Panera Bread Foundation Inc

Which state are you working in?

Massachusetts

What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?

Grant currently pending

If you were funded, tell us the outcome

What year was this experience?

2024

How would you rate this funder's accessibility?

Bad

We weren't able to reach anyone

How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its current philanthropic goals?

Good

Like lots of corporate foundations, their focus is vague and expansive – it makes it hard to tell how closely we align with what they're really looking for, but it also means that whatever they choose to fund, they can make a compelling case that it furthers their philanthropic goals.

If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?

This is one of the more painful applications we've worked on. The portal won't let you advance to the next section until you've completed the current section – and along with typing an answer to every question, each section requires uploading multiple documents and making sure all numbers and dates are formatted to match the portal's particular preference. The full list of questions is available in advance, but the word count limits are not, so you need to complete each page to learn what the next piece of the application will require. This means it takes over an hour just to get over the initial hurdle of looking at the application so we can start drafting it – something other foundations make it possible to do in under 10 minutes. My advice would be to: 1) make the full list of questions easier to find, and add the word count limits, and/or 2) change the settings in your portal so that people can look ahead at each section of your application without having to complete each previous section in its entirety.

Tell us one thing that this funder does really well

Their directors and recent grantees are easily accessible on their website.

How many hours did the grant application process take?

0