Reflections from our 2024 Grantee Perception Report

St. David’s Foundation is committed to being a community-focused and equity-driven funder as described in the 2024-2030 Strategic Plan: Pathways to Health Equity. As we remain committed to our guiding principle of “listen, learn, and evolve,” our grantees are a critical community with which to engage and learn as we work to advance health equity in Central Texas. We do this in many ways including convenings, ongoing conversations, and ongoing comprehensive and anonymous Grantee Perception surveys. These surveys, led by the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), are used to gather candid feedback on an array of topics including the Foundation’s impact, our understanding of health equity issues, experiences and relationships with staff, and whether our processes are equitable and inclusive.

One of the benefits of utilizing CEP’s approach, in addition to their thought partnerships and deep understanding of philanthropic best practices, is that the same surveys are utilized by over 300 funders across the country, including many we view as peers with similar aspirations of changing the practice of philanthropy. We gain a better understanding of how we are perceived and what areas we can strengthen by benchmarking scores with comparable funders. By repeating the survey every three years, we also compare findings to our previous scores to understand how both perceptions of and experiences with the Foundation have evolved over time. This feedback helps us develop actionable goals to improve and focus our efforts in supporting grantees in enhanced ways.

Perceptions of Our Impact and Understanding 

St. David’s Foundation continues to be ranked in the top 10% of all funders across the nation regarding perceptions of our impact on local communities (91st percentile). Similarly, grantees believe we have a tremendous impact on their organizations (81st percentile). In contrast, grantees rank us slightly lower than the average funder on both advancing knowledge in their specific fields of work (45th percentile), as well as affecting policy (46th percentile). These last two perceptions demonstrate a desire from grantees to grow our capacity as a funder to be an effective thought leader and move prominent issues forward by sharing a strong point of view. Scores and qualitative responses also indicate a perception that the Foundation may understand important topics like socio-economic factors (61st percentile) but may lack understanding that comes from lived experiences. For example, the Foundation was ranked in the 38th percentile regarding understanding the needs of the people and communities served. Responses also reveal the desire for us to improve how we share progress regarding our equity journey, much of which has been internally focused, and more clearly communicate what equity means for our work (44th percentile).

“[The Foundation’s] focus on health equity is critical at this time and aligns with our organization’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion within our community of stakeholders, clients served, leadership and staff. We have a long way to go, and I am hopeful that with St. David’s Foundation’s leadership and support we can make progress in this area, along with the rest of our community.” – SDF grantee respondent

Improvements Made Since Previous Survey (2021)

One of the goals we developed based on the findings from the previous grantee perception survey in 2021 was to “provide more insight into our thinking and strategy” as a funder. This year, the vast majority (94%) of survey respondents stated that they were aware of the Foundation’s new strategic plan released in January 2024. Beyond simple awareness, nearly two-thirds (61%) of respondents stated they were provided an opportunity to inform the development of our strategies. In fact, since 2021, the Foundation’s scores improved the most in the area of incorporating grantee input for strategy development, representing the greatest statistically significant improvement from the 46th percentile in 2021 to now being considered among the national leaders in this area (85th percentile). However, specific to the in-depth strategic planning the Foundation has been engaged in, some grantees felt the level of communication and relationship management declined during this crucial time. Staff responsiveness, while scores remained higher than the typical funder (54th percentile), is an area we will continue to prioritize.

“The funder/fundee power dynamic is still very evident… it all is very professional, formal, and quite complicated, which gives a perception of being high-quality, but I’m not sure if complicated and high-quality are necessarily the same thing.” – SDF grantee respondent

Grantmaking Practices 

Regarding our processes, we continue to explore best practices in philanthropy including providing more multi-year grants and unrestricted support. Specific to longer grant terms that reduce uncertainty for non-profits, 60% of grantees reported receiving 2+ year grants, which is a statistically significant increase from only 23% in 2021. Further, we continue to be committed to reducing burdensome reporting requirements for grantees. We have maintained many of the streamlined processes that we introduced through our COVID-19 Recovery Fund and the responses indicate a reduction in the hours spent by grantees on applications and reports compared to six years ago.

An area for continued growth that the Foundation has already begun to address is increased transparency regarding application requirements (50th percentile) and criteria for decision-making (35th percentile), both of which were ranked similar or below the typical funder. For the four open-call funding opportunities released this year and after this data was collected, the Foundation published in-depth application guides, including the scoring rubrics that would be utilized for funding decisions. Additionally, we are currently developing a calendar of funding opportunities to be published early in 2025 to help support potential applicants as they plan their year and identify the grant opportunities that most align with their mission and work. Based on scores regarding general transparency (45th percentile) and candor (44th percentile), we acknowledge this is an area of continued growth for the Foundation.

Another important finding is the importance and appreciation of non-monetary support. Two-thirds (66%) of grantees reported receiving “assistance beyond the grant.” Grantees receiving this support consistently rated the benefits highly across all categories, including meeting important needs, being a worthwhile use of their time, and strengthening their organizations. Assistance beyond the grant is a broad category of support and of all the various types, one-quarter (25%) of respondents received general organizational capacity building and 12% received fundraising assistance. These are the two types that grantees stated would be most beneficial to receive in the future, which suggests that the Foundation can further tailor support beyond the grant to meet the needs of grantees.

Summary of Actionable Goals 

Over half (56%) of all grantees responded to the request to provide anonymous feedback, which was lower than in previous years. We believe the best way to encourage future participation is to transparently share our findings, both positive and negative, and demonstrate how SDF will and has taken steps to address the feedback received. By utilizing the data, we honor the time taken by grantees. Below is a summary of the actionable goals St. David’s Foundation is committed to over the course of 2025 and beyond:

We want to share our deep appreciation to all our partners who took the time to fill out the comprehensive survey and share their feedback. Also, in the spirit of transparency, the full 2024 Grantee Perception Report is available for download below. Please feel free to reach out with questions or comments about the report or process by emailing [email protected].

Explore past grantee survey reports.

2021 Grantee Perception Report