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| 56 percent of “engaged” adults can’t name a U.S. foundation on the first try. Image: Philanthropy Awareness Initiative |
The Philanthropy Awareness Initiative has just released a report that is sure to be frustrating news to anyone who works for a foundation. The Philanthropy’s Awareness Deficit: Results from Survey of Engaged Americans survey of 733 “engaged” adults (individuals who hold a leadership, committee or board-level role in an organization working on community or social issues) showed:
Despite direct engagement in the social causes and organizations that foundations fund, many engaged Americans seem to know little about foundations themselves. Three findings in particular indicate a significant awareness deficit facing the field of organized philanthropy among critical stakeholders:
- More than half (56%) cannot name a foundation on their first try, when asked which ones come to mind. [In fact, of the nine organizations mentioned, only five are actually foundations!]
- Six out of ten (60%) consider themselves somewhat or not at all informed about foundations.
- Few can cite examples of a foundation’s impact on their community (15%), and even fewer can give an example of a foundation’s impact on an issue they care about (11%).
It’s frustrating but perhaps not surprising, given previous examples of how the public views philanthropy, such as MCF’s Philanthropy is… video.
A little good news: these same respondents think that foundations are valuable to their communities, rating them 70 on a favorability scale from 1 to 100, and most of them trust foundations.
Read the entire report at philanthropyawareness.org (it’s a PDF).
Join the conversation: The report’s authors say that “A growing number of foundations and philanthropy associations are taking on the challenge — discovering ways to communicate value, demonstrate impact, tell stories, build relationships, make connections, and begin vital conversations with the engaged Americans whose views are the subject of this digest.”
Andy Goodman, who spoke at MCF’s 2007 annual conference, has a lot of great ideas and resources for telling your organization’s story. What is your foundation doing to effectively spread its message?
- Crystal Colby, Web Communications Associate
