English | Español | Kreyòl | Português
The IAF has a long-standing commitment to hear, learn from and support people in Latin America and the Caribbean who are working to make their communities better places to live and work. In 2011 the IAF became the first federal agency to participate in the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s (CEP) grantee perception survey. Over the last nine years, CEP has surveyed more than 40,000 grantees from 273 funders.
CEP’s Grantee Perception Report provides a funder anonymous feedback from grantees on a range of issues including the funder’s impact on grantees’ fields of activity, organizations and local communities; the quality of the funder-grantee relationship; the funder’s selection, reporting and evaluation processes; administrative burden; and non-monetary assistance. Because the report is based on a standardized survey, each funder can see how its grantees’ ratings compare with the ratings received by the other funders in CEP’s dataset. Since many of the funders who have participated in CEP’s surveys work only in the United States, together we also identified a smaller cohort who fund internationally.
Of the active IAF grantee partners contacted during September and October, 84 percent responded to the survey. This was one of the highest participation rates ever recorded by CEP, and, I believe, a testament to the IAF’s high level of engagement with our grantee partners. We particularly appreciate that so many took the opportunity to supplement their ratings with comments in their own words. This is enormously helpful as we internalize the feedback and review our procedures and practices.
Overall, our grantee partners rated the IAF positively when compared to CEP’s full dataset, as well as to other funders who work internationally. Here are a few findings that stand out:
- Impact on grantees’ fields. IAF rated above 90 percent of all funders and higher than the entire cohort of international funders.
- Impact on grantees’ local communities. IAF rated above 60 percent of all funders and higher than the entire cohort of international funders.
- Selection, reporting and evaluation processes. IAF rated higher than all other funders for the helpfulness of its selection, reporting and evaluation processes in strengthening funded organizations or programs.
- Funder-grantee relationship. IAF rated above 60 percent of all funders and higher than the entire cohort of international funders.
- Non-monetary assistance. The proportion of IAF grantees that report receiving comprehensive or field-focused assistance is larger than 85 percent of all funders.
While positive findings are always reassuring and gratifying, it is equally important to hear what we could do better. I want to note two findings, in particular:
- IAF grantee partners report waiting significantly longer than typical for IAF to make a clear commitment to funding.
- IAF grantee partners report spending more time completing administrative requirements than grantees of all other funders in CEP’s dataset.
We are committed over the next several months to deepen our understanding of the underlying reasons so that we may modify our operations as appropriate to serve our grantee partners even better.
On behalf of the board and the staff of the IAF, I want to recognize and thank our grantee partners for their willingness to participate in this survey. We are pleased that their feedback confirms the IAF’s success in its core mission of improving the capacity of local civil society organizations to help their communities thrive, and that it validates the IAF’s long commitment to evaluation and results.
Robert N. Kaplan
President and CEO
To download a summary excerpt of the report click
here.
To download the full report click
here.