This year, my attention has been constantly pulled in two directions at once: toward the immediate pressure that nonprofits are facing and toward the broad, sweeping shifts shaping the future of civil society, often in ways that feel like 10 steps backwards. Both feel heavy, urgent, and often overwhelming — and I know I am not alone in feeling this tension, or this heaviness. If anything, the more I listen to others who feel similar tensions, the more I feel the limits of a tidy summary of another year gone by with improvements in grantee and foundation staff perceptions.

Instead, I’m leaning into the gratitude I feel at this time of year: gratitude for nonprofits that keep our communities housed, fed, and clothed; gratitude for organizations have that provide data and art to help us collectively make sense of this moment; and gratitude that we are not shying away from difficult conversations about what’s needed to shape the direction of change.

I am also grateful to the many funders — 94 to be exact — who maintained their listening and learning from nonprofits, their staff, their donors, and other stakeholders through CEP assessments. To continue doing so and changing in a moment of uncertainty wasn’t inevitable.

Those who know us at CEP won’t be surprised to learn that we are also finding reasons for gratitude — and hope — in data, and more specifically in an AI-assisted analysis of grantee and foundation staff comments over the past decade. Throughout the year, we have explored how topics, valence, and the underlying narrative about funder practice have shifted in 10 years’ time.

Overall, what we saw is a story of meaningful evolution in the following areas of grantee and foundation staff perceptions that give me hope that this is just the beginning of what we can do together.

1. Shifts in Grantee and Foundation Staff Perceptions: Funder-Grantee Relationships

About 10 years ago, the word that surfaced again and again in grantee comments was some version of “transaction.” Grantees often referred to funders’ lack of understanding of their work and their organizations, noting frustrations with the power imbalances of top-down approaches.

Fast forward to today, and grantees more often use the language of partnership. They’re talking about philanthropy that is more collaborative, more trust-based, and centered on conversations about strategy and grantees’ expertise.

Read the full article about grantee and foundation staff perceptions by Alice Mei at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.