In Brief

With 63% of current grantees responding, the Walter & Elise Haas Fund received strong ratings for:

• Demonstrating robust understanding of the fields in which we work
  Our program officers are recognized as experts in their fields, supplying their collaborative intelligence and field expertise alongside funding to advance grantees’ missions.
• Positively impacting communities
  Our mission is to help build a healthy, just, and vibrant society in which people feel connected to and responsible for their community. It is this community impact that motivates us and gives us purpose.

“The biggest strength of the Fund by far is the staff. Our program officer is essential in our ability to successfully obtain funding from the Hass Sr. Fund. She has an authentic knowledge of our organization, our community, and the field at large and offers us important insights.”

• Maintaining strong relationships with grantees
  The unbroken line between understanding and impact depends upon strong relationships. Fund staff understand this, receiving particularly high-ratings for their responsiveness and fairness. We are also being more proactive in reaching out, with 21% of grantees reporting that their program officer initiated contact most frequently, up from 9% in 2012.

This positive feedback is tempered by some ongoing challenges:

• Our impact on grantees’ organizations has been down-rated since our 2012 survey
  The Fund makes a high number of smaller grants (on the average of $35,000) each year. This reflects our commitment to including many strong actors in our portfolio, and creating resonant change in the fields in which we operate — but smaller grants mean less money to contribute to each grantee organization’s budget.

• We need to spend more time on site
  The percentage of our grantees who report they received a site visit from their program officer has decreased. This translates to follow-on effects, such as reduced impact on grantee organizations and the communities they serve. We look forward to addressing this issue and deepening our connections to grantee work.
• Collaboration during the application, grant, and assessment periods is key
  Less than half of Fund grantees report exchanging ideas with their program officer concerning how the funded work should be or is being assessed. This is down from 69% in 2012. Grantees also report fewer substantive discussions with the Fund about the reports they submit as part of our reporting processes. In order to maximize our potential learning — and effect — we need to reverse this trend.

The Data

For more detail on the above high-level summary, we invite you to review the full 2017 Grantee Perception Report. Our Grantee Perception Reports from 2012 and 2007 are both available in full online as well.

Transparency

Next Steps

Information is valuable, but only insofar as it leads to action and improvement.

Well before commissioning this latest Grantee Perception Report, the board and staff of the Walter & Elise Haas Fund have been discussing how we learn about and understand the impact of our grants, so we can better respond to the opportunities and challenges before us. This latest report confirms we’re taking the right steps to join grantees in taking a deeper look at the outcomes of their work.

“Refreshingly friendly, accommodating, and easy to communicate with. Quick, accurate and honest responses. Always helpful and supportive in any situation. The Haas Sr. Fund feels like a true “angel in our corner,” always there to give support, advice, suggestions, or help in any way.”

As a connected team, we have been working to tease out what we’re learning from each grant we make, each grantee we fund, and the cumulative effects our work has on the community. We collect data and require reporting, but we are demanding more from ourselves — we have to translate the information we gather into actionable intelligence.

In this process and in others, our work is driven by our grantees; If we ask for something of them — a report, for example — we want to give something back in return, beyond funding. By sharing our learning, we will create a positive feedback loop that amplifies our ability to build a healthy, just, and vibrant society.

Part of achieving this goal will mean continuing and increasing our commitment to responsive communications and collaborative relationships. Practically, this will be evidenced in increased site visits, more time spent discussing strategy and results with grantees, and more substantial communications in general.

As we hope this report and our presentation of it here demonstrates, we are open to your feedback. We’re working to ensure access and to create opportunity for people across the Bay Area. For your collaboration in this work, we are grateful.