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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.
Much has been written about the impact and significance of leading edge, equity-based practices in philanthropy, such as trust-based philanthropy principles, sharing power through participatory decision-making, getting proximate to community, and centering community...
This post originally appeared on the blog in February 2022. We’ve spent a ton of time in foundation board rooms, for better and for worse. We’ve also been board members and guest speakers at operating nonprofits and one of us staffed two college boards decades...
This blog post is a follow-up to the January 25, 2022 webinar co-hosted by the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project and the Center for Evaluation Innovation and was first published as a resource on the Center for Evaluation Innovation website and on...
There’s no lack of visual models for organizing people to get stuff done. Bottom up (think: pyramid). Top down (inverted pyramid). Groundswell (maybe the image of an ocean comes to mind?). Flat (you get the idea). What comes to mind when you see this word? Connected....
Many philanthropic foundations put “dignity” into the heart of their mission statements and organizational values. Ford Foundation, Dubai Cares, UNICEF and UNOPS have created and funded initiatives to affirm human dignity, helping to build and advance the dignity...
Alarms are ringing about a youth mental health crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic, school shootings, attacks on LGBTQ+ youth, and a worsening climate crisis threaten the future of young people. All of this has dovetailed with an ever-growing pressure on students to achieve...
Many leaders in our field, perhaps a majority, understand that for too long, philanthropy has operated in a top-down, hierarchical mode, isolated from the people and communities impacted by our decisions. We have privileged voices and perspectives of the wealthy and...
What will it take to make lasting change for women’s rights? The gut punch of last summer’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and the subsequent wave of state anti-abortion bans — on the heels of a difficult pandemic that disproportionately affected women — raises...
Imagine coming home from working or from running errands, and there are people on your property. There are trucks everywhere. Your yard is being dug up, your valuables taken. When you approach them and ask them to leave, they attack you. They tell you they’re not...
Before I departed for South Africa in 2018, our team had been told that men there would never take a daily pill for HIV prevention. According to the Center for Strategic & International Studies, South Africa remains the epicenter of the HIV pandemic — 20 percent...
This article originally appeared on the Arabella Advisors blog. It is reposted here with permission. As Arabella Advisors was working to open our newest office in Durham, North Carolina earlier this month, we used a co-working space in a building that also...
This post was originally posted on the CEP blog in March 2021. Foundations and individual donors need to reconceive impact in a way that puts hearing firsthand the experiences of those they seek to help front and center. If any area illustrates this point, it is...
Many of us want to help those in need, but often, we are overwhelmed and do not know where to start. This year offers a new opportunity to begin crafting an intentional giving plan. Much like a budget, a giving plan needs to be well thought-through. You should have...
The world, and the international development sector, are facing more uncertainty and volatility than it has in living memory. This state of ongoing fragility — stemming from the pandemic, climate change, the war in Ukraine, and related humanitarian emergencies —...
The world, and the international development sector, are facing more uncertainty and volatility than it has in living memory. This state of ongoing fragility — stemming from the pandemic, climate change, the war in Ukraine, and related humanitarian emergencies —...
As our team here at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) begins planning in earnest for our fall 2023 conference, I am reminded of the power of this gathering. There is something invaluable about coming together in person in this way: a unique time to learn...
For some time now, I have been thinking about how we can be clearer with the terms we use in philanthropy and nonprofit circles. We seem to adopt new terms without much thought about what they mean, or the implications of adopting them as part of our programs,...
Philanthropy and foundations exist and work for change within systems pervaded with racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism, among other harmful “-isms.” In fact, some foundations have amassed their wealth precisely because of these inequitable systems. These forces...
Since its formation in 1999, the Skoll Foundation has advanced bold and equitable solutions to the world’s most pressing problems by investing in, connecting, and championing social entrepreneurs and other social innovators that seek durable systems change. Over the...
This winter, I celebrated my 10th year at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP). Many of the foundations I worked with in my earliest few years here were first-time partners who had signed up for their first CEP assessment — and in some cases, their...