Blog
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.
How Will Philanthropy Respond to the Call?
“This is 9-1-1, may I have your name and your emergency?” “My house is on fire! 234 Maple Drive. Please send the fire trucks!” “Can you please describe your house?” “What? OK, it’s a green house on the corner.” “Can you tell me the square footage?” “What? What...
From Alpha to Omega: Choices and Challenges of Limited Life Philanthropy
Many thanks to the Center for Effective Philanthropy for a thoughtfully structured and informative research report on the why and how of limited life foundations. Any foundation donor and/or board considering an option other than perpetuity will be well served by a...
“If I made anyone here uncomfortable, you’re welcome.”
Leadership is hot these days. Everywhere we look, there are new books, conferences, trainings, and talking heads sounding off on the topic. So, why is public trust in our leaders so in the pits? Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP),...
Effective Philanthropy: Steadfast in Our True Values in Troubling Times
Grant Oliphant, president of The Heinz Endowments and chair of the CEP Board of Directors, delivered the following address at the opening of the 2017 CEP Conference last week in Boston. This transcript originally appeared on The Heinz Endowments blog. These are, to...
#CEP2017 Recap: Day 3
#CEP2017 Recap: Day 2
Two days down, one to go here in Boston at Leading Effective Foundations, the 2017 CEP Conference! With an action-packed agenda, Day 2 covered a lot of ground and subject areas, from Phil Buchanan's opening plenary sharing data and findings from recent CEP research,...
#CEP2017 Recap: Day 1
The first day of the 2017 CEP Conference in Boston is in the books, highlighted by a moving and inspiring opening plenary from Equal Justice Initiative Founder and Executive Director Bryan Stevenson. Sharing stories from his life and work, Stevenson discussed issues...
What Role Should Philanthropy Play in Local Communities?
What obligations — if any — do foundations and new donors have to local communities in which they are based? And what role should they play in addressing rising income inequality? Many would argue that the issues donors care about — often a personal decision — should...
Losing Our Religion: Against Sector Agnosticism
It has become fashionable in the past decade or so to declare oneself “sector agnostic.” The idea is that you can achieve positive societal impact working within a nonprofit or a for-profit — and that it is the impact, not the organizational type, that matters. And,...
There is No One Way to Spend Down
While a small number of foundations giving $5 million or more annually in grants have made the decision to spend down, there has been much discussion of the topic in recent years. The announcement late last year that the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation would...
Why Racial Equity? Why Now?
In my work with foundations on environmental issues and organizational change, a question I’ve heard with increased volume over the years is: “Why should we focus on racial equity now?” My response? We cannot afford not to focus on racial equity —...
To RCT or not to RCT?
This post is adapted from the introduction and conclusion of Experimental Conversations: Perspectives on Randomized Trials in Development Economics, a new book from Timothy Ogden published earlier this year by MIT Press. Roughly seven years ago I embarked on a...
Lessons Learned from a Journey to Impact Investing
Since John E. Andrus founded the Surdna Foundation in 1917, five successive generations of the Andrus family have worked toward supporting effective solutions to contemporary social challenges. Sometimes, finding the most effective solution has involved taking a risk....
An Insider’s Guide to the CEP Conference
When I was hired as CEP’s first executive director in 2001, there were far fewer national conferences aimed at major donors and foundation leaders than there are today. Those that did happen were large, attracting 1,000-plus attendees. Competition to get on the...
Influencing Philanthropic Practice Responsibly
CEP’s focus is on influencing foundations to be more effective. We seek to do that through rigorous research, based on data. But sometimes, looking around at what is published and discussed, we ask ourselves, what if no one cares about the research and data? What...
Speaking Truth to Power
Since 2003, I have had the privilege of leading two private foundations. While I have enjoyed my job immensely, there’s one aspect of this work that I have never enjoyed: the inherent power dynamic between foundations and our partners that inhibits — even discourages...
Getting on the Same Page: Defining Perceptual Feedback
The other week, I was presenting at a conference about the importance of nonprofits systematically eliciting perceptual feedback from clients, or those they seek to help, about how things are going from the clients’ own perspectives. This practice, often termed...
Making a Conference Worth Attending
The following is a revised and updated version of a post that originally appeared on the CEP Blog in March 2015. It is posted here as part of our Rewind series. Like anyone who spends a lot of time on the conference circuit, I’ve sat through a lot of dud sessions and...
How Funders Can Help Overcome the Overhead Myth
Among the many myths that pervade the nonprofit sector, the Overhead Myth is perhaps the most destructive. It is the erroneous idea that nonprofits must keep their fundraising and administrative costs cripplingly low, which leads to anemic organizations that are not...