April 26, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cambridge, Mass. – Grant Oliphant, president and CEO of The Pittsburgh Foundation, will join the Board of the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide data and create insight so philanthropic funders can better define, assess, and improve their effectiveness – and, as a result, their intended impact. He will be elected to a three-year term, which begins May 15, 2012.
Since joining The Pittsburgh Foundation in March of 2008, Oliphant has led a major transformation in the engagement of key constituents, as well as developed several initiatives to enhance the impact of the organization’s grantmaking in the region. Before moving to The Pittsburgh Foundation, Oliphant spent fifteen years at The Heinz Endowments, one of the nation’s leading private family foundations, holding senior positions in communications, grantmaking, and strategy planning. He previously worked as the press secretary for US Senator John Heinz and as a founding editor of American Politics, a monthly political magazine.
“Grant Oliphant has a stellar and well-deserved reputation in the philanthropic sector as a champion of effectiveness” said Kathy Merchant, president and CEO of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation and chair of the CEP board. “That and his combination of private and community foundation experience make him a valuable addition to our board.”
Oliphant currently serves as a director on a host of national and local boards, including CF Leads, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania. He serves on the Council of Foundations’ Community Foundation Leadership Team and is chair of the board for Riverlife, which is working to transform Pittsburgh’s riverfronts.
“Grant has been a client of CEP’s and a source of encouragement and advice over the past decade, since CEP began its work,” said CEP President Phil Buchanan. “I am thrilled he is joining our board.”
Oliphant will join a Board of Directors whose other members include Michael Bailin, former president and CEO of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation; Christine DeVita, former president of The Wallace Foundation; Crystal Hayling, former president and CEO of the Blue Shield of California Foundation; Christine James-Brown, president and CEO of the Child Welfare League of America; James Knickman, president and CEO of the New York State Health Foundation; Kathryn Merchant, president and CEO of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation; Christy Pichel, president of the Stuart Foundation; Nadya Shmavonian, president of Public/Private Ventures; and Anne Warhover, president and CEO of the Colorado Health Foundation.
About the Center for Effective Philanthropy
The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide data and create insight so philanthropic funders can better define, assess, and improve their effectiveness and impact. CEP received initial funding in 2001 and has offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts and San Francisco, California. For more information on CEP’s work, including its research, publications, and assessment tools, see www.cep.org.
