Giving Compass' Take:

• Diane Schorr explains how empowering a grantee to lead led to the creation of an impactful landscape report about first-generation college students. 

• Have you rejected suggestions from grantees? How can you better collect and support suggestions from grantees? 

• Read about the power of feedback in philanthropy. 

When a grantee suggested a landscape analysis of its field to identify barriers and best practices, our foundation questioned it. Our founders worried the analysis would take too much time, and wasn’t action-oriented. But we trusted the organization and moved ahead with about $70K to fund the study.

When it was published, the report provided the field with critical, actionable information, attracted media attention, and established our grantee as a credible and influential player.

This grant also shifted our founders’ attitudes about our foundation’s capacity to support the development of valuable knowledge and insight, and have influence. And it showed us once again the value of listening to grantees.

Published in October 2018, First-Generation Student Success: A Landscape Analysis of Programs and Services at Four-Year Institutions was a resounding success with over 10,000 report downloads to date. The report’s publication led to an invitation for the Center’s senior director to participate in a panel at SXSW EDU, more than a dozen other invited presentations, and media coverage by USA Today, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Hechinger Report, Politico, NPR, and others. The Center also hosted a breakfast discussion for 30 DC-based thought leaders to discuss findings.

The Center continues to leverage the landscape analysis and build its reputation. The inaugural NASPA Conferences on Student Success in Higher Education sold out with approximately 1400 attendees. Of this total, more than half selected the First-generation Student Success Conference as their focus. In June 2019, the Center launched First Forward, a national recognition program for institutions of higher education with a demonstrated commitment to advancing first-generation student outcomes. A new report focused specifically on first-generation student success programs and services at two-year institutions is underway and scheduled for publication by early 2020.

Read the full article about suppoorting grantee ideas by Diane Schorr at Exponent Philanthropy.