Listening to You

The Feb. 1 Director’s Notes covered results of our recent Customer Service Survey. Some 128 grantees, former grantees and organizations declined funding participated in the anonymous survey.

The Journalism Program first asked for our customer opinions in 2008 and in response made a number of procedural changes. (Incidentally, we showed incremental improvement in nearly all customer service categories in 2011 when compared with the 2008 results.)

Last month, we shared the findings with other McCormick Foundation programs. After reviewing the results, some of our colleagues plan to launch similar customer service surveys later this year.

We take this “pulse of the customer” stuff very seriously and now will undertake surveys every other year.  The data will become a permanent part of our learning agenda.

Here are some other changes we are making in response to the 2011 survey results:

• We are issuing regular e-newsletters that will include information about the Journalism Program and its grantees. Also, you may have noticed an updated layout for our blog, including the punchier nickname M3 (McCormick Media Matters).
• We will publish our evaluation logic model later this month.
• We are actively soliciting grantees for quotes, interviews, photos, videos and ideas for postings.  Check out our Best of, Brainstorm, Blueprint and Backto You features.
• A year-end recap to explain the realities of funding and chances of success. 
• We will attempt to customize decline letters to better explain why proposals were declined. Some proposals are bad fits. Many others are declined because of limited funds during a highly selective process.  
• We will continue to accept letters of inquiry year-round for grant requests of less than $50,000.  They will be reviewed by staff in February, July and November. Top McCormick management approval is   required before grants can be paid out. We will attempt to release grant checks of $50,000 or less in March, August and December.
• Letters of inquiry for grants of more than $50,000 must be submitted by May 1, 2012. These proposals will be reviewed by our Board of Directors in September and paid out in January of 2013.

The Feb. 15 Director’s Notes will provide details of a new online letter of inquiry and proposal process tied to our grant management process.

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Pulse of our Customers

Deepest thanks to the 128 grantees and grant-seeking organizations that participated in our recent Customer Service Survey.  That’s nearly double the number of respondents in 2008, the first time we formally took the pulse of our “customers.”

The McCormick Foundation’s Journalism Program takes this process very seriously.  Staff interactions with organizations that apply or are funded by McCormick form the core of what we do and how we do it.
Next week’s Director’s Notes (scheduled for Feb. 8 posting) will outline some of the strategic and procedural changes we are making in response to your feedback.

Let’s remember that the goal of the survey was to learn how we can improve our customer service.  In December, we closely eyeballed an 18-page report sent by Kate Julian, the consultant who administered the survey.  The respondents were roughly 40 percent grantees, 20 percent former grantees and 40 percent declined applicants.
We included questions about our grantmaking strategy in content, audience and rights. We asked about the application process, timelines, reporting requirements and the effectiveness of our digital communication offerings.

Most of the results were favorable. More than 80 percent say we do a good job of explaining the grantmaking process. They clearly understand our guidelines and find the procedures useful.  Some 79 percent of the respondents use our website several times per year or more to glean information, apply for grants or report their results.

About 75 percent said our grantmaking process is either better than usual or best in class.  Some 92 percent of the respondents agree or strongly agree that the Journalism Program staff is courteous, responsive, knowledgeable, helpful and accessible. Words used to describe us include focused, innovative, forward thinking, relevant, strategic, committed and passionate.

However, not everyone hopped aboard the Love Train.  For example, only one in three respondents feel that changes in our funding priorities have been clearly communicated.  Moreover, about half of those who were declined funding say they want more information on why others were selected. We have been described as a little out of step, ambiguous, bureaucratic and brusque. Ouch.
Other key findings:

• Nine of ten respondents find meetings and phone conversations with MF staff to be useful.  Only four in ten find social media a useful communication strategy.
• About one in four respondents didn’t access the McCormick Foundation website in 2011.  Only one in three accessed the McCormick Media Matters blog.
• About nine of ten who connect with our website, blog and social media rated the content as excellent or good.  Most access our digital content to learn about the work of the Journalism Program and its grantees.  More than 90 percent say they were able to find what they were looking for on the website and blog.
• More good news: Two thirds of the grantees say the Journalism Program has contributed to their organizations beyond the dollars received. And not so good: Nearly half of all respondents remain fuzzy about our program deadlines.  That is disturbing and will be addressed.

--Clark Bell, Journalism Program Director 

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Director's Notes: Update on 2011 Letters of Inquiry

The Journalism Program has finished its initial discussion on the submitted letters of inquiry.

We received more than 150 LOIs by the May 2 deadline.

After the first round of reviews, we have about 60 proposals still in the mix for 2012 grant consideration.

The next step is to determine how each of these potentially fits into our 2011-2013 portfolios. All applicants will be notified about the status of their proposals by May 31.

We are now assessing internally, based on out logic model, to what degree each cluster of proposals helps further our strategic goals. This year, for the first time, we’ll be asking groups to share with the Foundation a logic model for their projected work as part of their full proposal.

Questions going forward for us to address include:

• What changes are we seeking in journalism content, audience and rights?
• How are we influencing that change?
• Are there coalitions, collaborations and partnerships that will us achieve our goals?
• How can we best leverage our resources?
• How can we build successful models and reach scalability of our initiatives?
• What is the balance of quality content, engaged audiences and strong press freedoms that generates maximum impact on news literacy and civic engagement?

We will keep you periodically posted on our progress.

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McCormick Journalism 2009 Grantee Map

We've created a map of our 2009 grantees and their McCormick-funded projects to help connect them to others who may be doing similar work and share the impact and contributions they've made. Navigate the map below for information on journalism projects, trainings, workshops and collaborations. 

To view a larger version of the map, click here.

View McCormick Journalism Grantees 2009 in a larger map

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