Center for Effective Philanthropy

YouthTruth is a national survey project operated by the Center for Effective Philanthropy. YouthTruth harnesses student and stakeholder feedback to help school leaders and education funders make better decisions that lead to better outcomes for students. Today, YouthTruth has surveyed over 1.8 million students across 39 states. With this grant, YouthTruth will expand its reach to schools and districts across the country as it amplifies the voices of students, staff, and families and increase public understanding of the experiences of students and stakeholders in schools. (Substrategy: Student and Community Voice)

The Center for Effective Philanthropy is one of the most important grantees in the Philanthropy Program portfolio. From firsthand experience, we know the power of their flagship assessment tools, the Grantee Perception Report and the Staff Perception Report, that have helped the Hewlett Foundation improve its own practice. The Center has worked with more than 200 foundations, including most of the largest grantmakers in the U.S. In addition to offering foundation staff and trustees systematic feedback to improve their performance, the Center has used the data, including surveys of more than 30,000 grantees, to help foundations understand the characteristics of effective philanthropy. In the last three years, they have also created tools to help assess and improve foundations’ strategic orientation and grants management practices.

The Center requests bridge funding to support YouthTruth—a national project to gather U.S. high school students’ feedback about their educational experience—as it transitions to an earned revenue strategy. By the end of the grant period, YouthTruth will have engaged more than 160,000 students from 320 schools through its core survey.