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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.
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...
This is the fifth and final post in a series contributed by the Feedback Incentives Learning Group, a group of funders convened by Feedback Labs that are dedicated to encouraging peer funders to listen to the people most harmed by the systems and structures they seek...
In a recent Chronicle of Philanthropy piece, one of the donors interviewed suggests that, “When fundraisers approach donors with the idea that they’re going to help the donor do what the donor wants to do, that’s what works.” I must admit to shaking my head as I read...
Race and disability are inextricably linked. In the United States, 61 million adults, or 26 percent of the adult population, have a disability. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color have a higher incidence of disability with one in four Black Americans and three in...
2022 is the year that America revitalizes its infrastructure and philanthropy has a role to play in this discussion. Nationwide in the philanthropic community, it is rare to find a grantmaker allowing organizations to submit requests for capital expenditure (physical...
This is the fourth post in a series contributed by the Feedback Incentives Learning Group, a group of funders convened by Feedback Labs that are dedicated to encouraging peer funders to listen to the people most harmed by the systems and structures they seek to change...
Shifting philanthropy’s outmoded ways of working is the challenge that will define the sector in the coming decade. We can no longer afford inaction that perpetuates the status quo. We must pursue what evidence indicates will take us toward equitable recovery and...