This winter, I celebrated my 10th year at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP). Many of the foundations I worked with in my earliest few years here were first-time partners who had signed up for their first CEP assessment — and in some cases, their first-ever endeavor in collecting external feedback on their work and effectiveness.
Now, years later, many of these funders have made regular assessment and reflection an integral part of their work and planning. These funders know that without feedback from grantees, declined applicants, staff, and other stakeholders they won’t be able to effectively improve their work. As just a few examples, funders like the Surdna Foundation have repeated the Grantee Perception Report multiple times over the years, and they’ve written publicly about how they use grantee feedback to learn, grow, and make change.
But you don’t have to look back a decade or more to see inspiring examples of efforts toward greater philanthropic impact. Just in the last year, CEP has worked with dozens of funders — some for the first time, others for the third, fourth, or fifth time, or more — to help them better understand the effectiveness of their work. Drawing on the feedback they receive, we’ve challenged them to be more responsive and transparent, streamline their application and reporting processes, demonstrate greater emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and more. We’ve also urged them to celebrate and share their successes, and they do: CEP’s partners make up an incredible network of growth-oriented organizations who share their advice and challenges with one another, from public posts on our blog (here’s just one recent example) to individual connections with peers at other organizations.
To our partners, thank you: by connecting with others, you strengthen our shared work and build our collective wisdom. And when you publicly share what you’ve learned from your grantees and how you’ll use their feedback, you help others recognize the value of careful listening to those whose voices are not always centered in philanthropy. (Some funders who have recently used our Grantee Perception Report are listed here, and those with hyperlinks have made public some component of the feedback they received.)
This year, we’ll continue to support our 2022 partners as they share what they’ve learned and implement actions based on the feedback they received. We’re also looking forward to our 2023 rounds of surveys, the first of which will launch in just a few weeks. And looking farther ahead, we want to invite others in the philanthropic sector to join the movement of listening, feedback, and reflection.
Working with CEP on an assessment is no small effort — it takes planning, deliberation, and even vulnerability to seek feedback on your work in a thoughtful way. As we move forward together into 2023, we are grateful for your partnership and commitment to making an impact in your work, and on our world.
Mena Boyadzhiev is director, Assessment and Advisory Services at CEP. Find her on LinkedIn.
Thank you to our 2022 partners!
Grantee Perception Report/ Grantee and Applicant Perception Report
- American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation
- The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- Archstone Foundation
- Arts Council Santa Cruz County
- Aviv Foundation
- Blue Shield of California Foundation
- The Boston Foundation
- California Community Foundation
- The California Endowment
- Center for Disaster Philanthropy
- Central New York Community Foundation
- Fondation CHANEL
- Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation
- Clif Family Foundation
- The Coca-Cola Foundation, Inc.
- Colorado Office of Behavioral Health
- The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
- Community Foundation for a Greater Richmond
- The Conrad Prebys Foundation
- Crankstart Foundation
- Crown Family Philanthropies
- Dovetail Impact Foundation
- Echidna Giving
- The Eddie and Jules Trump Family Foundation
- The END Fund
- Fetzer Institute
- M. Kirby Foundation, Inc.
- Ford Foundation
- France-Merrick Foundation
- Fremont Area Community Foundation
- The Frist Foundation
- Greater Worcester Community Foundation
- The Greenwall Foundation
- The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc.
- Headwaters Foundation
- Heising-Simons Foundation
- Humanity United
- Imaginable Futures
- Iowa West Foundation
- The Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation
- Jessie Ball duPont Fund
- Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati
- Johnson Scholarship Foundation
- Just Transition Fund
- Laudes Foundation
- LGT Venture Philanthropy
- Lumina Foundation for Education
- Mama Cash
- Michigan Health Endowment Fund
- Nellie Mae Education Foundation
- New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
- New York Health Foundation
- Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation
- Oak Foundation
- The PATH Foundation
- Paul Hamlyn Foundation
- Paul Ramsay Foundation
- Pisces Foundation
- REACH Healthcare Foundation
- Resources Legacy Fund
- Robertson Foundation
- SHINE
- The Skillman Foundation
- Sobrato Family Foundation
- Stupski Foundation
- Target Foundation
- Trinity Church Wall Street Philanthropies
- Realdania
- Rowe Price Foundation
- Unbound Philanthropy
- Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth
- Vitol Foundation
- The Wallace Foundation
- Walter and Elise Haas Fund
- Walton Family Foundation
- William Penn Foundation
- The Winnipeg Foundation
- W. K. Kellogg Foundation
- Zilber Family Foundation
Donor Perception Report
- The Alaska Community Foundation
- The Baltimore Community Foundation
- Central New York Community Foundation
- Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines
- The Community Foundation of Lorain County
- The Community Foundation San Luis Obispo County
- Delaware Community Foundation
- The Denver Foundation
- Hawai’i Community Foundation
- North Texas Community Foundation
- Vancouver Foundation
Staff Perception Report
- The Chicago Community Trust
- Hampton Roads Community Foundation
- Kenneth Rainin Foundation
- W. K. Kellogg Foundation
Custom Advisory Project
- Arizona Community Foundation
- Arkansas Community Foundation
- Houston Endowment
- Meyer Foundation
- Mission Investors Exchange
- Overdeck Family Foundation, Inc.
- Walton Family Foundation
- Wilburforce Foundation
- The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
- Walton Family Foundation
