A Decade of Listening: How Houston Endowment Turned Staff Survey Data into a Stronger Culture

At Houston Endowment, we’ve used the Center for Effective Philanthropy Staff Perception Report since 2012, and one thing has become clear: the data points us in the right direction, but deciding what to act on, and following through, is what drives real change.

Houston Endowment works in close partnership with our grantees and the communities they serve, and we know that a strong internal culture is essential to building meaningful external relationships. The CEP survey has allowed us to track our progress and compare our results to peer foundations. Philanthropy is a unique sector, so that context matters. Today, our results place Houston Endowment as the highest-rated funder across 45% of the survey measures in CEP’s dataset. 

Looking back over more than a decade of survey cycles, a few patterns stand out. These are the practices that have made the biggest difference for us over time.

Lesson 1: Fewer Priorities, Greater Impact

I joined Houston Endowment nine years ago, after our third cycle of the survey. At the time, it felt like we could chase 20 different opportunities from the results. The data was rich, but it wasn’t always clear where to start. 

The list of potential improvements was long, from reviewing policies and updating job descriptions to digitizing processes and strengthening performance management. While we made progress in some lower-effort areas, we learned that trying to respond to every piece of feedback limited our ability to make meaningful change.

We made a deliberate decision to focus on just two or three priorities at a time that would have the greatest influence on the employee experience — and to make tangible progress in those areas.

One of those priorities was strengthening our performance management approach. We streamlined the process, clarified timelines and expectations, better defined what strong performance looks like, and coached managers on how to give clear, actionable feedback.

That shift — from trying to address everything to being intentional about where we focus — has been one of the most important changes in how we use the survey.Staff experienced clearer expectations, more consistent feedback, and greater alignment across teams. It reinforced that their feedback wasn’t just heard — it was acted on.

Lesson 2: Invest in Managers as Key Drivers of Culture

Improving culture starts with investing in the people who play a critical role in shaping the employee experience. The relationship with a manager is one of the strongest drivers of culture.

In one conversation about the survey, a staff member shared, “I don’t always know what’s expected of me.” It highlighted how much job clarity — or the lack of it — affects the employee experience. In response, we became more intentional about defining and reinforcing expectations for managers, particularly around setting clear goals, providing regular feedback, and supporting staff professional development. 

We’ve paired that clarity with ongoing investment in our managers. We regularly use tools like 360-degree assessments to build self-awareness, offer targeted development opportunities, and hold internal working sessions on topics like setting job expectations and building an inclusive culture. We support new managers with foundational training and have invested in coach-led, small group experiences that combine peer learning, reflection, and real-time application to help managers build confidence and capability in how they lead.

Together, these efforts have created more consistent management practices and a more aligned experience for staff across teams.

Lesson 3: Data Starts the Conversation

We’ve come to see the Staff Perception Report as a starting point for discussion, not a report card. The real value comes after the results are shared, when dialogue turns data into understanding.

In small group listening sessions, staff connect the survey results to their day-to-day experience to understand what’s working, where things feel unclear, and what could be improved. These conversations often reveal nuance behind the data and help us avoid acting on it in ways that miss the mark. They also give staff a voice in shaping priorities, which has built credibility and trust over time.

In one session, a staff member said, “I understand the goals, I just don’t always know how decisions are being made.” It captured something others in the room had experienced as well: a lack of context. We realized that while decisions were being shared, the reasoning behind them often wasn’t. That insight led to an important shift: being more explicit about how and why decisions are made, not just the outcome.

The CEP Staff Perception Report is not our only source of input. To help us maintain momentum in years between survey cycles, we conduct shorter internal pulse surveys to monitor progress on priority areas and ensure we’re not losing ground on our strengths.

Over time, a consistent pattern has emerged: the data points us in the right direction, but the real work is in how we interpret it, talk about it, and act on it.

Lesson 4: Culture Is Owned by Everyone and Requires Consistency Over Time

In our 2012 survey, staff shared that while they felt respected, many saw culture as an area for improvement and expressed a desire for a more inclusive environment. That was a turning point.

In response, the executive team, starting with the CEO, made culture a strategic priority. We worked with staff to define our organizational values and clarify what those values look like in practice. Staff involvement helped to build shared ownership from the start.

We became more intentional about how culture shows up day to day — breaking down silos, creating more opportunities for social connection, and ensuring staff have a voice in decisions that affect their work. We embedded our values into how we hire and develop talent, how we make decisions, and how our teams work together, constantly asking whether our actions reflect how we want to show up. Over time, culture became something shaped and owned by everyone in the organization, not just managers.

We’ve approached sustaining our strengths with the same level of discipline as addressing gaps. Even as the organization has evolved and grown, we’ve maintained high levels of engagement, belonging, and job satisfaction by reinforcing what is working, maintaining a high-trust environment where staff have a voice, and consistently modeling the behaviors that drive a strong culture and high performance.

Lesson 5: Internal Experience Shapes External Impact

As we’ve built a culture grounded in trust, openness, and communication, we’ve seen that reflected in stronger relationships with our grantees. Through regular check-ins and the Grantee Perception Report, grantees consistently report feeling genuine partnership, autonomy in their work, strong support, and ease in raising concerns when they arise.

Internally and externally, we aim to be responsive and actively welcome feedback. We’ve been intentional about creating opportunities for grantees to shape the work alongside us, whether by convening them around shared challenges or inviting them to help design grant evaluations.

For example, in one capacity-building initiative, we convened an advisory committee of grantees to co-design an evaluation and learning plan. This ensured the approach met their needs while allowing us to learn alongside our partners. We received over 60 applications for 12 roles, demonstrating strong grantee interest in closer collaboration. Advisory members have already influenced key decisions by advocating for in-person data collection rather than relying only on surveys, which they see as more burdensome.

Since extending our culture of trust and learning outward, we’ve seen improvements in our Grantee Perception Report results, including in areas like support beyond the grant and openness to feedback and ideas, reinforcing our role as not only a funder, but also a convener and partner.

Looking Ahead

The staff survey feedback has been especially valuable as we welcomed a new CEO at the end of March. It’s an opportunity to take stock of our results and the practices that have shaped them.

The CEP Staff Perception Report gives us direction, clarity, and a way to track progress. But it’s the discipline to keep listening and act on what we learn — cycle after cycle — that has made a real difference.

Sherry Fultz is director of People and Culture at the Houston Endowment.