Results & Reflections from SCG’s Member Survey
Last year, I celebrated my tenth year as President and CEO of SoCal Grantmakers. For me, this role has always been about community — supporting our region's communities and being in community with all of you.
Over the last few months, I've prioritized meeting more regularly with our members, individually and in group settings. I've had the privilege of engaging in many generative conversations about SCG's recent Member Survey, our members' experience, and our sector's current transitional moment. These conversations, alongside this professional milestone, have prompted me to examine the journey we have been on together.
Today, I am sharing my reflections on what I believe has made SCG successful in my time at the organization, the pivotal moments we've navigated together, and how our Member Survey results will shape the next chapter of our work.
Looking Back to Look Forward
When I joined SCG ten years ago, the organization was a small and tight-knit community of funders coming together to learn the nuts and bolts of grantmaking. From the beginning, I knew this community had so much potential. I saw the promise of a larger network that welcomed leaders from every sector. I saw the possibility of a member-led organization dedicated to advancing transformative change.
My goals for SCG have been consistent from day one. I knew that for SCG to be relevant and effective, it needed to prioritize the needs and wisdom of its members. I understood the importance of serving as a leadership hub for philanthropists in our region, where funders could develop their grantmaking skills, innovate, and advance collaborative action. I knew that if we could build a strong network of funders dedicated to the common good, we could transform our sector and better support our communities.
The SCG team and our board of directors have worked toward these goals in the last decade, and our organization has grown exponentially. What was once a small philanthropy-serving institution has transformed into a multifaceted organization, supporting a cross-sector network of leaders in our region. In ten years, we've forged new funder peer communities and committees in our region; we've joined collaboratives, such as Philanthropy California, to unite funders across the state on a range of issues; we've begun serving as a fiscal sponsor for a large number of member-led initiatives; we've grown our policy efforts and developed a public policy agenda focused on systems change; and, we've dramatically scaled our signature programming and professional learning opportunities. Amid all this, I am proud to say our membership has grown from just over 100 member organizations in 2013 to approximately 300 members today.
We are proud of everything we've achieved together. But we also understand the importance of continuously learning and adapting. As many of you have taught us, learning is a journey, not an endpoint.
Transitions & Evaluations
Since 2020, our sector — and our world — has changed dramatically. In response to the pandemic, the protests for racial justice, and changes in government, our sector mobilized in bold and innovative ways. Across our membership, we witnessed many of you coordinate to help the communities most affected by these crises. We saw funders make a concerted effort to center and advance equity and racial justice in their work. So many of you called on us to do the same. And we did. SCG mobilized alongside our members to meet the moment.
The last few years have undoubtedly changed many of us and our work. As time has passed, we've seen more members pause to take stock of everything that's changed and contemplate the best path forward. Today, we are all navigating a moment of transition and evaluation. For this reason, we knew it was time to conduct an internal evaluation of our services to understand how we could best support our members at this pivotal moment.
SCG's Member Survey Results
To help us understand our members' current needs and perspectives, we partnered with The Giving Practice at the end of last year to conduct SCG's first Member Survey since 2019. This survey was an evaluation in two parts. The first was a more traditional survey sent to all of our members to collect feedback on SCG's offerings; the second was a series of in-depth interviews with executives from our member organizations.
At the broadest level, we were heartened to see high marks from our members who reported positive experiences across much of our organization's work. Survey respondents communicated they were receiving a lot of value from SCG and have benefited greatly from the connections it provides. Many also indicated that we serve as their primary touchpoint for learning and innovation in the philanthropic sector. However, a segment of members did express a growing distance from SCG due to our shifting priorities and organizational direction over the years. Some reported wanting to be more intentionally included in SCG's offerings and community.
We are grateful for the honest feedback we received, and we have spent a lot of time with it. As I've mentioned, this was an opportunity for us to rethink our engagement strategies and connect more deeply with our members. Many of the conversations we hosted over the last few months have centered on understanding and improving the current member experience.
After speaking with so many of you and working alongside our board members to analyze our survey results, we are excited to share the trends that emerged from SCG's Member Survey and several of the immediate developments we have made to address member feedback. This message is the first in a series of communications you will receive from the SCG team in the coming weeks, exploring the insights we received from the survey.
Perspectives on Racial Equity
As a nation, we are experiencing a moment of acute polarization. Often, our community can be a mirror for the larger conversations and tensions happening in our sector and our culture. Nowhere was this more evident than in our members' responses on how they believe SCG should engage in racial equity work.
In the survey questions exploring SCG's racial equity efforts, our members offered varying perspectives. Many believe that SCG should continue to deepen and expand its commitment to racial equity and justice, maintaining focus and momentum as we center it across our work. Some believe SCG should slow down its emphasis on racial equity and take a more balanced approach across its offerings. Others expressed that SCG should be more inclusive and welcoming of varying opinions to serve as a home for all of philanthropy. However, most survey respondents were interested in learning more about operationalizing racial equity in their work.
SCG, with support and direction from our board of directors, remains resolute that focusing on equity, particularly racial equity, is integral to our vision of creating an equitable and thriving society. Racial equity will continue to be a common thread we weave throughout our offerings. However, we also recognize that our sector needs unity and understanding today. SCG strives to create an inclusive community of grantmakers who are invested in helping create a better future for our communities. SCG commits to working alongside all our members with a stated interest in equity and racial justice to "meet them where they are" and support them in their personal and professional development. Building bridges in a divided world will be a central focus for us moving forward. We are eager to share more about this line of work and our continued commitment to racial equity soon.
