Where are we seeing sustained changes in grantmaking practices to reduce grantee burden?  

In the summer of 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the national reckoning on race, more than 800 foundations signed on to the Council on Foundations (COF) COVID-19 Pledge to “loosen or eliminate the restrictions on current grants.” “[R]ecognizing the critical need to act with fierce urgency to support our nonprofit partners as well as the people and communities hit hardest by the impacts of COVID-19,” they implemented measures such as converting project-based grants to unrestricted support, accelerating payment schedules, and making new grants as unrestricted as possible. In fact, these were strategies that many in the sector had been building evidence to support for years.  

Since the COF pledge, the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) has been monitoring whether funders have maintained these commitments to reduce grantee burden. Early evidence suggests that many funders have stayed the course, especially in the areas of grant reporting requirements, funding restrictions, and proposal processes. However, there remain areas to monitor for additional progress. Here are three areas where we’ve seen measurable progress: 

Streamlining or revising grant reporting requirements

Each year, CEP surveys a national panel of nonprofits that receive foundation funding as part of our Nonprofit Voice Project (NVP). NVP data over multiple years suggests that funders have continued to streamline or revise reporting requirements. In early 2023, more than half of nonprofit leaders reported a perceived increase in trust from their funders, and most reported that at least some of their funders had reduced reporting requirements in the preceding year. In February 2024, 66% reported that their funders have either continued these changes to reduce grantee burden or made new commitments to implement them.  

Reducing or eliminating funding restrictions 

We also see continued progress around reducing or eliminating funding restrictions from multiple data sources. In the 2024 NVP, 56% of nonprofits said funders made new commitments or continued existing commitments in this area. These findings align with CEP’s earliest studies in 2020, where nearly all funders surveyed said they loosened or eliminated restrictions on existing grants, most often by reducing what’s asked of grantees and making new grants as unrestricted as possible—though only about 20% said they were increasing much-needed multi-year unrestricted support.     

Streamlining application and proposal processes

We also see similar levels of change around streamlining application and proposal processes when we look at shifts in practice in our Grantee Perception Report—a comparative grantee survey process used by hundreds of foundations. In our report Before and After 2020, we compared the data from 61 U.S.-based funders whose grantees we surveyed before the pandemic and again in 2021 or 2022. This data highlighted that grantees were spending less time on grant reporting and application processes than they were before the pandemic and finding the proposal process to be more helpful in strengthening the efforts funded by the grant. In the latest data from the 2024 NVP, 65% of nonprofits said funders made new commitments or continued existing commitments in this area to reduce grantee burden. 

More progress needed for sustained, fundamental change

Although this early evidence suggests that many funders have stayed the course in the areas of grant reporting requirements, funding restrictions, and proposal processes, there are many other areas that play important roles in making impactful and sustained change in grantmaking. One area in which early progress in 2020 is potentially waning is the focus on racial equity. While the data CEP collected in 2020 showed foundations focusing on racial equity in new and meaningful ways, more recently there have been signs of retrenchment, even as some funders have stayed the course or doubled down. More research is needed here.  

We also see in the 2024 NVP that while funders made progress in other areas, we see fewer nonprofits reporting that funders have made new commitments or continued existing commitments to provide more multi-year financial support. Sustaining these changes where we have not seen as much movement will require a deeper examination of strategies that lead to shifts in grantmaking. 

In her examination of shifts in funding practices, Katharine Ponce argues for deeper relationship building, sustained financial commitment, shifting power, and data transparency as other key tools in maintaining change for communities most impacted. In a 2022 Foundation Review article, others suggest that to truly change philanthropic practice, we need to go beyond the practice of grantmaking itself and look beneath the surface by utilizing eight equity-focused shifts, including reimagining processes and structures. And in a PEAK Journal article earlier this year, Kevin Bolduc and I suggested additional areas for improving grantmaking practice, including changing default mindsets in grantmaking systems, board write-ups, and data priorities to prompt unrestricted multi-year grants; increasing diversity on foundation boards; and using demographic data to support decision making.  

In addition to reducing funding restrictions and streamlining grant reporting and application processes, these other changes—from sharing power to building deeper relationships to shifting default mindsets—are more important than ever now as our sector is called upon to show courage, stay the course, and make lasting change. 

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