Advisory Services

Improve Your Effectiveness

CEP’s data-driven, customized advising leverages CEP’s knowledge and experience to help funders answer pressing questions regarding their work, address existing challenges, hear from valued constituents, and learn and share with peers.

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Insights Catered Specifically to Your Needs

You face vexing questions in your work as a foundation leader. CEP’s advisory services draw from nearly two decades of experience to help you find solutions to the most pressing challenges in your work. Examples of customizable engagements include:

Customized Surveys, Interviews, and Focus Groups of Key Stakeholders: CEP surveys diverse groups of stakeholders on their perceptions of a funder’s impact, communications, grantmaking practice, and more.
Supporting Implementation: CEP works with boards and staff as they develop plans to implement effective practices, often following an assessment engagement.
Assisting in the Creation of Performance Indicators: CEP structures efforts to develop and use organizational performance indicators to help funders track progress, learn from experience, and modify plans as appropriate.
Building Capacity: CEP designs and delivers workshops and group learning opportunities for foundation boards and staff.
Overall Assessment of Effectiveness: CEP collects and analyzes information a funder needs to determine its capacity, effectiveness, and opportunities for improvement.
Benchmarking: CEP supports groups of peer funders in collecting and sharing internal operational and structural data.

Have Questions?

Mena Boyadzhiev, Director, Assessment and Advisory Services

Email Mena

617-583-9493

Advisory Services in Action

Co-Impact engaged CEP to ask their program partners and applicants to provide candid and confidential feedback on their approach and relationships. As a result, Co-Impact has committed to making changes that will deepen their understanding of their partners’ work, simplify processes, build trust, and more.

The Arcus Foundation partnered with CEP on a custom grantee survey to better understand progress on key performance goals and practices, including their requirement that all grantees implement an equal employment opportunity (EEO) policy with sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) protections.

William Penn Foundation asked CEP to interview peer funders about the structures – staff and board participation, communication, grantmaking practices, and more – that shaped their last strategy review.

Community Foundation Sonoma County and Napa Valley Community Foundation engaged CEP to survey nonprofit leaders in Sonoma and Napa counties about the impact of the October 2017 Northern California wildfires.

Citi Foundation brought on CEP to provide guidance on shifting its grantmaking to provide more organizations with longer and larger general operating support grants.

Surdna Foundation marked its centennial by commissioning CEP to conduct and publish a study on multigenerational board engagement at family foundations.

Northern California Grantmakers partnered with CEP to develop a community survey to help them better understand how they can enable their members to do their best work.