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Your Partner in Philanthropic Effectiveness
CEP seeks to influence foundations and major donors to be more effective. We offer assessments that gather essential feedback from key stakeholders, data-driven research, customized advisory services, thought-provoking events, and incisive commentary on the CEP Blog.
Improve Your Effectiveness
CEP’s assessments provide unique insights into your effectiveness by gathering candid and actionable feedback from grantees, donors, and funder staff and benchmarking results with other grantmakers.
Featured Resources
A Sector in Crisis: How U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations Are Responding to Threats
As nonprofits face historic challenges, new data from the Center for Effective Philanthropy reveals how nonprofits are faring and how foundations are responding.
Board Book Insert – State of Nonprofits 2026: What Funders Need to Know
Foundation Governance Today: How Boards and CEOs Are Navigating Risk, Accountability, and a Shifting Landscape
Breaking the Mold: The Transformative Effect of MacKenzie Scott's Big Gifts
AI With Purpose: How Foundations and Nonprofits Are Thinking About and Using Artificial Intelligence
Questions? Connect with us.
Lauren Chan
Senior Coordinator, People and Culture
From the Blog
The Full Current of Capital: When Every Resource Flows Toward Mission
In the first two pieces in this series, we introduced the tidal foundation and explored when mission may require higher payout. But how much a foundation spends is only one part of stewardship — the other is how the endowment itself is invested. But payout and...
How One Collaborative’s Movement-Led Participatory Model Makes a Difference for Grantees
In the second half of 2025, CEP’s Assessment and Advisory Services Team worked with the teams at Philanthropy Together, Redstone, and Vital Impact to survey recent grant recipients of 21 “bright spot” donor collaboratives. In “The Collaborative Effect: Grantee...
When the Tide Should Rise: Deciding When Mission Requires More
In the first piece of this series, we introduced the tidal foundation as an alternative to the fixed choice between perpetuity or spend down. In this piece, we will get a bit more practical: How do board members and leaders decide when the tide should rise? The...

