Nearly 50 percent of nonprofit leaders believe a critical knowledge gap exists between foundations and the organizations they fund, a new report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy finds.

According to the report, What Foundations Can Do (24 page, PDF), 48 percent of the nonprofit leaders surveyed by CEP believe that foundations are unaware of the challenges their organizations face. The report also found that less than a third of nonprofit leaders believe that foundations take full advantage of their resources to help nonprofits address these challenges. "Given the hesitance nonprofits may have about openly sharing their challenges with their funders, we hope this report helps set the stage for foundations to do more to strengthen those they fund," said CEP president Phil Buchanan. "After all, foundations depend on their grantees to help them achieve their goals."

Conducted as part of CEP's Grantee Voice project, which involved three hundred nonprofit leaders from across the country who agreed to complete short surveys about topics relevant to their experiences working with funders, the report also found that of the 85 percent of nonprofits for whom earned revenue is a relevant issue, nearly 45 percent would welcome more help from foundations. At the same time, the survey revealed that nonprofits are not looking to foundations to solve all their problems — and that there are some problems which nonprofits think cannot be solved by foundations at all.

"The picture that emerges from this data and our previous research is clear," said Buchanan. "Although foundation staff tend to be interested in providing assistance beyond the grant, it can be hard to know exactly how to do so. To help your grantee, you need engage in an open conversation that can only be based on a trusted relationship that you've built over time."