Accelerating Impact with Grantee Reporting: People, Process, Tools | Session 1: Grantee Reporting

Series Description

Since 2020, many funders have embraced new ways of interacting with their nonprofit partners and grappled with how to shift the grantmaking power imbalance. Reporting is no exception. Funders have started to deeply consider grantee partners’ work when reporting on their efforts in relationship with the grant dollars they receive. This includes considering the purpose of reporting, what information we need, and what mechanisms exist and could be adapted, in order to achieve the needs of a grantmaking organization while centering grantees.

In this series of two sessions, you’ll hear from foundation staff who have piloted new reporting methods, incorporated practices aimed at deep equity, transparency, and accessibility. They will share key lessons from engaging in this kind of systems change. You will also have the opportunity to workshop case studies to explore reporting processes and their origins and impacts. This series of programs will resource you to assess your reporting process and make changes to it to achieve impact while addressing the burden of reporting on grantee partners.

Session Description

The grant report can hold space for a feedback loop critical to creating and living a learning culture. As such, we will explore the purpose of reporting, what information we need, and how to use that information to support learning and change within our organizations and grantmaking strategies. Through a panel conversation, in this first session of this series, funders who have redefined and redesigned their reporting practices will share their lessons and experiences.

From program staff to grants management, from evaluation teams to board members, reporting processes are an integral part of understanding what change and impact foundation dollars have. We, therefore, will explore how rethinking reporting processes touches almost, if not every, aspect of a foundation’s grantmaking practice, covering the inequities embedded in philanthropy and our practices and reflecting on the cultural “source codes” that influence the field.

Audience

This program is open to members of Catalyst, Northern California Grantmakers, and Southern California Grantmakers. It is recommended for:

• Foundation staff that are responsible for leading or supporting organizational change.
• From learning and evaluation team members to senior leadership, program and grants staff, and intermediaries who work closely with nonprofit groups, there is reason for all foundation staff to engage with the session content.
• We encourage teams at organizations to attend this program together so that you can more effectively move a change agenda in your organization.

Learning Goals

• Interrogate the origins and purpose of grantee reporting
• Reimagine grantee reporting processes that get you the information you need while centering nonprofits
• Consider equity and power dynamics as you reimagine grantee reporting processes

Learn more about session 2 here