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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 isn’t very often you get to spend two days dedicated solely to learning, reflecting on the learning practices at your own institution, and also hearing about the learning practices of others. But that’s exactly what the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO)...
This blog post from CEP’s Vice President, Assessment and Advisory Services, Kevin Bolduc originally appeared on the CEP blog in October 2015. It is reposted here as part of our Rewind series. Struck by duck (W61.62) Sucked into jet engine, subsequent encounter...
Most mornings I keep the mirror on the regular side, preferring a casual glance from a safe distance. On occasion I’ll flip the mirror to the magnifying side, boldly exploring the deeper reaches in hopes of learning something new. The results may not always be...
The Center for Effective Philanthropy has just released its Benchmarking Program Officer Roles and Responsibilities report, which pulls back the curtain on what program officers think about their positions, how they spend their time, their opportunities for...
The funder-grantee relationship is at the heart of our work at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP). Over the years, we’ve learned a great deal about what — and who — contributes to these relationships. One key component of grantees’ experiences with a...
The Edgewater, constructed to accommodate visitors to the 1962 World Fair in Seattle, was always intended to be temporary, perched at the edge of what was then an industrial waterfront. In the months after the fair, its rooms sat mostly vacant. That is, until the...
2016 marked CEP’s 15th anniversary. In the decade and a half since its founding, CEP has published nearly 40 pieces of research, worked closely with more than 300 funders through our assessments and advisory services, hosted six national conferences, and...
This post originally appeared on NCRP's website as part of the Spring 2017 edition of Responsive Philanthropy. I recently attended a conference hosted by the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), where the session discussions and hallway conversations all made it...
CEP’s new report, Shifting Winds: Foundations Respond to a New Political Context, reveals that two-thirds of foundation leaders surveyed said that in light of the current political climate, they are at least contemplating new strategies for their foundations. That...
About eight weeks ago, I wrote an op-ed in The Chronicle of Philanthropy that suggested philanthropy needed to shift both its thinking and methods because of the Trump administration’s impact on the issues and communities many of us hold dear. After attending CEP’s...
It doesn’t take a meteorologist to reveal the shifting winds in America. CEP’s aptly-titled report illustrates the sentiments many foundation leaders have felt as we make sense of the swiftly changing context in which we work. Its findings are illuminating, indicating...
Accompanying our recently published research on the approaches of limited life foundations, CEP produced case studies of three of the foundations featured in the report, titled A Date Certain: Lessons from Limited Life Foundations. Here, we share the third and final...
Now, more than ever, listening to grantees and program beneficiaries is critical to funders’ ability to make a difference on the issues we care about. In Shifting Winds, a new report from CEP about how foundations are considering adjusting their work in response to...
Accompanying our recently published research on the approaches of limited life foundations, CEP produced case studies of three of the foundations featured in the report, titled A Date Certain: Lessons from Limited Life Foundations. Here, we share the second of the...
As the Surdna Foundation marks its centennial year, we’re reflecting on the many lessons we’ve learned, how those lessons have guided our foundation’s journey to a social justice-focused mission, and how those lessons can inform our work — and that of our...
Accompanying our recently published research on the approaches of limited life foundations, CEP produced accompanying case studies of three of the foundations featured in the report, titled A Date Certain: Lessons from Limited Life Foundations. Here, we share the...
“There is not so much a right or wrong way as there is a brave and bold answer to the questions we are raising …” - Sherece West-Scantlebury, President & CEO, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation at the 2017 Council on Foundation’s Annual Conference Newly released...
We knew from our inception that ClearWay Minnesota had 25 years to make a difference. Formed as part of the 1998 Minnesota settlement with tobacco companies, we oversee three percent of the state’s tobacco settlement funds and pursue a mission to improve the health of...
Most funders have good intentions when they set out to build capacity among their grantee partners. But whose intentions really matter? When it comes to building meaningful capacity, the goals of partner organizations should lead the way — and the principles of design...
“Philanthropy can be more effective by getting more proximate to problems,” said Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) Founder and Executive Director Bryan Stevenson in his opening plenary at the 2017 CEP Conference in Boston earlier this month. “Being proximate can have an...