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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 Hewlett Foundation believes that the climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our lifetime and impacts everything we do — it’s why we have dedicated over $1 billion to driving climate solutions and why we’ve been huge advocates to get more money into...
It seems that a week does not go by without another stark warning about climate change and the closing window to mitigate its worst impacts. The most recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are nothing less than scary. Increasingly, warnings...
The calls for transformation in philanthropy have become so commonplace in the past two years as to become a new normal. Whether it’s trust-based philanthropy, participatory grantmaking, common data platforms, or calls for alternate reporting formats, important shifts...
As the director of the Climate and Energy Funders Group (CEFG), one part of my job is fervently making the case for more donors to fund climate and clean energy work. We absolutely need more funders in the space. Yet, I understand how donors can be torn by the urgent...
This post first appeared on Media Impact Funders’ blog. It is reposted here with permission. Across America, there is a battle being fought in state houses and school boards over the future of our society, and whether we will continue to build on progress to be a...
Even before the pandemic and nationwide racial justice demonstrations gripped the nation in 2020, “climate philanthropy” was rapidly expanding and evolving, with large foundations and mega-donors pledging billions of additional dollars to address the climate crisis....
From a global pandemic to the recent invasion of Ukraine, globally impactful disasters are an increasingly frequent part of our reality, and thus an important factor as funders consider grantmaking priorities and the funding landscape in which they operate. In light...
Philanthropy has never had an opportunity like we now have to make a meaningful difference in the lives and futures of America’s youngest kids. Big, private investments in early childhood advocacy can be a game-changer for millions of families. Many lawmakers see...
Of all the obstacles to human dignity, creativity, and survival, the accelerating impact of the climate crisis is one of the most existential. The result of burning carbon and other greenhouse gases for over 150 years is already causing hotter temperatures, more...
Climate change alarm bells have been ringing for decades, but only more recently has the crisis begun to unfold at a breathtaking pace with far-reaching impacts that leave no community untouched. As the climate emergency has intensified, the philanthropic response has...
As a kid growing up in Louisiana, one of the first times I ever learned about climate change was in science class, when we were taught that we were slowly sinking into the sea. Our teachers explained this coastal land loss to us in maybe the most American unit...
I (Jimmy) pulled the brim of my baseball cap down and turned as far as possible towards the airplane window so I could hide my tears from the man sitting next to me in 22B. I don’t think I succeeded. How could I? I was watching Netflix’s new hit show “Heartstopper,”...
In my conversations with funders who engage with the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) on assessments and advisory engagements, I’ve heard that what many of our foundation partners find most challenging are the “Now what?” discussions that come after an...
Welcome to the new era of impact investing with opportunities to invest in Main Street as well as Wall Street and significantly amplify funder’s mission attainment. In 2017, the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance was launched to create a network of leaders...
A little more than a year ago, I made a controversial statement on this blog: that institutional funders do not have to defend or explain why multiyear general operating support (MYGOS) is not their primary form of funding. In that CEP blog post last year, I argued...
This piece was originally posted on January 8, 2021, two days after violent attacks on the Capitol. Today, with the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack hearings underway, we revisit that moment, and what philanthropy can do to strengthen democracy. The...
This post originally appeared on the Ford Foundation website. It is re-posted here with permission. In Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca, muxes, a part of the Indigenous group, the Zapotecs, play an important role in families and communities. A muxe is a person who is...
This piece was originally posted in March 2021. Philanthropy is not like investing. Nonprofits are not like business. Even the most casual reader of this blog or occasional follower of CEP’s work has heard me make this argument many times (too many, you...
The last few years (and beyond) were incredibly difficult for leaders of color. Amid a pandemic that has exacerbated inequities, the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and 10 Black people in Buffalo reminded us of the reality of racism permeating...
Partnerships between government and research organizations have increasingly emerged as a promising path for policymakers to expand their access to and use of evidence in policy, program, and budget decisions. In these partnerships, government officials and...