Grant Makers Should Compare Feedback

To the Editor:

Thomas Layton and Sara Olsen (“Foundations Need Grant Recipients’ Feedback,” April 17) are right that foundations need candid feedback from grant recipients in order to accurately understand their performance. Such understanding is a necessary precursor to improvement. Research we have conducted at the Center for Effective Philanthropy suggests that, to be most valuable, this feedback must also be viewed on a comparative basis.

A survey conducted by the center over the past 16 months among grantees of 52 foundations yielded 3,500 responses, and found that grantees, on average, are quite satisfied with the foundations that made them grants. This is hardly surprising, given that receiving a grant is a positive experience. But within these generally positive assessments, significant differences exist in grantee perceptions of the foundations whose grantees we have surveyed — along dimensions from service and responsiveness to quality and quantity of nonmonetary assistance provided to grantees. Understanding performance in this comparative context has proven exceedingly helpful for the foundations that have seen their results.

These foundations are now able to understand grantee perceptions relative to those perceptions of the comparative cohort of foundations that makes the most sense to them. For example, the six major community foundations in our sample will be able to see themselves relative to the other community foundations, as well as to the larger data set. Some private foundations have asked to see themselves compared with other foundations of similar asset sizes or programmatic focus. Others prefer to assess themselves relative to the more diverse population of all foundations whose grantees we have surveyed.

As Mr. Layton and Ms. Olsen rightly point out, there is much about the foundation-grantee relationship that makes it difficult for foundations to receive candid feedback on their performance. As a nonprofit, neutral, independent, and confidential collector of grantee views of foundations, the center aims to deliver data to foundations that can help them to improve their relationships with grantees and thereby maximize their positive social impact. (This work is supported by foundations that opt in to our survey process in order to receive a Grantee Perception Report and by other foundation supporters.)

What do the grantees think about being asked to reflect on their views of foundations that made them grants? They have told us, overwhelmingly, that they are delighted to take the 25 minutes that completing our survey requires. Having grown accustomed to foundations’ asking them to demonstrate their effectiveness, grantees welcome the chance to help turn the spotlight onto the performance of foundations themselves.

Phil Buchanan
Executive Director
The Center for Effective Philanthropy
Cambridge, Mass.