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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.
Today marked the opening day of CEP’s first conference in four years, and what a joy it was to welcome so many of you to CEP2023. This afternoon, attendees heard the debut presentation of CEP’s latest, not-yet-released research on the impact of MacKenzie...
In 2023, more than five hundred bills attacking the rights of LGBTQ communities — many centered squarely on the civil rights and bodily autonomy of transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people, drag performers, families, and youth — were proposed in state...
In philanthropy, frameworks can become cages. When we find a promising approach, it’s all too easy to get trapped by it. My own career is a cautionary tale. After college I worked as a grassroots organizer. The more I learned about organizing the more I saw its...
“You know, there are moments in this life — and I mean this literally — when the pure, unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world. The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend. The bloody hands of the terrorist organization Hamas — a group...
AI is here, and it is changing the way many in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors (and other fields, too, of course) work, or even think about their roles; for some, this is an exciting prospect, for others a deeply threatening one. For many, it lies in a grey...
A well-known Jewish saying, attributed to Reb Simcha Bunem, an 18th century Hasidic rebbe, says that we should each hold two slips of paper in our pockets. On one should be written, “The world was created for me,” and, on the other, “I am but dust and ashes.” This...
At Compass Working Capital, we recognize that our clients are experts in their own lives. We’re on a mission to end asset poverty for families with low incomes and narrow the racial and gender wealth divides by operating client-centered savings and financial coaching...
In part one of this post, I explored the paradox of false public philanthropic commitments to racial justice amid growing trust-based shifts in philanthropic practices, and the ongoing tension between a charity versus a justice approach to philanthropy, affirming the...
“For we have, built into all of us, old blueprints of expectations and response, old structures of oppression, and these must be altered at the same time as we alter the living conditions which are a result of those structures.” – Audre Lorde I was recently on...
At CEP, we’ve advised hundreds of foundations. Through the years, many have made real headway shifting ways of working, significantly improving grantee experiences, and advancing their effectiveness as funders. Still, many struggle with how to implement changes —...
Since 2016, The Healing Trust has funded sabbaticals for nonprofit CEO/EDs based on the belief that the healing and wholeness of the people who provide services matters just as much as the clients they serve. We want to exist in a world where all people live with...
The back-to-school scene as I dropped my daughter off for her first day of school this year was delightfully normal. For parents around the country, recent weeks marked the first back-to-school season since the end of COVID-19 as a public health emergency, and this is...
Nothing focuses the mind more than knowing your time is limited. Like a small but growing number of foundations, the Kendeda Fund will sunset at the end of 2023, concluding three decades and more than $1 billion of grantmaking. The decision by our founder...
Early this year, in a warm and supportive webinar discussion, I launched a research paper entitled "How Foundations and Funders Listen: A Qualitative Review in Europe and Brazil" and presented the findings that resulted from my work as a visiting researcher at...
At the Gates Foundation Greater Giving Summit last spring, there was a hearty discussion about how we leaders in philanthropy should approach our work with a stronger equity lens. The conversation highlighted how methods used to pursue greater impact in recent decades...
Philanthropy has played a critical role in the struggles of peoples for freedom and justice through the centuries — from abolition, suffrage, and ending apartheid to strengthening democracy, promoting peace, and working on racial and economic equality. So, too, must...
Philanthropists aspire to major progress on big, systemic issues like education or public health and most fund individual interventions in the hope that one will break through and scale. But the hard truth is that achieving population-level impact requires changing...
As practitioners of the Equitable Evaluation Framework, we are committed to putting the people we are here to serve at the center of our work. We view evaluation as a tool for advancing justice and liberation — and we also acknowledge that this work is hard, messy,...
MacKenzie Scott’s unprecedented giving since 2019 has spurred many conversations on the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. What impact has her giving had on organizations, their ability to accomplish their goals, and their ability to fundraise? Will her giving shape...
As a relatively new entrant to philanthropy, I was recently asked about my attraction to and assessment of the field. Uncharacteristically, I found it challenging to articulate a response. Days later, accompanied by my Grantmakers in Health board colleagues, I...