A Note about the Center for Effective Philanthropy's Grantee Perception ReportTM
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is committed to being responsible stewards of the resources entrusted to us. To fulfill our mission, it is critical to foster strong, collaborative partnerships with our grantees and other stakeholders. We believe these partnerships will only be strengthened by listening to and understanding our grantees’ perspectives about our work. Their feedback helps us determine what works and address what does not. To this end the Foundation has again engaged the services of the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) to survey how our grantees perceive us.
CEP has surveyed more than 60,000 grantees of more than 200 foundations since it began conducting this research in 2000. The Grantee Perception Report™ (GPR) is a confidential survey that covers a range of topics, including grantee perceptions of the Foundation’s impact in the fields it supports, the clarity and consistency of its communications, and the grant application and implementation processes. The results compare the Foundation to its peers, to the broader philanthropy field, and, in this most recent report, to the responses given by grantees when we first engaged CEP in 2004.
For this survey, CEP contacted 436 recipients of Foundation grants in 2007. Of those organizations, 296 responded to the survey, representing a response rate of 68 percent (this compares to 56 responses, representing a 79 percent response rate, in 2004). For most survey questions, we were able to compare responses to those from our 2004 GPR. CEP conducted its research for this latest report in May and June 2008.
Among the findings, the report indicates significant improvement since 2004 in grantees’ perceptions of their relationships with the Foundation, the helpfulness of the Foundation’s selection and evaluation processes, and the Foundation’s impact on grantees’ fields, communities, and organizations. While we are pleased that the Foundation has improved substantially since the first grantee survey was done in 2004, grantees’ responses also placed the Foundation below average for its responsiveness to grantees and for the clarity and consistency of its communications.
Together with the results of an internal review that the Foundation is undertaking, these findings provide us with important feedback to help assess our work and its impact. We recognize that there are still a number of areas for continued significant improvement. The compiled input from these surveys will be invaluable in continuing to make positive changes here.
We appreciate the time and thoughtful responses from our grantees to the Grantee Perception Survey, and we thank CEP for their continued work to improve the field of philanthropy.
Summary of Grantee Perception ReportTM
Steve McCormick
January 2009