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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.
Part protest, part commemoration, and part celebration, Pride Month joyfully invites us all to see the rich and diverse lives of queer folks — and to recognize that as far as we’ve come (at least here in the U.S.), we still have a long way to go to achieve a world in...
For every time someone in philanthropy says, ‘if you know one foundation, you know one foundation,’ they have heard tenfold the call from nonprofits for more general operating support and multiyear grants. With philanthropy’s wide diversity of approaches and...
You are exhausted, a next-level fatigue. Your body is so tired, but your mind can't stop. It pings from what is right in front of you — grant deadlines, board meetings and two staff members who have just given notice — to the larger issues. Polarization and inequities...
As I read the recent Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) report on the state of nonprofits, a familiar feeling settled in. The invisible lines between the findings began to form, and a picture not explicitly told in the data emerged. On the surface, the CEP report...
If one thing is clear to me about philanthropy, it’s that there is no single right model or approach that makes sense in every context. We at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) have developed a working definition of philanthropic effectiveness that lays out...
People working for social change operate in chronically stressful, under-resourced environments. Constant pressure can take a toll on the mental and emotional well-being of nonprofit staff, who can identify so strongly with their organization’s mission that they...
Funders are finally noticing the flashing red lights of growing burnout across the nonprofit sector. And there's a growing trickle of philanthropic response. But grantmakers are missing the fundamental connections between their own funding practices, how grantees can...
“We are in what feels like daily crisis mode. Our staff is small and overtaxed. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to run the organization, and we haven’t had the luxury of much down time.” The sentiment above was shared by a respondent to a CEP survey of nonprofit...
Burnout is top of mind for nonprofit leaders in 2024, despite relative consistency in nonprofit organizations’ finances and relationships with funders. This is one of the key insights in a new CEP report, State of Nonprofits 2024: What Funders Need to Know, released...
[vc_row el_class="sixtysix-thirtythree"][vc_column width="2/3"][vc_column_text]It’s not often an executive director can say, “Projections for 2024 occupancy-related costs will decrease by approximately 40%.” Especially when working from a newly occupied, 3,000 square...
Often, when I hear talk about funders and the ways they can achieve impact, the conversations tend to revolve around the same few groups: program staff, senior leadership, and boards. No doubt, these roles are essential for driving impact in philanthropy. But, in my...
One of the most frequently asked questions I receive from grantmakers after they complete a Grantee Perception Report (GPR) with CEP is, “How would you recommend sharing these findings back to our grantees?” While we encourage all funders to, at the minimum, thank...
[vc_row el_class="sixtysix-thirtythree"][vc_column width="2/3"][vc_column_text]In my many years working with funders at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), one of the most common phrases that comes up in discussions of results is “we’re different” — and there...
Great music is more than the sum of its parts. A certain combination of notes, chords, and lyrics may create an exquisite gem of a song — or a barnburner of a jam — but what’s required to elevate music to the level of greatness is something else: an artist’s specific...
“CEO oversight? Evaluation? Strategy? No, we don’t do that. But if you want a fundraising gala, I’m your guy!” That’s how a colleague once heard another board chair describe his own role, and the role of the board he led. That remark is not representative of most...
In recent years, CEP’s analysis of demographic data from its Grantee Perception Report and research datasets found that both Native American nonprofit leaders and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) nonprofit leaders were having less positive experiences with...
In philanthropy, we have been talking a lot about the crucial need for funders to provide more multiyear, general operating support. That’s important, and I also think we need to talk more about the size of grants. Why? At least from what I can see in CEP’s Grantee...
Advancing racial equity and wellbeing is hard work, especially for on-the-ground organizations that are leading the work. Endowment grantmaking is a tool that foundations can use to ensure that these organizations not only survive but thrive. For us at the Robert Wood...
This is the fourth and final in a series of posts 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...
Endowments can be transformative for nonprofits, especially those representing traditionally underserved populations and working to close gaps, and deserve a closer look as an effective strategy for funders to advance equity. Recent CEP research shows that...