A high impact foundation recently (and helpfully) sent me their grant writeups, which are a treasure trove of useful information. I asked them if I could post them here and was (perhaps naively) surprised that they declined.
They made many of the same points as you re: the limited usefulness of broad feedback, potential reputation damage, and (given their small staff size) cost of responding. Instead, they share their writeups with a select group of likeminded foundations.
I still think it would be much better if they made their writeups public, but almost entirely because it would be useful for the reader.
It’s a shame that the expectation of responding to criticism can disincentivise communication in the first place.
Thanks Holden. This seems reasonable.
A high impact foundation recently (and helpfully) sent me their grant writeups, which are a treasure trove of useful information. I asked them if I could post them here and was (perhaps naively) surprised that they declined.
They made many of the same points as you re: the limited usefulness of broad feedback, potential reputation damage, and (given their small staff size) cost of responding. Instead, they share their writeups with a select group of likeminded foundations.
I still think it would be much better if they made their writeups public, but almost entirely because it would be useful for the reader.
It’s a shame that the expectation of responding to criticism can disincentivise communication in the first place.
(Views my own, not my employer’s)