Participants may access the surveys through their Mighty Networks accounts or through the direct links included in the reminder emails.

Member organizations are free to supplement CO.STARTERS surveys with any additional data collection techniques; we recommend collecting additional information through an application form. 

This depends on the size of your cohort and how reliable you want your impact data to be. Smaller cohorts will need higher response rates to ensure reliable data. However, >60% is a good target for a typical CO.STARTERS cohort. If your cohort’s survey response rates are unreliably low, we will notify [...]

We send at least three reminder emails before exporting the survey data for analysis and reporting purposes. We allow at least two weeks for participants to complete each survey.

Yes, we will share links to both a PDF of your cohort report and a spreadsheet with raw survey data, individual signifiers removed.

Cohort reports are made available 2-4 weeks after a cohort ends. Cohort reports do take time to prepare, but the speed with which your participants answer surveys is the largest factor determining how quickly you will receive the report.

Chances are that all or some of your organization’s work is funded by grant money. Anyone who has applied for a grant knows how helpful impact data can be when persuading a potential funder. This information will be readily available in the form of a concise cohort report, easily shareable with stakeholders [...]

All data collected by CO.STARTERS is reported in the aggregate to member organizations. Any testimonials gathered are attributed to first names or initials only when shared. CO.STARTERS does use individual signifiers (registrant IDs or email addresses) for internal purposes.

Through our participant surveys, we collect data concerning personal demographics, information about participants’ businesses (including employment and revenue-related metrics), skill/confidence growth through the program, and testimonials.