to complete.

The information you provide will be seen only by Urban Institute staff for the sole purpose of learning about the effects of capacity building services supported through the SCF program. Your answers will be combined with those of other organizations that received assistance through SCF. Results of the study will be reported across organizations. We will treat your information in a private manner and will not identify you or your organization to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.

We appreciate your participation in this survey. You do not have to answer any questions you do not want to answer. While completing the survey is voluntary and refusal to participate will not affect the assistance you receive in any way, you are strongly encouraged to participate so your organization’s unique experience is reflected in the study and the overall findings represent organizations such as yours.

If you have any questions, either now or after you complete the survey, we will be glad to answer them. Please call us at the UI Survey Hotline 1-800-xxx-xxx and ask for the “SCF Capacity Study” or email us at NonprofitSurvey@urban.org. If you are not able to take the survey online, please contact us through the hotline or email address and we will mail you a paper version of the survey to complete and return to us by mail. Thank you in advance for your help and participation!

Sincerely,

Carol J. De Vita, Ph.D.

Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the SCF Evaluation Study

Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy ▪ 2100 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037 ▪ (202) 261- 5397 ▪ www.urban.org

Date

Executive Director LETTER FOR FBCOs helped by gov’t grantees

ORGANIZATION NAME DRAFT per 06-16-2011

STREET ADDRESS

CITY, STATE ZIP

We need your help! The Urban Institute has been asked by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, to conduct an evaluation of the Strengthening Communities Fund (SCF) program. The purpose of the study is to assess how well the SCF program is meeting its primary objective of improving the organizational capacity of nonprofit and faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs). The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization in Washington, D.C.

Your organization was selected to participate in this important study because it received training and/or technical assistance from a SCF-funded entity to help build your organization’s capacity. We are asking you to complete a short questionnaire about your experience with the SCF program. It is important that your organization be represented in this survey so we can obtain complete and accurate information from the organizations that received assistance under the SCF program. In fact, the success of the study depends on your participation.

To take the survey online, please go to the following website:

https://surveys.urban.org/[ADD CODE NAME]

Enter the following username and access code:

Username: <<USERNAME>> Access Code: nonprofit

The survey should take approximately 30 minutes to complete.

The information you provide will be seen only by Urban Institute staff for the sole purpose of learning about the effects of capacity building services supported through the SCF program. Your answers will be combined with those of other organizations that received assistance through SCF. Results of the study will be reported across organizations. We will treat your information in a private manner and will not identify you or your organization to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.

We appreciate your participation in this survey. You do not have to answer any questions you do not want to answer. While completing the survey is voluntary and refusal to participate will not affect the assistance you receive in any way, you are strongly encouraged to participate so your organization’s unique experience is reflected in the study, and the overall findings represent organizations such as yours.

If you have any questions, either now or after you complete the survey, we will be glad to answer them. Please call us at the UI Survey Hotline 1-800-xxx-xxx and ask for the “SCF Capacity Study” or email us at NonprofitSurvey@urban.org. If you are not able to take the survey online, please contact us through the hotline or email address, and we will mail you a paper version of the survey to complete and return to us by mail. Thank you in advance for your help and participation!

Sincerely,

Carol J. De Vita, Ph.D.

Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the SCF Evaluation Study

Postcard/Email Reminders

DRAFT per June 16, 2011

Dear Name:

Recently, we sent you a letter asking you to participate in a survey to help us assess how well the SCF program is meeting its objective of improving the capacity of nonprofit and faith-based and community organizations. We are conducting this study on behalf of the Strengthening Communities Fund program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. If you have already completed the survey, thank you for your help!

If not, please go online to access the survey. You will find it at https://surveys.urban.org/[CODENAME]. Use the code <RespID> to access the survey on the web.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact me at NonprofitSurvey@urban.org or call 1-800-xxx-xxxx.

Thank you very much!

Sincerely,

Carol J. De Vita

Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute and

Co-Director of the SCF Evaluation Study

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