I’ve been in post as Grants Officer at the Blagrave Trust for 6 months now. Something I’ve learned through the process has been how important evaluation is as part of the grantmaking process. It’s an opportunity to reflect on what went well and what could be better. I’ve found the insights partners share with us through surveys is extremely valuable and insightful. This post will provide a summary of the responses the Blagrave Trust received from partners in 2023.
There are four key stages in the grant-making process when we ask for feedback: after application, grant offer, midway through the grant partnership, and at the end. Our response rate last year was 42%, which is really strong. These surveys allow us to receive feedback from partners at different stages of their grant and their relationship with us, as well as collecting feedback from unsuccessful applicants, to holistically improve our grants process.
Overall, the feedback is positive. The percentage of partners who would recommend us as a funder, is 100%, which is an important indicator that our approach is effective. But equally as important feedback has been from partners sharing their ideas for how we can improve.
The top three things partners expressed they would like Blagrave to do to improve its offer to partners are:
- Involve us in deciding how to monitor and report progress
- Share our content on your social media platforms
- Involve us in decision-making and strategy conversations
We are currently working on how to improve our communications function to support our partners and we will be looking at these other ideas in the year ahead. This feedback will support us to improve the experience partners and applicants have with us in the future. A full report and explanatory comments from partners can be found below. And a big thank you to all applicants and partners who took the time to provide feedback!