The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) is expanding its work into the UK and beyond. In spring 2009, CEP surveyed the grantees of the Pears Foundation and Friends Provident Foundation to produce a Grantee Perception Report® (GPR). The GPR provides comparative data on grantee perceptions of foundation performance in a variety of dimensions; all information from grantees is kept anonymous.
 
These UK funders are seeking comparative feedback from their grantees in order to understand what’s going well and what could be improved. ‘We’re serious about trying to achieve impact as a foundation,’ says Charles Keidan, director of the Pears Foundation. ‘And in order to achieve impact, it’s useful to understand the perceptions of one’s grantees.’

Danielle Walker-Palmour, director of Friends Provident Foundation, says her organization is taking some actions based on its results. ‘We are trying to improve our communications, systematize our non-grant support, and think more carefully about impact in the future.’  Friends Provident also intends to post information about its GPR results on its website. ‘In our view,’ she says, ‘this was a very useful exercise.’
 
More than 170 foundations have used this tool to gather candid feedback from their grantees. CEP has surveyed more than 35,000 grantees in over 65 countries in eight languages. This work has supported private and community foundations, corporate foundations and giving programmes, and government-funded agencies.

For more information
Contact CEP Manager Travis Manzione at travism@effectivephilanthropy.org or visit http://www.effectivephilanthropy.org