Developed by the Center of Effective Philanthropy (CEP), the Grantee Perception Report (GPR), is a confidential online survey designed to gather grantee perceptions of funders. The survey touches on a number of themes: impact on grantees’ fields, communities, and organizations; understanding of intended beneficiaries and challenges; interactions and communications with grantees; application, reporting, and evaluation processes; and assistance beyond the grant. In addition to the survey results, which are presented against a comparative data set of other funders, the GPR provides funders with ideas, comments, and suggestions directly from grantee partners.
The Foundation administered the GPR survey in 2014 and 2017 as a way to gather insight from grantee partners and understand where improvements could be made to our grantmaking practice. In both rounds of the GPR survey we were humbled and deeply appreciative of what our grantees shared and how this helped us understand our grantmaking practice and the work of our team more deeply. What we heard has informed efforts to make more multi-year general support grants, develop greater clarity in our communications about our strategic focus areas, seek more opportunities to provide grantees with support “beyond the grant check,” continue to streamline and rightsize our application and reporting templates, and engage grantee partners more directly in providing feedback on our grantmaking processes and the development of our most recent strategic plan. Participation in the GPR process reinforced the importance of listening to our grantee partners before embarking on new ideas or changes, which continues to be reflected in the values that guide our team. Learn more about what we heard by visiting:
As we enter our final years of investing in Oakland Education, we have decided not to engage in another round of the GPR. Given our time horizon for sunsetting the Foundation’s Oakland Education Strategy, the time and commitment it takes to ask grantees to give comprehensive feedback and respond with authentically executed shifts in our practice are not reasonable. In addition, we are actively gathering feedback from grantee partners on our spend down timeline and process through other means which is shaping our thoughts on how we execute grants. We are also communicating more regularly with grantees, supporting connection making to funders and other nonprofits, and providing a greater level of beyond the grant support. Our team maintains an open door policy with grantees and partners, welcoming opportunities to connect and discuss any concerns or issues at any time. In addition, we encourage the use of tools like GrantAdvisor to provide real time feedback to funders. Our grantee partners can post a review for us here. We continue to believe in the value of the GPR and hope that our peer colleagues use this valuable tool to inform their work as well as share the results openly to increase transparency and trust between funders and nonprofits.