Measurement is at the core of the Moore Foundation. Our founders emphasize that measurement is critical for tracking progress and confirming outcomes, and we take a disciplined approach to assessing our impact, learning and improving. Our commitment to measurement can be seen in our internal adaptive management practices and the external evaluations of our funded programs. It’s also demonstrated through our introspective measurement — measuring our own effectiveness as stewards of the foundation’s resources. This is a particularly important element of our relationships with grantees. The foundation has always placed a high value on developing strong, trusting relationships with our grantees; these relationships ensure we can work towards our organization’s desired outcomes and create lasting impact.
Since 2004, the foundation has engaged the Center for Effective Philanthropy to gather feedback from our grantees on the foundation’s overall performance and prepare a Grantee Perception Report. The sixth online survey was conducted in 2019 and received 421 responses for a 63 percent response rate.
Key takeaways
For most measures in the report, grantee perceptions of the foundation trended higher compared to our previous report in 2016 and were frequently at or above their highest point across all past surveys. Compared to the foundation’s 2016 grantee survey, perceptions of the foundation in 2019 have improved at a statistically significant level on several measures, including:
- Impact on and advancement of knowledge in grantees’ fields.
- Overall strength of relationships with grantees, fairness, comfort and responsiveness of staff.
- Clarity of communication about the foundation’s goals and strategies.
- The foundation’s overall transparency and openness to ideas from grantees.
Grantees also highlighted areas where the foundation could adjust in the future:
- Grantees highlighted the opportunity for the foundation to continue to build on valuable non-monetary support (e.g., increased opportunities to collaborate and convene with other grantees).
- Grantees asked for more support to build capacity at their organizations, and assistance securing additional funding.
- Fewer grantees are receiving site visits, however grantees who receive site visits rate the foundation higher across all impact measures.
The foundation appreciates the feedback it received from grantees and will reflect on the changes that have contributed to the significant improvements in the quality of relationships with grantees. In keeping with the guidance of our founders, we will continue to measure the success of our efforts, including our relationships with grantees, and identify how we can improve. Our grantees are at the heart of everything we do, and together we can work to create enduring impact in our programmatic areas.
Julia Klebanov and Mari Wright are Adaptive Management and Evaluation officers at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
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