Giving Compass' Take:

• Kheira Issaoui-Mansouri and Melissa Sines discuss transparency in philanthropy and share best practices for funders. 

• Where is additional transparency needed in your process? How can your process be made more transparent? 

• Learn how transparency benefits your organization. 

When considering transparency in philanthropy, we often think first about how foundations choose to articulate their priorities with the broader public or the types of data they share on their websites (grantees lists, diversity data, etc.). This type of “organizational transparency” can be helpful in letting grantseekers know what you care about, and can help funders stay accountable to certain goals they set for themselves (for example, publicly sharing diversity data might help funders remain focused on diversifying their workforce).

But when speaking about transparency, interviewees elevated two important types of transparency that happen between a funder and a grantseeker: process transparency and decision-making transparency.

Process transparency describes the extent to which funders explain and share processes related to applying for, receiving, and reporting on a grant. Funders who think deeply about process transparency discussed how they intentionally work on:

  • Clearly communicating about the timeline and steps for applying for a grant
  • Clearly communicating about the limitations and/or flexibility of a grant
  • Cultivating a trusted funder/grantee relationship that enables both parties to share candid feedback and information
  • Clearly communicating about reporting requirements and explaining how the information will be used

While decision-making transparency can take significant capacity, the benefits that it creates seem to outweigh the cost for many funders. Funders who think deeply about decision-making transparency discussed how they intentionally work on:

  • Clearly communicating how decisions are made, and by whom (e.g. share grantmaking scoring rubric, share name or people who will be judging the proposals)
  • Communicate why decisions have been made (e.g. explain how proposals are scored, provide feedback on a rejected proposal)
  • Provide context and metrics that can help grantseekers decide if they want to pursue a funding opportunity (e.g. share the size of grants that will be awarded, estimate the likelihood of receiving a grant if using an open RFP process)

Read the full article about transparency in philanthropy by Kheira Issaoui-Mansouri and Melissa Sines at PEAK Grantmaking.