Listening to Grantees

People who give money to nonprofits, be they foundation staff or individual donors, aren’t necessarily renowned for their listening skills. Over the past twenty plus years, experience on both sides of the table has taught me that the inherent power imbalance between even the most naturally sensitive grantmakers and grantseekers is one that does little to promote the type of honest dialog needed to support strategic investment.

In 2001, the Center for Effective Philanthropy was established to address this dynamic by doing more than griping. Over the past five years, they have done this by surveying foundation grantees and advising foundations on what they might to do enhance their interactions. The brilliance of CEP’s approach is that they benchmark indicators against a cohort of foundations, appealing to the competitive streaks of board members. The bravest foundations (it seems to me that the Surdna Foundation led the charge) actually feature the results on their website -- in solid opposition to the tradition to doing anything BUT airing dirty laundry.

CEP’s current newsletter features a brief piece worth reading on “Listening to Grantees” by Stephen Heintz, President, of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. While individual donors will benefit from CEP’s findings, most of their work to date has focused on enhancing foundation capacities. Hopefully, under the able leadership of Phil Buchanan, CEP will purposefully broaden this conversation and related tools to benefit “discerning donors” like you.

Susan Herr