As part of The Presser Foundation’s goal to best serve our partners, we review and adapt our applications and reports every year based on current circumstances and trends.
Research and best practice in the foundation space recommends that applications and reports are simple and straightforward so that nonprofits spend less time answering questions and more time fulfilling their missions and serving their clients and audiences. In addition, as this Center for Effective Philanthropy blog post points out, we also want reports to be “focused on specific learning questions that can be discussed, synthesized, and shared back with grantees.”
Below, I highlight some of the most noticeable changes to our applications and reports this year for our regional grantmaking areas (Advancement of Music (general operating support), Capital Support, and Special Projects).
Applications
- Organization History
In the past, we asked applicants to fill out their organization’s history every year, regardless of whether they had received a grant in previous years and had already filled out this information. We’ve updated all of our applications to ask that this section only be completed if the organization is a new applicant.
- Intended Impact
Undoubtedly, it’s difficult to predict and measure impact. While we kept an impact question in our applications, we reworded it to ask about intended impact. This hopefully directs organizations to discuss what they hope to see/work toward, rather than defining the impact of programs before the programming occurs.
- Previous Foundation Support
In the past, the Foundation asked a question in each grantmaking area about whether an organization received funding from The Presser Foundation in the past, and if so, to describe the impact that the grant had on the organization.
We’ve removed the entire question from the Special Projects and Advancement of Music applications, and in Capital Support, directed it to organizations who received funding pre-2013 and not after. We can see in Foundant, the system we use, whether or not an organization has received support. Much of the time, we’re already aware of the organization and if it’s received funding from the Foundation. We hope that eliminating/editing this question will shorten the amount of time that organizations spend on the application, as it shifts the burden to Foundation staff to know and/or uncover the answer.
- Questions on COVID
Staff also removed COVID references from the applications. Previous adaptations as a result of COVID will have and have already had long standing impact on how organizations operate – those changes have become a core part of what partners do. As a result, many organizations have taken elements of their COVID-related efforts and evolved them to become part of their regular programming. Therefore, these adaptations and responses are included in the narrative when we ask about programs.
- Equity
Within the Advancement of Music application, staff have added questions regarding an organization’s staff and board demographics. Some of this information can be found when nonprofits complete Candid’s Guidestar Profile (which we encourage all partners to do!). However, since some do not or are unable to, we have embedded these questions within this application.
We recognize that these questions only scratch the surface of whether an organization is centering equity. There’s a great deal more to understand; nevertheless, we envision that these questions will help us better understand our grantee partner’s leadership and the role of equity in each organization.
Reporting
- Oral Reporting
The biggest change regarding reporting this year is the addition of an oral reporting option for partners. In other words, grantee partners are able to select whether or not they complete the traditional written report or whether they sign up for an oral reporting session. The same questions will be asked in each, but Foundation staff hope that those who prefer sharing updates on Zoom will have a lessened burden regarding reporting.
- External Communications Permission
While the Foundation included a section for organizations to upload photos and/or videos, we have also added a question to each report asking permission if we can share information and visuals from the report in our external communications tools (our social media platforms, our website, our blog, and our newsletter). We aim to share wonderful stories from our partners and actively use the information they submit in the report with a wider audience to amplify their efforts and impact.
- Leadership Changes
We also adjusted a question to ask about leadership changes rather than staff changes. We fund a number of small, all-volunteer run organizations, and recognize that the word “leadership” more clearly describes the contributions and impact made by many different types of stakeholders.
Prior to this year, the reports for the grantmaking areas had been edited and shortened a great deal. While we did not make as many changes to the reports, we hope that they are simplified and streamlined compared to reports from years ago.
Overall
Reviewing applications and reports is an iterative process. We tweak them every year as we adjust to current realities in the world e.g., COVID-19, and try to simplify the process for our partners. We welcome feedback and questions about any of the applications and reports – feel free to reach out our Grants & Communications Manager Abby Rolland at arolland@presserfoundation.org.
