The Ability Experience: Market Research, Rooted in Community 

The Ability Experience is making a national impact with what might seem like an unlikely pairing – the disability community and fraternity brothers. 

As the philanthropic initiative of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, this national nonprofit champions the abilities of all people while transforming how the world sees both individuals with disabilities and fraternity members. They focus on creating meaningful shared experiences through immersive servant leadership – and to challenge the labels that often define us. 

The Challenge

Pi Kappa Phi recently completed a long-range strategic plan to grow the greater organization’s impact. As The Ability Experience looked at how to support that plan, they wanted to ensure their efforts aligned with the voices of the people it would directly impact.

Their constituency includes a diverse and national audience, including fraternity members, alumni, nonprofit partners, and individuals living with disabilities and their families. With a mission focused around ‘meaningful shared experiences,’ they wanted to answer the questions: “Are these meaningful shared experiences meaningful to each group? And how can we increase engagement in ways that resonate with each group?”  

The Solution

The Ability Experience partnered with Porch Light Creative to conduct market research that was rooted in community voice. This approach centers the voices most impacted by the organization – in this case, individuals with disabilities, fraternity members, alumni and nonprofit partners.  The Ability Experience wanted meaningful feedback and opinions that would help them deepen their approach and effectively engage more people. We cultivated that feedback through three primary elements: 

• A foundation-setting workshop. We started by bringing the team together to identify priority audiences and surface the assumptions they wanted to test. This collaborative session ensured everyone was aligned on the questions and expectations.
• Survey Research – We designed and analyzed a comprehensive survey distributed across all four stakeholder groups. The goal wasn’t just data collection. We wanted to understand what each group found most valuable about their experiences with The Ability Experience, while honestly examining both strengths and opportunities for growth.
• Focus Groups – These focused conversations added depth and color to the survey data. We conducted five virtual focus groups that represented each stakeholder perspective, ensuring representation from across the country and from a range of experiences. These sessions provided crucial context and created genuine two-way dialogue between The Ability Experience and their community.

The Results

The research revealed something powerful: every stakeholder group was already deeply connected to The Ability Experience’s mission of creating “meaningful shared experiences.” The validation was clear – this work matters to everyone involved.

But the really valuable insights came in hearing where people wanted more and different engagement. Feedback consistently pointed toward bringing these experiences and partnerships to more people, more locally, and more frequently. 

The research didn’t just confirm what The Ability Experience was doing right – it gave them insight into what would deepen those experiences for their core constituents, building a national community that would also resonate locally. The end result was a report that clearly articulated those insights, while providing clear questions and next steps that would support individuals with disabilities while developing the men of Pi Kappa Phi into servant leaders.. 

“This project confirmed what we’ve always believed,” said Basil Lyberg, President and Executive Director of The Ability Experience. “meaningful shared experiences matter to everyone. Porch Light Creative helped us listen to our community in new ways, and those insights will guide how we expand our mission—creating greater impact for individuals with disabilities and shaping the next generation of servant leaders within Pi Kappa Phi.”