The Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation is pleased to share excerpts of our 2005 Grantee Perception Report® (GPR)(.pdf file). The GPR is a survey developed by the Center for Effective Philanthropy to measure grantee perceptions of a foundation’s grantmaking processes and procedures1. In the fall of 2005, the Center received survey responses from 63 of 99 Noyes grantees, a 64 percent response rate which is the GPR average. We appreciate the time our grantees took to provide thoughtful responses to the survey questions.
Our goal was to find out how we are doing with our grantees. We wanted to know what works well and what we could do better. We were eager to receive the survey results, the first time ever that we had quantifiable data on how our grantmaking is perceived by those we fund. The GPR was discussed in depth at the Board’s April, 2006 meeting and survey data continues to inform our planning and operational discussions.
Our grantees rate us very high on the quality of interactions with grantees, impact on grantee organizations and overall satisfaction with the Noyes Foundation. They also feel that we are very accessible and highly rate the direct assistance we provide in addition to grants. This reaffirms the Foundation’s decision to invest in our staffing to ensure that program officers have time to spend in the field and involved with grantees.
The GPR identified a few areas for us to consider further. Two that stand out are the time spent by grantees to prepare proposals and reports in relation to the size of Noyes grants ($25,000 - $30,000) and the lack of adequate communication with grantees that receive final grants from the Foundation.
With regard to the concern about time spent, we have purchased software enabling letters of inquiry and proposals with attachments to be submitted on-line through the Noyes web site. We believe this will streamline the application process and help reduce the flow of paper. Grantseekers may continue to submit mail request to us. We also are evaluating our reporting requirements to ensure that they are reasonable. On the communication issue, we will provide more and better feedback to grantees after they submit final reports to the Foundation.
The GPR is a tool that we believe will help improve our grantmaking. Our intent is to be user friendly to the grantseeking community. In a few years we will conduct another GPR to make sure we continue on the right track. For now, we welcome your feedback and urge you to inform us of any problems that may arise.
Thanks again to all who participated in the 2005 Noyes GPR.
1. See survey methodology on page 1 of the report.
