CEP has been a critically important resource to the Hilton Foundation as we set out, a decade ago, to become a more strategically effective foundation. Recently our foundation has been undertaking a review to prepare for future growth. In 2017, we asked CEP to be a partner to help us reflect on our current position in the philanthropic ecosystem and how our approach can help us maximize our future impact, while living our founder’s values.

CEP has played an instrumental role in helping us address these questions. Their great listening and thoughtful questions, unique knowledge of philanthropy, and excellent analysis brought new insight and helped us chart a path forward.

Our progress over time has been validated by positive feedback from CEP grantee perception surveys, our monitoring evaluation and learning partners, and other third party analysis. On this exciting and rewarding journey, the CEP team continues to be responsive, flexible, and thoughtful in working with staff, senior management and our board. We greatly value our ongoing partnership.

Philanthropy New York’s success is directly linked to our ability to build networks and learning opportunities that meet the needs of our membership. When we contacted CEP to help us survey our members, they jumped at the chance to apply their expertise to our membership. The Advisory team worked hand in hand with our staff, helping us to tease out exactly which questions we needed answered. They took the time to get to know Philanthropy New York, understand our services, and develop a tool that helped us hone in on our goals. The process was, for us, as important as the outcome. And, the report is one we use regularly when we think about how to direct resources and develop new programming.

The Kresge Foundation commissioned the Center for Effective Philanthropy to design and administer a custom Grantee Perception Report pulse survey to measure organizational progress against key areas for improvement born out of the 2014 GPR. Specifically, we assembled a foundation-wide task force to analyze grantee feedback about our application and reporting system, communications and staff responsiveness and develop a comprehensive plan of action to ensure continuous improvement. The pulse survey has helped our staff gather more immediate feedback and make small but swift adjustments to continuously improve our grantee relationships.