Evaluation

The 2017 L4G Co-funder Experience

November 30, 2018

Fund for Shared Insight structured the first generation of Listen4Good, its signature national feedback initiative, as a co-funding opportunity in order to engage more funders in supporting client feedback efforts and using client data to inform their own work. Since 2016, 85 funding partners have participated in L4G, nominating grantees and contributing $15,000 of the $30,000 grant total for each nonprofit selected. In this report, Shared Insight’s evaluation partner ORS Impact presents findings from its survey of a sample of L4G co-funders from 2017 and compares them with an earlier examination of 2016 co-funders.

ORS interviewed 26 2017 co-funders, asking such questions as what their motivation was to participate and how L4G impacted their perceptions and practices around feedback.

Key Findings

Eighteen funders indicated that participating in L4G affected how they think their foundation can benefit from having grantees collect constituent feedback, such as by informing internal conversations about grantmaking and strategic planning.
Nearly a third of the co-funders indicated that L4G had contributed to changes in their foundation practices around feedback, such as adding new questions about the issue to grantee proposals.
While 80 percent of the 2017 co-funders said they were somewhat or very likely to continue supporting feedback practice among their grantees after L4G, that figure was down from 100 percent among the 2016 respondents.
Responses varied depending on type of funder (i.e. independent, community, or family foundation), how many L4G grantees they supported, and whether they were new to the program or had participated in earlier rounds.