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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.
Earlier this year, CEP spoke with Ronit Amit, researcher in philanthropy and CEO of Gandyr Foundation in Herzliya, Israel, just north of Tel Aviv. A family foundation founded in 2004, Gandyr strives to create an Israeli society based on equal opportunities...
This post originally appeared on HuffPost Impact. This week, the Center for Effective Philanthropy released a new study on the practices of foundation boards — a project on which BoardSource had the opportunity to collaborate. The report is a straightforward...
This post originally appeared on LinkedIn. I just returned to the U.S. after five years of living in Singapore and working with philanthropists and NGOs across Asia. As I resettle and reconnect, friends ask how I’ve changed since I left. While there are many...
It’s often frustratingly difficult to find basic information on foundation boards: their size, their structure, and their composition, for example. At CEP, we’re frequently asked by foundation CEOs and board members for help finding this kind of benchmarking data. So...
Just as we at CEP encourage funders to continually advance their effectiveness, we too constantly strive to improve our own work through feedback, iteration, and experimentation. Back in 2012, we embarked on an experiment to transform the way that we share assessment...
Struck by duck (W61.62) Sucked into jet engine, subsequent encounter (V97.33XD) Pedestrian on foot injured in collision with roller-skater (V00.01) Bitten by pig, initial encounter (W55.41XA) If you’re Facebook friends with any physicians, your newsfeed probably...
Two weeks ago at the Communications Network conference in San Diego, I attended an informative breakout session about the tension that can exist between foundations’ evaluations and communications teams. The session delved into the pitfalls of having one...
In our staff surveys at CEP, year after year, we receive great marks on most dimensions. But if there is one consistent critical theme over the years, it is a real concern about workload. And if I am to be brutally honest, I think I have sometimes trivialized that...
This 2012 post on foundation governance was for a long time the most widely read on the CEP blog. We are re-posting it here today as part of our "Blog Rewind" series for those who didn’t see it back then — or for those who want a refresher on what habits boards...
In the third post of our series of profiles of funders that are exemplary in their provision of non-monetary support to grantees, as assessed by the Grantee Perception Report, we take a look at the William Casper Graustein Memorial Fund. Based in Hamden, CT, The...
There have been predictions for years that there will be wholesale nonprofit executive turnover as the baby boomer generation of nonprofit founders and leaders reach retirement age. The Great Recession and its aftermath postponed many planned exits due to the...
Foundation staff matter. That was the main point of a series of data-based blog posts written by CEP President Phil Buchanan earlier this month. In the series’ penultimate post, Phil mentioned that, during the opening plenary at our May 2015 conference, I shared some...
These past few months have marked my third summer living in Connecticut. After far too long, I decided it was finally time to take advantage of New England’s incredible music scene. And so I spent an amazing evening at the Newport Jazz Festival and another, a few...
This post, part of our Blog Rewind series, originally appeared in December 2010. When I was fresh-faced and just starting to work in philanthropy at a women-focused community foundation, I made lists. I would write down the problem or issue I wanted to tackle, then...
Organized American philanthropy was born with bold and audacious goals. Andrew Carnegie challenged philanthropy to “do real and permanent good in this world.” In a similar vein, John D. Rockefeller wrote that “The best philanthropy…is not what is usually called...
On the CEP blog last week and this week, CEP President Phil Buchanan is discussing, in a series of eight posts, recent critiques of large, staffed foundations and assertions that recently-established, “lean” foundations are paving a promising new path without being...
On the CEP blog last week and this week, CEP President Phil Buchanan is discussing, in a series of eight posts, recent critiques of large, staffed foundations and assertions that recently-established, “lean” foundations are paving a promising new path without being...
On the CEP blog last week and this week, CEP President Phil Buchanan is discussing, in a series of eight posts, recent critiques of large, staffed foundations and assertions that recently-established, “lean” foundations are paving a promising new path without being...
On the CEP blog last week and this week, CEP President Phil Buchanan is discussing, in a series of eight posts, recent critiques of large, staffed foundations and assertions that recently-established, “lean” foundations are paving a promising new path without being...
This week, CEP President Phil Buchanan has taken on the critique that large, staffed foundations are plodding along on the fast path to extinction while newer, leaner foundations are ushering in the future of philanthropy. In this series, titled “Foundation Staff...