Measuring Social Connection
Social Connection Impact in Three Questions
Programs across America are building social connection every day. Food banks where regulars become friends. YMCAs where classes become communities. Volunteer programs that connect neighbors across difference. The impact is real — and almost entirely unmeasured.
That needs to change.
Funders increasingly recognize social isolation as a root cause of the challenges their grantees work to address — from mental health to economic mobility to civic disengagement. Programs that can demonstrate connection impact have a stronger story to tell and a clearer path to improving outcomes.
You don't need a 40-question academic survey. You need three questions added to what you're already doing.
The US Chamber of Connection Social Impact Questions
Grounded in the evidence base and extensive research on social connection, these three questions are designed to be added to any existing participant survey.
Question 1: The Six Points of Connection
Because of your involvement with [ORGANIZATION], did any of the following happen? (Select all that apply)
I got to know a neighbor I could ask for help if I needed it
I became part of a community of people who share an identity, background, or life experience with me
I spent more time one-on-one with people outside my household or work than before
I found and spent time in a place outside my home or work where I feel a sense of belonging
I joined a group that meets regularly to do activities together
I got more involved in helping or volunteering in my community
What it measures
Each answer option maps to one of the Six Points of Connection — the dimensions of social connection that research shows people need to thrive and contribute to thriving communities. Together they predict outcomes including trust, sense of social support, civic engagement, and personal fulfillment. This isn't a satisfaction question. It's a profile of what kind of connection your program is actually building.
If you're improving outcomes
Look at which points are landing and which aren't. A food bank that scores high on communities of activity but low on one-on-one connection might add a volunteer buddy program. A YMCA that builds group participation but not community involvement might create a pathway to local service. The pattern tells you where to invest.
If you're raising money
Funders don't just want to know you served people — they want to know you changed something. This question lets you say: 73% of participants developed a neighbor they could turn to for help. 61% found a place outside their home where they belong. Those are fundable outcomes. They connect your program directly to the social connection crisis funders are increasingly trying to solve.
Question 2: Narrative
What is one specific example of how your relationships or sense of community changed as a result of your involvement with [ORGANIZATION]?
(open field)
What it measures
The mechanism. This open-ended question surfaces the specific moments, relationships, and shifts that your program made possible — the human evidence behind the numbers.
If you're improving outcomes
Read these responses looking for patterns. Are people describing the same moment? The same barrier that almost stopped them? The same person who made the difference? That's your program theory in plain language, often clearer than anything your staff would write.
If you're raising money
This is your grant narrative, your annual report, your board presentation. One real answer from a real participant will do more work than three pages of program description. Collect these systematically and you'll never struggle for a story again.
Question 3: Bridging Difference
Did you meet or spend time with anyone through [ORGANIZATION] who is from a different background than you — such as a different race or ethnicity, age group, income level, or political viewpoint?
Yes
No
Not sure
What it measures
Bridging — connection across race, age, income, and political difference — is among the hardest social outcomes to produce and among the most consequential. It predicts community trust, reduced polarization, and economic mobility in ways that same-background connection does not. Most programs have no idea whether they're producing it.
If you're improving outcomes
A yes here means your program is creating conditions for bridging. A mostly-no signals that participation may be siloed even if attendance looks diverse. That's a program design question worth asking — about how people are grouped, how activities are structured, whether there are enough repeated interactions for cross-difference relationships to form.
If you're raising money
Bridging is a priority for a growing number of funders — in health, civic, workforce, and community development. Being able to say your program produces it, with data, puts you in a category most applicants can't reach. It also positions your work as relevant to some of the largest philanthropic priorities of this decade: trust, cohesion, and reducing polarization.
Want to go deeper?
The US Chamber of Connection’s 2026 report includes everything you need to develop a more indepth measure of social connection.
Join the Movement
Choose how you want to help rebuild connection in your community.
For Cities
Bring the Chamber of Connection to Your City
Launch a local Chamber of Connection to help newcomers and longtime residents build trust, belonging, and shared ownership — using the Six Points of Connection and shared national infrastructure.
For Employers
Turn Employee Volunteering into Community Impact
Engage employees as trained Welcome Committee volunteers — helping reconnect neighborhoods while supporting wellbeing, retention, and local impact through our national program.
For Everyone
Become a Welcome Committee Volunteer
Join neighbors in your community to welcome newcomers, host gatherings, and help rebuild connection where you live — one relationship at a time.