One of the most significant and positive trends in philanthropy over the past 10 years has been the growing willingness of foundations to get feedback from grantees and the people and communities these nonprofits serve. Thankfully, there are an ever-increasing number of tools available to help them get that feedback.

The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) was an early driver of this trend. Its Grantee Perception Report (GPR) was the first assessment developed for our sector to help funders get feedback about how they were interacting with grantees. As the GPR has evolved over the years, it has gotten increasingly useful for providing foundations the data they need to make changes in how they operate. Some funders, such as the Barr Foundation, Wilburforce Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, and Community Foundation Sonoma County, have taken the step to share about what they’ve learned and how they’re changing in response.

A relatively new tool on the scene puts grantees in the driver’s seat for providing feedback. GrantAdvisor anonymously crowdsources information about grantmakers’ application process. Launched just over a year ago, more than 500 foundations have already been reviewed by at least one nonprofit, and more than 75 foundations have received more than five reviews, which makes the foundation’s profile and reviews public. More than 1,350 nonprofit leaders have registered to be a reviewer for the site.

Exponent Philanthropy just released a new toolkit that focuses on the funder/nonprofit relationship. It includes a self-diagnostic questionnaire and practical advice for how to build more trusting, mutually beneficial relationships with grantees.

Power Moves: Your essential philanthropy assessment guide for equity and justice gives grantmakers a one-of-a-kind self-assessment tool to examine how well they are building, sharing, and wielding power. We can achieve lasting outcomes where no one is left behind only when people and communities that traditionally don’t have power are driving the efforts to secure a thriving future.

Enlightened funders will embrace the tools now available to them and will show others that we can slay the monster and choose to let money and power bring out the best in our philanthropic giving.

Read the full article about feedback resources by Aaron Dorfman at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.