2025 Center for Effective Philanthropy Grantee Perception Report

For more than two decades, the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) Grantee Perception Report (GPR) has been one of RWJF's most important tools for gathering, understanding, and acting on grantee feedback.

The 2025 findings show meaningful improvement across nearly every major area measured by the survey. These results suggest grantees are seeing and experiencing meaningful improvements in their partnerships with RWJF, while continuing to view the Foundation as a leader in advancing health equity and supporting work that helps everyone have a fair and just opportunity to thrive.

The Issue

Our grantees are essential partners in our efforts to build a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right. We believe the strength of that partnership is essential to achieving our shared goals and are committed to asking for and acting on our grantee’s feedback. Since 2004, RWJF has partnered with CEP to conduct a biannual survey of grantees about their perceptions of and experiences with the Foundation. The findings help us better understand our strengths, identify opportunities for improvement, and strengthen our relationships with the organizations and communities we support.

Key Findings

• Grantees reported significant improvement across most survey measures since 2023. Many measures reached their highest levels in more than a decade.
• Grantees see RWJF as an important public leader in elevating and funding health equity issues.
• Grantee’s perceptions of RWJF's understanding of their work and the communities they serve improved substantially compared to previous years.
• Grantee Perceptions of RWJF's impact on local communities improved significantly from 2023 but remained lower than ratings related to organizational and field-level impact, suggesting an ongoing opportunity to better understand and communicate how Foundation investments contribute to community-level change.

About the Study

The 2025 Grantee Perception Report was fielded by the Center for Effective Philanthropy in May and June of 2025. CEP received responses from 717 RWJF grantees, representing a 38 percent response rate. Responses were collected anonymously and analyzed alongside data from hundreds of participating foundations, as well as a comparison cohort of large national private foundations. CEP's analysis provides RWJF with actionable feedback about grantees' experiences and helps inform ongoing efforts to strengthen our work and partnerships.