Giving Compass' Take:

• The Ford Foundation reviews a recent report from their grantees that assesses their performance and finds ways to improve, especially in the area of communication.

• Grantee reports like this one seem to be a useful way to look internally and improve system operations. How many foundations are following such a model?

• Here are strategic (and inexpensive) ways for funders to support grantee staff.

We all know it’s complicated for grant-receiving organizations to be completely honest with the organizations that give them grants. Yet without candid, substantive feedback from those we fund, we don’t always know how we’re falling short — or how we can improve.

That’s why we’re such fans of the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), which offers a forum for the organizations we fund to provide that feedback. CEP’s surveys are an important learning resource for us, offering data to help us assess our performance and effectiveness from the perspective of those we fund.

We’re proud that our grantees continue to see the foundation as a leader in the philanthropic sector, highlighting Ford’s long-term commitment to social justice causes, our willingness to take risks, and our support for innovation. We were given high scores for our strength in advancing knowledge and affecting policy, and in this category we were described with such words as “progressive,” “innovative,” “impactful,” and “visionary.”

But while those areas are relative strengths for Ford, there are others where we have room for improvement.

When it comes to how clearly and consistently we communicate our goals and strategy, our ratings are typical of other large private funders, but lower than typical when compared to CEP’s overall dataset. The same is true of how grantees perceive our responsiveness ...

We’re working to ensure that we’re always communicating about our work clearly and consistently. This means giving program staff the support and information they need to accurately communicate about all our work.

We’re working to further clarify our goals and strategies, and to ensure that we’re always communicating about our work clearly and consistently. This means giving program staff the support and information they need to accurately communicate about all our work.

We’re supporting program staff in becoming more responsive. To help us understand existing obstacles to responsiveness, we’re finding ways to refocus and reprioritize program work, including clearer expectations around timeliness and accessibility.

We’re exploring opportunities to provide grantees with support beyond the grant check for convenings and collaborations.

As we take these steps, we’re also open to other ideas about how we can be more transparent and effective.

Read the full article about looking for ways to improve after a grantee perception report by Darren Walker and Hilary Pennington at the Ford Foundation.