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Do you really know what your partners think about you?

One thing grantmakers consistently tell us is that they want to improve the funding experience for partners, grantseekers and grantees. But it can be difficult to know where to start if you don’t know what your partners truly think about you.

There are two common conundrums we see often. In the first grantmakers simply don’t have access to any kind of formal feedback from partners - there just isn’t any data. In the second, a grantmaker does have feedback, but somewhat implausibly that feedback mostly rates you with a perfect 10.

We’ll now go through each scenario in turn and share some tips on what you can do to get some good quality feedback that you can actually use.

Scenario 1 - We haven’t asked

In this scenario, you’re working for a funder that has maybe never collected proper feedback from grantees or grantseekers before. There’s no anonymous surveys or interviews to draw on and your organisation doesn’t have any reviews on GrantAdvisor UK. So, what do you do? Here’s a couple of suggestions that are relatively quick and easy:

Schedule, advertise and run a couple of webinars for prospective grantseekers which are specifically marketed as opportunities to ask you - the funder - questions. As the questions trickle in it will very rapidly become clear to you - the grantmaker - what it is that people don’t understand or misunderstand about your grantmaking. Just make sure there's someone on the call to note down any confusion, so you can focus on being a good host.
Ask grantseekers & grantees to fill in anonymous feedback surveys. What we mean here is set up and share an online survey form that asks only a few key feedback questions but very clearly promises that the feedback will be anonymous and so does not ask for anything like people’s names or email addresses. These are often sent immediately after a grantseeker has completed an application form or as part of a funder’s annual review process. Google Forms or Microsoft Forms are really easy to use and let you build such surveys quickly and easily. Even better, see if you can get a third-party organisation send the request for you, which might reassure partners that any honest feedback they give isn’t somehow going to come back to bite them later.

Scenario 2 - Simply the best

In this scenario, you’re working for a funder that gets suspiciously fantastic feedback. You work there and have an inkling that the application form is about fifty questions too long but grantseekers keep rating it as better than sliced bread. You’re worried that unequal power dynamics are pushing partners to flatter you, insincerely. What do you do?

Here’s three things to try, all of which will quickly reveal problems people may be too shy to share up front:

Find a few people who are willing to let you sit and observe them as they try to ‘apply’: If your funder has an application form or template, or any guidance whatsoever for funders, then one of the simplest and most value-creating exercises you can do is to simply sit next to someone as the try to fill it in. Now it isn’t ethical to do this for someone who is genuinely trying to get your organisation’s funding right now. But what is reasonable is to find individuals who are similar to your applicants, and who you can persuade - and ideally pay - to go through the process of reading your guidance and trying to fill in an application.
Commission an individual or an agency to do an accessibility review: If you are a non-disabled person you may well have no idea of the problems that badly designed web pages, forms, PDFs, emails or Word documents can cause for people with visual impairments and other conditions. There are now a large number of specialist nonprofits and companies that can check your services for accessibility, so that you can make sure you’re not excluding people in this way.
Publish problems that are reported via anonymous feedback and say what you intend to do about them: One way to convince people that they can tell you difficult truths is to show people that you aren’t afraid of bad news. For inspiration here, check out the Foundation Practice Rating which cites The Buttle Trust and John Ellerman Foundation as funders that have worked like this.

Whatever you decide to try, it’s worth bearing in mind one last thing. Getting feedback is one thing but making improvements based on it is another. Better grantseeker and grantee experiences won’t happen if there’s no time carved out people’s diaries to review feedback and to agree what changes to make. That’s why we recommend pre-scheduling regular service-quality conversations, either once a month (ambitious) or once a quarter (probably more realistic). In these meetings you can debate which changes to prioritise and assign specific improvements to people.

Furthermore, feedback won’t help if you have colleagues or trustees who greet the presence of negative feedback as an unwelcome surprise. It can help to warm colleagues up in advance, including boards. Make the effort to remind people that more honest feedback will help you be able to improve what you do to serve your mission or strategy better.

Finally - blatant plug - we run training all about how to redesign your grantmaking services, so if you want to learn more, including a whole array of additional practical tips not shared above, join us at our next workshop.

What we've been reading

The Trust-Based Philanthropy (TBP) Project in the US has launched a webinar series to explore what TBP can really entail and to challenge common misconceptions, including whether TBP means unconditional trust.
IVAR published a new briefing that summarises key points from research to help grantmakers and Boards to consider and make the case for unrestricted funding.
GrantAdvisor UK has relaunched. As a quick reminder, this website allows grantseekers to share their experiences of working with funders. Foundations are encouraged to respond to comments, so if you work for one, bear in mind our opening article and take the opportunity to learn from any feedback.
Vu Le, of NonProfit AF fame, has put out an open call for people to join to end #CrappyFundingPractices movement. Get involved here.
Breaking news from back in 2009 - the Lodestar Foundation once funded a prize that was mostly about helping nonprofits to merge with others. We often hear people grumble about duplication and competition in the charity sector, but it remains unusual to have a funder put their money where their mouth is on this topic.

Trial Coaching Session Offer!

Whether you want support for whatever surprises grantmaking life throws up, or whether you’re just looking to strengthen one part of your skills, our coaching can help you out.

We (Gemma and Tom) deliver coaching sessions tailored to your needs. We help you think through difficult choices and tricky work situations, and can get things moving that are stuck.

Here’s what a previous client had to say about our coaching support

“Gemma and Tom bring both grantmaking experience and coaching skills to bear in their support. They provide practical advice and suggestions for creating and implementing strategies but also the time and space to allow you to identify the right option for your context. They are then very helpful in thinking through how to put these into practice.”

To find out more, or to book a trial online coaching session, drop us a line here. For a limited time we’re offering our first session at a discounted rate of £199 plus VAT.

How about a new job?

The Ogden Trust (UK) is hiring for a Head of Operations - £45-50k FTE per annum. Deadline is 30 May.
The Young Foundation (UK) is hiring for a Research Director - £80-85k per annum pro-rata. Deadline is 31 May.
Baobab Foundation (UK) is hiring for a Resourcing and Partnerships Lead (fundraiser) - £320 per day (initial 3 month contract. Deadline is 4 June 23:59.
Paul Hamlyn Foundation (UK) is hiring for a Grants Manager (Individuals) - £37,000 – £44,000 per annum. Deadline is 5 June at 12pm.
Pears Foundation (UK) is hiring for a Hub Coordinator – £27,000 - £32,000 plus benefits. Deadline is 5 June at 5pm.

New: We now only share job ads that #ShowTheSalary. So, come on funders, don’t be coy.

Grantmaking ‘joke’ of the month

What’s got more bugs than any rainforest?

...Your funding management system.

Got any terrible or actually funny grantmaking jokes to share? Tell us.

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Who are we?

Gemma Bull and Tom Steinberg run Modern Grantmaking, and write this newsletter. We do consulting and training specifically for funders, and wrote a book on how to be a modern grantmaker, too.