"Between 2006 and 2012, The Wallace Foundation funded 54 organizations to develop and test approaches for expanding audiences informed by the RAND Corporation’s guidance. Among the 46 organizations with reliable data, the results were surprisingly positive. For example, over three years, the 11 organizations seeking to boost their overall audiences saw median gains of 27 percent. Results for the 35 organizations targeting specific audience segments were even higher—60 percent—though it’s important to note that in some cases organizations were starting from a small base. This kind of success backed by hard data—unusual in studies of audience-building efforts—was heartening. But for these results to be useful to the field, arts organizations would also need a more detailed understanding of what was behind them. We asked Bob Harlow, a noted market researcher, to take on that task. He looked closely at 10 of the 54 organizations, writing a case study evaluation for each. (Four have been published so far.) The Road to Results looks across all 10, and identifies nine practices they shared in common" [Introducton, vi]

The report includes an infographic that gives a snap shot of "Nine Effective Practices of Audience-BuildingPrograms."

Bob Harlow, along with the RAND Corporation and The Wallace Foundation discover that in order for Non-Profits to be sustainable and to stay relevant to their publics, they must turn their focuses towards audience building. In this study, we find that in order to grow audiences, organizations must 1. Recognize when change is needed, 2. Identify the target audience that fits their organization, 3. Determine what kinds of barriers need removal, 4. Take out all guesswork and use audience research to clarify approaches, 5. Think through their audience to organizational relationship, 6. Provide multiple access points to the organization, 7. Align the entire organization around this new strategy, 8. Be open to learning, 9. Be ready to develop new ways of working and programming for measured success.