Amplifying Our Programs & Conferences
Programs and conferences have always been at the heart of SCG's work. Our events are often the primary way our members come together to learn and collaborate. In our survey, our members reinforced the value they receive from our programs and conferences, ranking it as the second most important offering SCG can provide in the next three years. They expressed a desire for more professional development opportunities that build practical grantmaking skills while also helping them take on a leadership role within or beyond their organization.
Our Programs & Conferences team was encouraged to hear this feedback and will continue to develop the signature programming that has gained recognition from grantmakers and philanthropy-supporting organizations nationwide. Moving forward, our team will use the survey feedback to ensure that upcoming programs are responsive to our members' needs and address the issues most pertinent to the sector. We will also make sure that members can apply program learnings and have the opportunity to network and create peer-to-peer relationships in person and in virtual spaces.
To learn more about SCG's program development priorities, we invite you to review our 2024 Programs & Conferences Framework, refreshed with the feedback we received from our members survey. We also encourage you to register for our upcoming annual conference, Better Together: Creating a Collective Legacy, to further your learning and connect with your philanthropy colleagues. This year, we are excited to share that we launched a Request for Proposals with our funder communities to partner with them in designing all of the breakout sessions at our annual conference!
A Growing Interest in Policy & Advocacy
Notably, a significant number of our members expressed interest in learning more and mobilizing around policy and advocacy efforts. Survey respondents indicated specific offerings they'd like SCG to provide, including programming covering relevant legislation and policies, training on allowable actions and funding for policy and advocacy work, and articles on public policy developments.
This trend was exciting for us! Over the last two years, we've been thrilled to see our annual policy conference sell out. We also continue to hear positive feedback from our members who have joined our Philanthropy California delegation at Foundations on the Hill. SCG's Public Policy Team has taken note of this energy around policy and advocacy work and channeled it into new developments. Earlier this year, our team launched a revamped Public Policy Agenda, a project done in close collaboration with SCG's Public Policy Advisory Committee, our members, and other partners in this work. Our new agenda is centered on systems change and is designed to elevate the intersectional nature of philanthropic work and create a more equitable landscape for historically excluded and marginalized communities. Additionally, our team has launched SCG's Advocacy Hub to house all of the legislation and initiatives we're tracking and provide resources for SCG members to take action.
Our team is now focused on growing our policy and advocacy work and ensuring that it is accessible and relevant to all types of members. To that end, we are eager to share our recently launched policy event series, Paving Pathways for Democracy Funding, for funders interested in incorporating democracy funding into their portfolios and those looking to grow their ongoing democracy efforts. We invite you to learn more about this series and to register for our first event next month.
Increasing Visibility of SCG's Offerings
Survey respondents asked us to increase visibility around SCG's offerings, expressing limited awareness of some of our projects and opportunities. Our members have asked us to share our strategies and initiatives more consistently and continue communicating SCG's unique value to the sector. Regarding specific communications content, respondents were most interested in seeing professional opportunities from the SCG network and long-form editorial features on topics relevant to the philanthropic sector.
SCG's Knowledge & Communications team is in the process of refreshing our communications channels and strategies to reflect our survey feedback. Moving forward, our emails and social channels will spotlight all of SCG's offerings to build greater awareness around our work. We will also prioritize curating and featuring the content our members have expressed the highest interest in receiving. We are excited to launch a new newsletter soon that will serve as the primary home for all this content. Our team encourages you to update your email preferences and to follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram to stay informed on SCG's latest news and opportunities.
Leaning into Our Role as a Hub for All of Philanthropy
Our members value connection above all. Our survey respondents reported that SCG excels in helping them connect with colleagues to share knowledge, strengthen relationships, and prepare for changes in the region, sector, and issue area. Our members were clear that the most important thing SCG can do for them in the next three years is to continue facilitating member connections and partnerships.
In a post-pandemic world, we have witnessed our members' enthusiasm for more opportunities to network and share space. We understand the importance of continuing to create in-person and virtual spaces to facilitate member connection and collaboration. We are committed to being a central hub for grantmakers in Southern California and bringing together our network to address our community's most pressing issues.
However, to truly be inclusive, we will pay closer attention to the survey respondents who expressed a desire to be more meaningfully incorporated and included in all of SCG's offerings, namely our corporate philanthropy and family foundation members. To that end, we are excited to announce that SCG recently hired a new corporate consultant to advise us on how best to serve the corporate philanthropy sector and assist in curating relevant programs and resources for corporate members. Additionally, our family philanthropy team is excited to share that we have reimagined our annual family philanthropy conference to become a two-day event, now taking place on December 6, 2024, and March 6, 2025, to create more opportunities for our community to learn, connect, and build together. If you'd like to stay updated on our family conference, Bridging Possibilities, we invite you to sign up for our interest list.
But this is only the beginning of our work for corporate and family philanthropy members and the initial stages of building a more inclusive grantmaking community. Our goal in the coming months is to convey a greater sense of belonging to all of our members.
Our Work Ahead
Witnessing how committed our members are to SCG's growth and future has been encouraging. So many of you have taken the time to share your wisdom with us because you believe in our organization's potential to build a strong and informed giving community in Southern California. As we move forward, the SCG team is committed to doing what has made us successful over the years: listening and centering our members.
In the coming weeks, you will hear from SCG staff, who will share more specific insights and recommendations from the survey and how each of our teams is responding to this feedback. You will also hear from me again soon regarding SCG's commitment to racial equity work and our new priority of building bridges among all our members.
We are inspired by the work you are doing, work we are fortunate enough to be a part of. There are a lot of opportunities ahead of us as we continue to work toward our vision of a more equitable future. We are excited to meet this new moment alongside all of you.