A Trust-Based Approach to Grant Reporting

Grant reporting is one way that funders connect with the organizations they fund to understand the impact of grantmaking. Funders often ask grantee-partners to share written reports about the work their grants made possible. Yet Center for Effective Philanthropy’s (CEP) research shows that grantee organizations typically give funders’ reporting processes some of the lowest ratings of all aspects of the grant cycle.

Clearly, grant reporting is a process that could use some innovation. In fact, a major practice of Trust-Based Philanthropy is to simplify and streamline paperwork for grantee-partners, including grant reports. With less burdensome reporting processes, funders can free up staff time to focus on mission and deepen funder-grantee relationships. A pillar of Women’s Foundation of Minnesota’s (WFM) strategic plan is to grow our anti-racist philanthropic practices, and nurturing trust-based relationships with our partners is foundational.

To simplify grant reporting, WFM sought grantee-partner feedback in order to create one form that invites grantee-partners to define their own successes. While learning from partners, we are also seeking feedback on our resources and practices.

In 2025, WFM created one annual report, the WFM Grant Report, that can be used by all grantee-partners. We believe this report will help us be a more transparent and collaborative funder. Using one report will help WFM share the report questions at the start of the grant period, see trends in the nonprofit sector overall, and learn how we can better serve our partners.

Because most WFM grants can be used for general operating expenses, our report asks about the work we are supporting across the organization’s operations, rather than just one program. We ask some questions that are important to our strategies, such as how grantees approach both systems change and direct service, if they have experienced changes in organizational capacity, and how they build community power. Gathering this information can be practiced alongside grantee-led metrics and grantee feedback.

Creating the New Report

As a funder committed to building power by involving community members in our grantmaking, WFM works with partners as we update grant processes. We drafted a report form and met with 14 staff from 12 organizations to receive and incorporate their feedback for improvement. Most of the feedback we received from partners was very positive. They shared that the report was “thoughtful,” “low stress,” and “simple yet gathers the right information.” Most of the changes they wanted to see were to specify why we ask certain questions, add suggested response lengths, and clarify our language. This helped us add needed context and improve our transparency. Many thanks to these partners for sharing their feedback!

Using the Information

We affirm that grantee-partners own their own outcomes, and we are supporters of their work. Since WFM is just one funder of their organization, we are interested in learning how our funding contributes to their outcomes. We greatly appreciate what they choose to share with us so we can deepen our understanding of their work and the nonprofit field. We use the information that grantee-partners share with us in several ways, to:

• Learn more about grantee-partners
• Review internally and adjust our strategy
• Report back to our funders
• Include examples in our applications for funding
• Amplify impact and share stories through an annual grant report

Our Reporting Process

We ask grantee-partners to submit a written online report at the end of each grant year. All questions are optional so that grantee-partners can decide what is appropriate to share. We will review submitted reports and create an annual summary, highlighting the main takeaways across each impact area and across all our grantee-partners, which we will share publicly.
A few grant funds focused on programmatic funding with specific evaluation indicators (girlsBEST, We Thrive, and Young Women’s Initiative (YWI)) will have a tailored program report, instead of or in addition to the WFM Grant Report.

Topics & Form

The WFM Grant Report asks about:

• Organization – to better understand the organizations we are supporting
• Direct service & systems change – to learn how grantees are engaging in systems change and/or direct service
• Impact story – to hear a story of progress, success, or major changes as a result of their work
• Outcomes – to understand what the funding made possible, including any changes to organizational capacity, resilience, and related outcomes
• Community power – to learn how grantees approach building community power and how WFM could partner and facilitate connections among our partners, so that we can be a better partner
• WFM resources – to understand which WFM resources were useful and what could make them more useful, so that we can improve

See the full grant report form:

Moving Forward

We intend to keep the questions consistent, and we will adjust as needed in response to grantee-partner feedback. We included two questions to gain actionable feedback, asking how much time they spent on the report and inviting additional comments.

We are also participating in the Minnesota Council on Foundation’s Common Grant Working Group, which brings together foundations and nonprofits to develop reporting resources as a companion to the Minnesota Common Grant. As a group, our goal is to influence the field of philanthropy in Minnesota to adopt practices that reduce burdens on organizations statewide.

Please reach out to Kate Boyle-Steed, Director of Learning & Evaluation, at kate@wfmn.org with any questions or feedback about the report. If your organization is considering revamping your own reporting processes, we’d love to connect!

Learn More

We take inspiration from many leaders in the field, including:

• Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, which encourages funders to offer streamlined and alternative reporting options, among other practice improvements
• Jessica Bearman & Elizabeth Myrick, who encouraged funders to clarify their reporting purpose, choose the right structure, and share learnings
• Carlson Family Foundation, who ask grantees to share key outcomes they observed as related to the fund’s goals
• The Center for Evaluation Innovation, the Trust Based Philanthropy Project, and Brenda Solorzano, who developed a framework for trust-based learning and evaluation that redefines impact to hold the foundation accountable, center learning from grantees, and track big picture changes
• Rachel Kimber & Blach Vance, who led a sector workgroup about oral and alternative reporting
• New York Women’s Foundation, who use one streamlined grant report and renewal form across all their grantmaking
• Thousand Currents, whose reporting asks: “What would you like us to know about your work and what has happened in your organization over the past year?”