This post is the last of a three-part blog series that builds on the findings of a recent CEP publication, Partnering for Progress: Grantee Recommendations for Europe-Based Funders. The report examines grantees’ perceptions and recommendations their funders who are based in Europe and finds that three main issues are top of mind for them when building dialogue into the grantmaking process:

  • They are asking for their funders to invest in building deeper relationships with them
  • They report that in many cases application and reporting processes by their European funders are burdensome and they call for further streamlining and simplification
  • They praise the benefits of flexible and unrestricted funding, and useful assistance beyond the grant from funders and are asking for more support of this kind to be provided.

In this blog series, we are sharing three funder profiles who are amongst the higher rated Europe-based funders in CEP’s Grantee Perception Report dataset and who have been implementing approaches and practices that address directly some or all of the three types of requests made by grantees.

Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation (NNHF) has commissioned CEP’s Grantee Perception Report (GPR) twice in the last three years. NNHF’s grantees provide positive feedback about the Foundation’s practices, particularly about the helpfulness of its grantmaking processes and the ways it builds intentional relationships based on deep understanding of grantees’ work.

Highlighted Practice 1: Building Dialogue and Co-Creation Into the Application Phase

In their GPR survey results, NNHF receives outstanding feedback for the ways in which its application process is a helpful opportunity to strengthen the efforts funded by the grant. Grantees’ ratings place the Foundation at the 97th percentile of the more than 350 funders in the GPR dataset, and NNHF’s ratings place it at the top of all European funders that have used the GPR.

NNHF attributes this strength to two key practices that build dialogue into the grantmaking process:

  • Having a two-step approach in the application process, ensuring that there is an opportunity for real dialogue between NNHF and a prospective grantee before that grantee develops a full proposal
  • Approaching the application as a flexible co-creation process that seeks to build understanding of a grantee’s work and context

Read the full article about the Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation by Natalia Kiryttopoulou at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.