BREAKOUT I:
Listening Better to Beneficiaries: A Most Promising Practice for Impact

Join us for a real live conversation with several program participants, a nonprofit leader and a funder – about the experience, value, and impact of feedback at the Center for Employment Opportunities, which provides comprehensive employment services to people with recent criminal convictions. Nothing is more promising in terms of increasing impact than listening to and learning from ultimate beneficiaries. That’s what came through in CEP’s recent research report, The Future of Foundation Philanthropy: The CEO Perspective. Foundation CEOs most frequently cited hearing and learning from their ultimate beneficiaries as the top promising practice for increasing impact in the coming decades. Given the vital importance of listening well to the people foundations seek to help, what are some ways that funders are approaching this need, and what more can be done?  How can listening well to beneficiaries be more fully integrated into a foundation’s practices? This session will dynamically explore these questions and more.