Nonprofit leaders want greater transparency from foundations with respect to what foundations are learning and how they assess grantee performance and impact, a new report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy finds.

Based on a survey of 138 nonprofit leaders, the report, Foundation Transparency: What Nonprofits Want (20 pages, PDF), found that only 29 percent of respondents said they had a clear understanding of how foundations use the information nonprofits provide, 44 percent are unclear about how their efforts fit into funders' overall work, 51 percent said they wanted "a lot more" transparency about what foundations are learning, and more than 75 percent wanted more transparency about the impact that foundations are having.

The survey sample is representative of nonprofits that receive support from large foundations. Written by CEP's Andrea Brock, Ellie Buteau, and Ramya Gopal, the report is based on CEP's work with a panel of nonprofit leaders who agreed to share their experiences working with foundations.

"It's clear that foundations have a lot of work to do when it comes to their communications with grantees," said CEP president Phil Buchanan. "But the good news is that there's an important payoff for foundations who deliver the sort of transparency that helps grantees. The data show that foundations that are more transparent are perceived to be more helpful to nonprofits, easier to develop good relationships with, and more credible. That's the basis of a great relationship with the folks who use your foundation's resources to carry out your mission."