Emergent Learning in Action: Highlights from PEAK’s Member Survey

Our membership community is the heart of PEAK Grantmaking. As a member-centered organization, we strive to ensure that our offerings reflect the needs of our members. As an emergent learning organization, we also recognize how important it is for PEAK Grantmaking to be continually learning, sharing, and evolving along with our community. To that end, we are committed to conducting a member survey every 18 months to assess how we are doing.

In July 2022, we launched our latest member survey. We asked for your feedback on what resources are most helpful to you. We asked for your insights on how far along your board and staff are in making practice shifts to advance equitable grantmaking practices. And finally, we asked what professional development means to you and how you want PEAK to support your career journey.

We thank the 450 members who took the time to participate in the survey. You were honest and thoughtful in sharing how you believe PEAK can deliver on our mission. We plan to use the results to inform how we develop resources and engage with our community in the coming years. Transparency is one of PEAK’s core values, and in light of that, we’d like to share back the high-level themes we’ve drawn from the survey results.

1. Our members are eager to learn and implement practices that support diversity, equity, and inclusion

Members are utilizing and sharing the suites of resources that support our Principles for Peak Grantmaking. When asked what topics are the most important to our members, DEI continues to be the top-rated topic among all members, just like it was in 2020 when we last conducted this survey. Among Organization Members, how-to guides supporting our Drive Equity Principle—namely those released as part of our Driving Equity With Demographic Data Collection—were widely shared resources. While our members are individually digging deep into this , they are also sharing resources across their organization to help build internal support for practice change. The most frequently shared resource is PEAK Grantmaking Journal, with recent issues focusing on racial equity and inclusive career development

What’s next? In 2023, we will release our suite of resources for the Steward Responsively Principle, which will encourage our members and the sector to think through questions of how to embrace risk and innovation in pursuit of more equitable grantmaking practice; be more open, accessible, and transparent; and use technology to support the grantmaking process. As we culled sector news and our own materials on the topic of risk, transparency, and technology, we discovered a myriad of existing resources that we’ll link for your reference when the action planner goes live. Of course, you’ll continue to find equity as a throughline in all our resources, materials, and programs.

2. PEAK is a resource for career development

PEAK has become a home and trusted space for conversations around career development. Members are eager for that support, as well as mentorship both from PEAK and their peers, particularly as their careers progress. Our job board, salary report, and Grants Management Professional Competency Model are all highly valued resources that respondents of all member types consistently rated four or higher on a scale of one to five. Our members recognize that PEAK is uniquely situated to lead discussions on career pathways for grants management professionals and have made it clear that this must remain a top area of focus for PEAK.

What’s next? We recognize the need for PEAK to lead the way in reimaging what grants management can and should look like as a strategic function and role within philanthropy. To lead this effort, we have launched our inaugural President’s Advisory Council, a diverse group of trusted member volunteers who will advise President and CEO Satonya Fair and the PEAK staff as we bring Staffing Grants Management into this moment, which will include a pathway to the C-suite while honoring the power of grants management to operationalize equity throughout the grantmaking process. In conjunction with that, we’ll complete a forward-focused refresh of the Grants Management Professional Competency Model to better reflect the core skills and responsibilities of grants management roles. We’ll also launch our next salary survey in early 2023.

3. You’re ready for the next-generation PEAK member experience

Members across the board have shared candidly that while PEAK’s resources are fantastic, it can be challenging to login to access the materials of most value to you and to navigate our CONNECT online forum. Though we have made progress in organizing our online resources over the past few years, we know there is room for improvement and take in your feedback with great care and concern.

What’s next? We have some exciting news for everyone: a new association management system (AMS) is coming! The new AMS—our member database—will provide you (and us) with a curated, seamless, and accessible experience that will help you to maximize your member benefits. As many of our members know, having managed transitions between grant management systems, it takes time to do it right, so we thank you for your continued support and patience as we go through this process. With that said, we have volunteer opportunities to participate in a focus group on the member experience with our new AMS. If you are interested in learning more or signing up, contact the team at info@peakgrantmaking.org.

4. Our community is invaluable

When asked what members like most about PEAK, the top response was the community and the people. Members deeply value the opportunity to build connections with peers by getting involved with their chapters and peer groups, both as participants and as volunteers. Our annual convening and CONNECT forum consistently score as some of the most valued resources we offer.

What’s next? We are investing in the tools and resources for our members to stay connected. Specifically, the PEAK team has grown this year—and we look forward to growing more in 2023 to further support our peer groups, our member outreach efforts, our communications, and our programs and partnerships. In 2023, we will also refresh and curate our CONNECT forums to make the experience more seamless and enriching for you.

While the member survey is a formal way for us to periodically collect feedback, please don’t wait another 18 months to share your thoughts. Your questions, comments, ideas, and concerns are welcomed and encouraged at any time. As a staff, we are committed to being responsive, open, and adaptive. We care deeply about our collective work, and we know you do, too. If you’d ever like to have a conversation with us, please reach out. We would love to connect with you!