Luminate recently received our second Grantee Perception Report (GPR). We anticipated the results with eagerness and some anticipation. As one funder said during the recent Center for Effective Philanthropy conference in Boston: “Receiving the GPR as a funder is accompanied by the same anxiety as getting your report card as a child!”

We dug deep into our findings and published them publicly in 2020 and in 2023, alongside our commitments for improvement.

This blog seeks not to further delve into the substance of our results, but instead to offer reflections and behind-the-scenes guidance on the process. We hope it is useful for any funder thinking about administering a GPR.

Back in 2020, I had shared 10 lessons learned, and am excited to offer new-and-improved lessons from having gone through the GPR process again.

1. Data for Discussion and Evidence-Based Decision Making

2. Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

3. Encourage Language Justice (Take 2!)

This learning from 2020 is so important that we want to reiterate it in 2023. We invested in translation of the report and comments into Bahasa Indonesia, Portuguese, and Spanish. Of the partners offered the opportunity to respond in their native language, 98 percent did so, up from 95 percent in our 2020 survey.

 4. Make Good Use of CEP Staff

 5. Leaders Must be Bought-In

 6. Don’t Just Focus on the “Negative” Results

Overlooking positive and/or increasing scores can result in less attention paid to sustaining this valuable work. Funders can’t rest on their laurels and must continue to invest in areas that their partners value most.

 7. Focus, Focus, Focus

Rather than trying to work on several issues at once from your GPR, keep them in mind but really concentrate on two to three recommendations.

 8. Timing

In addition to setting aside time to process and discuss the results in internally — one of our lessons learned from 2020 — the foundation should consider the rhythms of its calendar year. This is especially important when determining which GPR cycle to join and how to roll things out internally. Do most of your staff and partners take holidays in August and late December? Do you have strategy and budgeting cycles which GPR data could inform? If so, schedule your GPR around those rather than squeezing it in.

9. Share Your Reports and Extend Gratitude

10. Your Report is the Beginning, Not the End

Read the full article about the Grantee Perception Report by Laura Bacon at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.