Donor Perception Report

The Donor Perception Report (DPR) helps community foundation leaders understand their donors’ perceptions of their organizations’ strengths and areas for improvement. The survey is customizable and explores donors’ perceptions of the community foundations to which they contribute. The DPR is the only donor survey that allows community foundation leaders to understand their donors’ perceptions of foundation strengths and weaknesses in a comparative context.

Through the DPR, community foundations are able to identify actionable strategies for most effectively engaging their donors. The DPR covers topics such as:

  • Donor engagement and preferences
  • Perceptions of impact on the community and impact on donor giving
  • Communications and use of resources
  • Future giving 

The DPR Process

The DPR process takes about four months, starting when surveys are sent to community foundation donors and concluding when CEP finalizes the report and presents findings. The deadline for participating in the next round of DPRs is December 21, 2010.

DPR Data in Action

  • The Napa Valley Community Foundation, an early adopter of the Donor Perception Report, has made its report available on its website.
  • "The Donor Perception Report was an important part of a comprehensive review supporting the Trust’s long-term planning efforts. It provided interesting and informative feedback from donors whose support is essential to achieving our goal of building a safe, healthy and productive future for every Chicago resident. The ability to analyze the results in numerous ways has provided invaluable insight into improving the focus of our work."
    -Jamie Phillippe, vice president of development and donor services, Chicago Community Trust
  • "The Donor Perception Report has given us the deepest and most useful insights we've ever had into how our donors are experiencing, valuing, and utilizing our services and our communications with them. We have been both affirmed by the report's overall findings, and challenged in the areas where donors expressed needs still to be addressed…The Center for Effective Philanthropy did an excellent job conducting the survey and preparing the report."
    -Shelley Hoss, president, Orange County Community Foundation