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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.
It is one of the ideas with the greatest currency in philanthropy right now: More funders need to make large, unrestricted grants, and then trust nonprofits to use them well. Despite all the dialogue, however, the practice is still all too rare. Giving in this way...
The beginning of a new year is a wonderful time for reflection, and this year connection has been front of mind for me. I’m grateful for renewed opportunities to connect with my family, my community, and my work. Core to connection, of course, are people and the...
It has been wisely observed elsewhere that "not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."1 As CEO of a global fund that aims to end modern slavery2, I have experienced this truth first-hand. Tim Hanstad’s recent post on the...
Discussions of MacKenzie Scott’s unconventional approach to giving tend to devolve into binaries. Scott’s doling out of massive, unrestricted gifts — some $14 billion to 1,600 nonprofits so far — is presented by some as the philanthropic holy grail, to be emulated by...
I gained a first-hand view of the scourge of domestic violence during law school, when I worked for the Los Angeles Bar Association helping survivors secure temporary restraining orders. What struck me most as a young law student was their courage. People of all walks...
Mackenzie Scott’s gifts now total over $14 billion to more than 1600 organizations. CEP’s ongoing “Big Gifts” study is documenting the significant impact these gifts are having on the leadership, values and work of the recipients. Given the scale of giving, the...
Amidst exclaims of “where has the year gone!” and well wishes for the holiday season, the year’s end has arrived. With that, ‘tis the season for end-of-year lists. In this post, I share the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s (CEP) own end-of-year list: the top 10...
Our foundation, The Healing Trust, has evolved a lot over the past few years, beginning with our decision in 2019 to think more intentionally about healing and racial equity. We notified our grantee partners early in our equity journey that changes to our grantmaking...
The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s (CEP) new report, Giving Big: The Impact of Large, Unrestricted Gifts on Nonprofits, offers a range of insights regarding the short-term impacts on organizations benefitting from MacKenzie Scott’s philanthropic efforts. The...
What’s the story on foundations? A simple question, with surprisingly many answers. A story is the way we interpret the meaning of actions and events. We tell stories about actions to make sense of intentions. Inevitably, stories are subjective and rooted in context....
Many argue that no recent act of giving has impacted the field of philanthropy more than MacKenzie Scott awarding more than $14 billion in less than two years. In addition to the breadth and amount of dollars gifted, Scott’s philanthropy has been remarkable because of...
Here in New England, the leaves are all on the ground, the trees are bare, and the air is sharp (and the wind sharper). Just like that, it’s late November — and Giving Season is upon us. It would be easy to focus on the negatives as we approach this season; there is a...
Philanthropy and the nonprofit sector are changing. There have been signs of shifts for years, but nothing as significant as the transformation we are experiencing now. And this is good. The issues we are addressing are deep and complex. They require fundamentally new...
To many nonprofit organizations that have received an unexpected gift from MacKenzie Scott it has been like going from living paycheck-to-paycheck to winning the lottery. Most nonprofits live on the edge, with no more than a few months’ worth of reserves to cover...
We’ve been researching foundations and donors, and the way they interact with the nonprofits they fund, for two decades. We have heard many funders announce their arrival by declaring they’re taking a new, innovative approach to philanthropy: charting a new path and...
Donors have often told me that their north star is impact. But my experience, during nearly three decades on the “doer” side and now more than four years as a donor representative, has indicated otherwise. Often, what donors actually want is impact delivered on a...
The dust is finally starting to settle after a wild roller-coaster of a ride for U.S. climate policy. When all is said and done, three bills with major climate implications (IIJA, CHIPS, IRA) have passed the 117th congress. In a previous post on this blog, I argued...
If there is one thing we have learned at the Chinese American Service League (CASL), it’s that data has the potential to revolutionize the way we look at philanthropy and change the landscape for years to come. No longer are heartfelt appeals for funding and support...
Our latest economic crisis has inflation raging throughout the global economy. While foundations respond to reductions in their asset values and damage done to stakeholders, this crisis could yet wreak more havoc — a lot more. And that means the nonprofit sector faces...
Over the years, I have worked with incredible funders across Europe and globally. My entry point has been in supporting the monitoring, evaluation and learning needs of their grantees; I carried out evaluations, built and supported the implementation of measuring,...