Thanks to a marketing research program called Quest, United Way organizations can now gather valuable information easily and inexpensively about their donors and how those donors feel about the functions and responsibilities of the United Way. Previously, the cost of research was prohibitive and often organizations lacked adequate know-how.

"We have given the tool of marketing research to local United Way organizations that couldn't afford to do it on their own or who didn't know where to start," said Robert O'Connor, marketing research director of the national United Way of America in Alexandria, Va.

Quest participants simply administer a survey questionnaire to their respondents. Using an easy learner instruction manual, the data collected is then plugged into a computer software program which interprets the findings of the surveys.

Quest, which has been available to United Way organizations since February, 1985, was created through a team effort by Donna Chmielewski who did the early conceptual work, and William Phillips, vice president of research at the national United Way. O'Connor and Donald Rickert were also involved in the development of Quest.

Quest Participants

Currently, there are 2,200 United Way organizations which are members of the national United Way of America. The Quest package price for these local United Ways ranges from $380-450. The package includes an instruction manual, the survey questionnaire, the computer software package and a step-by-step manual to help the participants become comfortable using the software and in doing a preliminary marketing research project. It's necessary for the Quest participant to also have an IBM PC or compatible machine for plugging in the data obtained from the survey questionnaire.

Although smaller United Ways may perceive that Quest is expensive, it's relatively inexpensive considering it can be used year after year. Already 115 United Way organizations have purchased the package and have altogether conducted 45,000 surveys.

"Our major market has been the 300 or so United Ways who have raised $1 million or more annually," O'Connor said. "They account for 80% of the money raised by the United Way. But I'm anticipating many more will participate."

Previous Projects

O'Connor, who holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and has worked for trade associations as a public opinion researcher and market researcher, said Quest originated from several survey projects conducted between 1982-84. Unlike Quest, the previous projects were almost completely done by the national United Way of America for local United Ways. The national United Way developed the questionnaires and distributed them to the local United Ways. Local United Ways then distributed the questionnaire to their workplace respondents and sent the completed questionnaires back to the national United Way for data processing and for compiling the final report. In the three-year period these projects were available, only 31 cities made use of them providing 11,000 surveys as a database.

"In retrospect, it is surprising more local United Ways didn't take advantage of the questionnaires," O'Connor said.

Even with these 31 cities, the data processing soon proved overwhelming and maintaining and distributing the projects inefficient.

"In addition, it was difficult for the national organization to be sensitive to writing the report to fit local market conditions,'' O'Connor said.

The old projects, however, provided a model which O'Connor and Rickert used to make improvements and changes in building Quest. One change included an easy step-by-step manual, primarily for those not familiar with computers so that United Way organizations could be more active in gathering and interpreting their own data. In comparison to the old projects, Quest allows each United Way to process its own data and build its own expertise.

''It's a real appeal to know that you can learn how to conduct a marketing research project and be self-sufficient," O'Connor said. "Quest is intended to make the participants more autonomous to start and conduct their own marketing research."

Quest Package

The "connect-the-dots" manual is where the participants start in the first of the three-part Quest package. The manual contains two sections. The first is an introduction to marketing research. It explains the format of the questionnaire, how to administer the surveys properly, how to process the questions, how to make sense of the data and interpret it based on where and how the data was obtained and how to write questions. The second part of the manual explains how to get started on the software. Included is the easy learner manual that serves as a type of "pre-test'' in doing a Quest marketing research project prior to getting started on the actual project.

The second part of the package is the 67-question survey which takes respondents less than 20 minutes to complete. It covers six broad areas. The first area measures people's attitudes and perceptions of the United Way and what kind of image it projects to the public. The second part asks about the functions of the organization and if people are satisfied with what it is doing and lists suggestions for United Way activities. The third part asks respondent's opinions about the United Way's service areas such as recreation, aid to the mentally handicapped and day care services. This portion of the questionnaire establishes the importance of these services to people and how the funding money should be distributed among these services. The fourth part of the questionnaire asks people how they believe United Way distributes its funding. The fifth area asks how people feel about the United Way in general and whether they have ever been involved with it or donated money. If they have given, why did they and if they haven't, why not.

Workplace Distribution

While the United Way organizations are not required to go to any particular place to distribute the questionnaire, Quest is geared toward and most commonly conducted h1 the workplace. The manual explains how a workplace survey can be most effectively conducted. Some United Way organizations, O'Connor said, pick workplaces by going to the companies from which the bulk of their donated money comes. This may be as many as 60 or 70 companies. Some United Way organizations divide companies into low, medium and high per capita giving lists and draw random samples from the three.

The final part of Quest is the computer software package. "The PC compatible software around which Quest is built is called ABtab," O'Connor said.

"It was designed specifically for the United Way's marketing research project, allowing participants to do both simple and detailed analyses of the collected data."

Once the process is completed, the results from the data can provide participants with a lot of information that they couldn't have otherwise obtained. This data helps United Way in:

1. Communication Strategy.

The data helps in formulating and structuring the messages in United Way films, television commercials and print ads.

2. Key Services.

United Way can identify which services are important and most used by their donors.

3. Fund-raising.

The questionnaire also helps United Way develop and implement a more effective campaign. It reveals point-of-purchase information, helps indicate what the campaign should emphasize, what the fund-raisers should talk about, how the funds should be allocated and how to reach out better to non-donors. "It gives us a direction on how to change and be more responsive to donors and non-donors," O'Connor said.

Those who have used Quest have been particularly pleased with its flexibility. It allows participants to conduct the survey in their own way and add, delete or modify questions. One participant, for example, distributed the questionnaire direct mail instead of going to the workplace.

O'Connor encourages local United Ways to customize the project to fit their own needs but he hopes to keep a common core. If the survey becomes too customized, it becomes more difficult to interpret the data and to make comparisons from year to year.

O'Connor has received many of the results from Quest participants and said that interpreting those surveys which have been customized is probably the toughest "problem" he has encountered since starting Quest. Actually, its incredible how smoothly the project has run, O'Connor said. "All the difficulties with Quest can be counted on the fingers of one hand."

Overall, the marketing research capabilities through Quest have been ''successful beyond our wildest dreams" and have enabled the United Way organizations to reach and meet the needs and wants of the donor. In addition, Quest is helping the United Way find out what people know or don't know about the organization.

"One thing we learned is how little people know about our organization. Many people don't realize we are a high efficiency fund-raiser. We help people who need help. Another thing people don't realize is that the money raised by our organization is dispersed locally," O'Connor said. "What it comes down to is that the more informed people are, the better donors they are. When people are uninformed, it can have adverse consequences for us."