To better understand how community foundations can best respond to the current environment, the Center for Effective Philanthropy asked donors about how satisfied they are with the community foundations with which they work. What matters most to them? What do these donors want from their community foundations?

The research reveals that donor satisfaction is vital for community foundations. Donors who are more satisfied with their community foundation are more likely to indicate that they plan to continue giving and more likely to recommend the foundation to others. The data also show that the strongest predictors of donor satisfaction are donors’ sense of the foundation’s level of responsiveness when they need assistance and donors’ perceptions of the foundation’s impact on the community.