Foundation
Governance Today:
How Boards and CEOs Are Navigating Risk,
Accountability, and a Shifting Landscape
A new CEP Research Snapshot examines the challenges reported by foundation CEOs — and what they need from their boards — in the current context.
Resources for Grantmakers
Access helpful information, like data-backed reports based on rigorous research.
Resources for Individuals
Get insights and information around what it takes to be an effective giver.
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.
Breaking the Mold: The Transformative Effect of MacKenzie Scott's Big Gifts
Transformative Gifts: Inside Organizations That Received MacKenzie Scott Grants — A Companion to CEP’s Three-Year Study
AI With Purpose: How Foundations and Nonprofits Are Thinking About and Using Artificial Intelligence
State of Nonprofits 2025: What Funders Need to Know
Questions? Connect with us.
Grace Nicolette, Vice President, Programming and External Relations
From the Blog
Rethinking the Spend-Down Debate: Mission First, Timeline Second
Bill Gates’s May 2025 announcement that his foundation will spend its $200 billion endowment by 2045 reignites a long-running question in philanthropy: whether to exist in perpetuity or spend down assets within a set time frame. Many of the conversations about...
How Getting Clear on Values Helped One Foundation Show Up for Its Partners
The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s new research snapshot, “Foundation Governance Today: How Boards and CEOs Are Navigating Risk, Accountability, and a Shifting Landscape,” reveals that many foundation CEOs feel their work has become more challenging in this time...
Governance Shifts Can Unlock Big Impact for Grantmakers
After talking with hundreds of foundation staff and board members over the past two years about governance, I’m not surprised by the findings in the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s new research snapshot, “Foundation Governance Today: How Boards and CEOs Are...