Foundations are not as in touch as they think they are with the needs and concerns of the nonprofits they support, according to a new study that draws on the perspectives of both foundation and nonprofit leaders.
Most foundation leaders — 73 percent — say their organization follows up with grantees often or always to understand the effects of the support they have provided. However, only about one-third of nonprofit CEOs said foundations often or always follow up.
“You expected to see some discrepancies” based on previous research, said Ellie Buteau, vice president for research at the Center for Effective Philanthropy, which conducted the survey. “But I don’t think we expected to see the degree of the discrepancies in the study. That was surprising to us.”
The survey also found that 87 percent of foundation leaders believe their organization is aware of grantees’ needs, while 58 percent of nonprofit CEOs say none or few of their grant makers ask about their group’s overall needs beyond funding.
Nonprofits most desire help in fundraising, staffing, and communications. The data suggests that foundations are aware that fundraising is a top priority, but they do not recognize staffing and communications as things nonprofits want more assistance with.
“The one that stood out most was when nonprofits were thinking about what to ask for when it comes to support: They are asking for what they think foundations want to give them,” Buteau said. “That’s a specific example of the power dynamics at play. It’s nonprofits feeling like they can’t ask for what they [really] want and foundations saying ‘Oh, they say they need this, so we gave them that.’ "
On the question of whether foundations give assistance to nonprofits beyond administered grants, just 29 percent said they do. There was also a disconnect between nonprofit CEOs and foundation leaders about who selects the third-party providers of assistance beyond a grant. Sixty-four percent of nonprofit CEOs said foundations are the ones that select them while only 33 percent foundation leaders said they did.
Closing the Gap
Both nonprofits and foundations have a role to play in closing the communication gap, meaning a change toward more positive interactions is a two-way street, Buteau said.
“We see that what makes nonprofits more comfortable telling funders what their needs are is when they have a strong relationship with their funder, a level of trust, or their organization already has a certain level of transparency with their funder,” she said. “To some extent, nonprofits fear that the foundation would think of them as weak if they tell them what they need.”
In addition, the study also found that very few foundations plan to change their grant-making priorities because of the political environment and are unlikely to change their advocacy funding or to make smaller, more rapid-response grants.
