Inclusive collaboration and listening deeply to diverse perspectives are at the heart of our approach to working with grantees. As part of fulfilling our commitment to listening and learning, we periodically ask grantees to share their experiences working with us through the Grantee Perception Survey administered by the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP). CEP aggregates responses to ensure the anonymity of grantees and compares ratings over time and across peer funders. This information helps us assess what we are doing well and identify opportunities to do better.
Looking Back at our 2020 Commitments & Accomplishments
Our last Grantee Perception Survey was conducted in August 2020 and came at a time of significant reflection and transition for the Foundation. The results helped us examine our mission and values and develop the vision and strategic framework that now guides our grantmaking.
In 2020, grantees asked us to define what diversity, equity, and inclusion meant to the Packard Foundation and how we are integrating those concepts into our work. In response we took several actions: creating definitions for common understanding, updating our values to include equity, and developing a vision statement that articulates our aspirations for “a just and equitable world where people and nature flourish.” Our strategic planning process focused on developing initiative strategies that transform systems for durable positive change.
The 2020 survey responses also motivated four changes that help us better understand, engage with, and support our grantees.
We streamlined our grant development, proposal, and review processes. Many of these changes were motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic and have remained in place.
We supported efforts, through a partnership with Candid, to obtain information about demographic characteristics of organizational leadership and grantees’ equitable practices to identify trends and better understand who we are funding.
We increased the number of multi-year, general operating support grants across our grantmaking initiatives, providing grantees the flexibility to meet the moment and plan for long-term sustainability.
We shared updated initiatives articulating the rationale for changes and vision for impact on our website, through email communication, and in direct conversations with our partners.
2023 Key Findings and Commitments
Our commitment to these efforts and the evolution of our work over the last three years resulted in positive ratings in our most recent 2023 Grantee Perception Report (GPR). In particular, we were encouraged to learn that grantees recognized the Foundation’s reinforced commitment to justice and equity and our efforts to create strong, trusting, and responsive relationships with our partners. We also were pleased to see that streamlining proposal and reporting requirements yielded significant decreases in the time spent by grantees on grant requirements.
The survey was completed by 865 grantees for a 63 percent response rate. These results were compared with results from previous years, with grantee feedback from 170 private foundations in the CEP data set, and with a smaller cohort of 23 peer foundations who are similar to the Packard Foundation in scale and scope. You can access the full 2023 GPR on our website.
As in years past, the 2023 GPR highlighted areas where we can strengthen the way we work. In response to the findings, the Foundation is committed to five areas for improvement.
These actions are just some of the steps we are taking to better meet the needs of organizations that are doing the vital work we support. We are grateful to every organization that took the time to respond and provide us with feedback. As always, we welcome your continued suggestions and questions about our latest GPR and our efforts to learn from it. You can reach us at [email protected].
