Listening to our Partners: Reflections on Our 3rd Grantee Perception Report and Survey

Morgan Mickle, Senior Manager, Learning and Impact

Illustration of diverse hands gathered around a shared document, representing Imaginable Futures' partnership feedback from grantees across Brazil, Kenya, and the US.

In September-October 2025, Imaginable Futures partnered with the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) to conduct our third Grantee Perception Report survey. Sixty-five partner organizations across Brazil, Kenya, and the United States shared candid feedback on how we are showing up as a funder—and what the current funding and policy environment looks like on the ground.

Over the past two years, we refined how we track progress toward systems change through a Systems & Impact Framework that centers partner voice and field learning. As part of this approach, we committed to conducting the CEP survey every two to three years. Our 2025 survey results help us understand partner experiences and where we’re seeing shifts.

Download our 2025 key findings

What Partners Told Us About the Current Moment

Across Brazil, Kenya, and the United States, partners reported:

Heightened safety concerns: Nearly 80% of partners in Brazil and the US reported increased safety risks for communities, with 72% of partners in Brazil also noting rising organizational safety concerns.
Major funding contractions: Many organizations experienced funding cuts of up to 40% across their funding sources.
Rising demand for services: Between 80-92% of partners report growing demand for support in their communities.
Operational strain: In the US, more than 40% of partners have reduced both services and staff due to funding pressures and it is expected to climb.

“Federal and state funding cuts…have led to increased demand for our support while simultaneously narrowing the pool of available resources. Families we work alongside are experiencing profound stress: many are losing access to essential health and early learning services, while others are struggling to cover their most basic needs.”

US Grantee

What Partners Say Is Working

Since our last survey, we carried out several strategic shifts—like updating our mission and vision; conducting an audit and action plan around our justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion approach; and implementing our S&I Framework—all which impact how we partner and engage. Survey feedback highlights three areas where partners see progress:

More useful reporting and learning processes: Partners report that our reporting requirements now better support reflection and learning, while total time spent on IF-funded work has remained stable.
Trust-based partnerships: Partners rate IF’s commitment to its values 6.6 out of 7, and we rank in the top 10% of funders for trust in grantee leadership.
Larger, more flexible funding: After shifts to our grantmaking—81% now multi-year grants, 58% unrestricted, 50% both multi-year and unrestricted—partners share that they are spending less time on grant processes, while ranking us in the top 10% of funders for approaches that strengthen efforts funded by grants. 81% percent of partners also receive non-monetary support.

“Imaginable Futures’ support for our organizational development has been exceptionally valuable. Very few funders invest in strengthening the internal capacity of organizations, and this focus has been instrumental in our growth. Their support enabled us to build stronger systems, refine our processes, and enhance our ability to deliver high-quality programs. This investment in our organizational health has had a direct impact on our effectiveness and sustainability, positioning us to better serve our learners and communities.”

Kenya Grantee

Where We Need to Improve

The survey also surfaced gaps in our partnerships:

Less frequent engagement: Our grantees reported they felt our monthly contact with them declined from 2022 to 2025, dropping 32 percentage points.
Too many requests for information: Partners noted confusion between multiple learning and storytelling requests tied to our Systems & Impact work.
Impact has regional variations: Collectively, we have increased impact on fields, communities, and organizations broadly, but partner ratings indicate that it has been highly context dependent.

What We Are Doing Next

Based on grantee feedback and our continued commitment to strengthening partnerships, we are focusing on:

Maintaining emphasis on general operations funding support that provides partners with flexibility so grantees can meet critical moments in shifting landscapes.
Under IF’s efforts to collaborate with peer funders, offering more opportunities for the convening of partners, as well as connection points with new funders.
Continuing non-monetary support, including leadership development and ecosystem collaboration.
Clarifying our communication to partners on how they can contribute to both our own and broader ecosystem learning, while also more consistently sharing field insights and collective impact, including through our newsletters.

“We also believe that Imaginable Futures can play a strategic role in disseminating and catalyzing communication for the [organizations] it supports, giving greater visibility to their initiatives and strengthening the social ecosystem.”

Brazil Grantee

Final Thoughts

Graphic summarising four takeaways for philanthropy from Imaginable Futures' 2025 Grantee Perception Report: trust, flexibility, non-monetary support, and adaptability.

Investing in this survey helps us stay accountable to our values, our partners, their fields and communities served. In 2025, we’ve seen what’s resonating and where there’s still room to strengthen partnerships. As we build on this learning in 2026 and beyond, we look forward to bridging possibility, fostering exchange, and pushing innovation that enables our partners to translate their vision of enduring change for learners everywhere.

If our survey results sparked an insight or something you’d like to share, please email hello@imaginablefutures.com with the subject line: Survey 2025.