2015 Grantee Perception Report

In early 2015, the Foundation worked with the Center for Effective Philanthropy to gather feedback from recent grantees in an effort to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our grantmaking program. More than 300 current and former grantees representing all four of the Foundation’s program areas were invited to participate in the survey.

The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation through the Eyes of Grantees:
2015 Grantee Perception Report

The Parsons Foundation measures its impact through the life-changing work of our grantees. Seeing ourselves as partners with the nonprofits we support, we work to make the grant-seeking process clear, streamlined, and transparent. In early 2015, the Foundation worked with the Center for Effective Philanthropy to gather feedback from recent grantees in an effort to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our grantmaking program. More than 300 current and former grantees representing all four of the Foundation’s program areas were invited to participate in the survey, yielding an 85% completion rate. Responses were compared to ratings from more than 40,000 grantees and more than 250 funders.

Report Findings

Feedback from the survey reflected high ratings on the quality of grantee relationships with the Foundation, as well as our impact on and understanding of grantee organizations, fields, and local communities.  We received lower ratings on the helpfulness of our grant selection and reporting processes in strengthening grantee organizations, and our level of intensive assistance beyond the grant funding itself.

We invite you to take a closer look at the thoughtful responses by downloading our complete 2015 Grantee Perception Report.

We Heard You: How We Are Responding to Grantee Feedback

As a responsive grantmaker, we value feedback and are working to make changes based on the messages we heard in our 2015 Grantee Perception Report.

To enhance our communications with current and prospective grantees, as well as further streamline our grantmaking process, the Foundation has updated its website to more clearly articulate our practices and timeline. Additionally, we have introduced an online grant application and reporting system in an effort to be more responsive.

While survey respondents expressed a preference for multi-year grants, we have opted to continue the practice of making one-year grants. This enables us to be more flexible and remain responsive to incoming requests, and reflects our resource constraints.

We also received feedback about maintaining more in-depth contact after a grant has been awarded. Among our values as a responsive grantmaker, we aim to conduct our due diligence before a grant is awarded, and extend our trust to grantees to use our investment where it is needed most. We always welcome dialogue and encourage you to share updates or changes throughout your grant term.