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The CEP blog aims to offer a range of perspectives, experiences, and opinions related to effective philanthropic practice. We welcome submissions that address crucial issues facing individual and institutional donors and are not self-promotional in nature. The views expressed in these posts are not necessarily CEP’s own.
The CEP Conference is back – and we’re heading out west! I’m excited to share that early bird registration is officially open for CEP’s 2015 national conference in San Francisco! This year’s theme for the conference, which will be held at the InterContinental San...
The following is an excerpt from the new research report, Hearing from Those We Seek to Help: Nonprofit Practices and Perspectives in Beneficiary Feedback. ONE DC was one of three randomly selected nonprofit organizations whose leaders rated them in the CEP survey as...
Gathering, analyzing, and acting upon feedback are key priorities here at CEP. These are the values that have driven us to develop our assessment tools, publish research reports that draw on the voices of key foundation stakeholders, and devote our energy to helping...
A program officer was doing a site visit with a small nonprofit that worked with at-risk teens. The organization didn’t have a lot of resources, but they developed good relationships with the kids and were making a difference. At the end of the visit the executive...
Recently at CEP, we’ve been talking more and more about beneficiary feedback—who uses it, how much, and why. We believe that one area where listening for this kind of feedback is especially vital is K-12 education, where the voice of students is too often overlooked...
I gotta say reading Hearing From Those We Seek to Help: Nonprofit Practices and Perspectives in Beneficiary Feedback really spoke to me, not just because of our work at Social Venture Partners, but because it resonated so strongly from my days at Nestle and Microsoft,...
I was extremely heartened to read CEP’s latest research report, Hearing from Those We Seek to Help: Nonprofit Practices and Perspectives in Beneficiary Feedback. In particular, it was amazing to see that more than 92 percent of nonprofits surveyed collect feedback...
This week marks the two year anniversary of “Super Storm Sandy” hitting the Eastern Seaboard of the US, the Caribbean and Canada. Many of the hardest hit communities were in New York and New Jersey – the storm’s destruction has been well documented. A full recovery...
What do people actually want?Are they getting it?If not, then what should we do differently? These are the three questions that should be at the center of any funder’s strategy and operations. Yet they are far from the radar screen of many funders and implementing...
Education is a focus area for many of this country’s foundations, and for good reason. Too many young people are not being well-served by their schools, and too many emerge unprepared for college or career. But in much of the discussion of education “reform,” and...
Every September and October, I spend a lot of time in synagogue. The Jewish holidays Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are a time of intense reflection for Jews about where we’ve fallen short as human beings, and how we can lead more ethical, fulfilling lives in the next...
I’m excited to share the newest series that the CEP Blog will soon be beginning this fall. To do it, we need your help. At CEP, we often receive questions about how to put our research and assessment tool findings into practice. We’re always happy to share, as...
Throughout the philanthropic sector, there’s recently been a lot of attention paid to ideas about how increased openness and feedback channels can help foundations improve their effectiveness. More and more people are starting to look at how foundations can best work...
“Public policy” is commonly defined as the system of laws, regulatory measures, courses of action and funding priorities for a given issue. Influencing public policy through education, advocacy and network activation is an ongoing process at the local, state and...
At the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, our current work is focused on a long-term audacious goal to increase the rate of high school graduates who are ready for college and career from 50 to 80 percent by 2030. In terms of attribution, we can claim to have made a...
Nonprofit and foundation leaders have starkly different views about the importance of foundations being transparent. That’s what we learned when we surveyed nonprofit and foundation CEOs about their attitudes on this issue. Nonprofit CEOs value foundation transparency...
As I’m sure is the case for many of you, this first week back after the “unofficial” end of summer has been busy. While resuming my regular workflow after the long weekend, I noticed several important pieces of news to emerge from CEP staff, board members and other...
There are lots of critiques of foundations and philanthropy – some justified, some not – and lots of calls for foundations to do a better job of owning up to failure and sharing what hasn’t worked. But we could also do a better job learning from what has, in fact,...
How would you feel about going sock-less for a week when you hadn’t planned your wardrobe for that situation? In July I attended the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers’ annual conference in San Diego, representing Associated Grant Makers, an association of...
In the United States, Canada is perhaps best known for being a source of cold weather and red-coated policemen. But in the foundation field, we can paint a picture that is a little more nuanced. The foundation sector in Canada is small (certainly compared to south of...