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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.
The Benchmarking Foundation Evaluation Practices report released last month continues to add to our collective understanding of what happens behind the green curtain in philanthropy as it pertains to evaluation. Started by Patti Patrizi in 2009 and continued by CEI...
Nowhere have concerns about foundations’ policy influence been greater in recent years than in the area of education. While critics of “education reform” like Diane Ravitch have for years warned of the outsized influence of what she terms the “billionaire boys club,”...
Not so long ago, politically left-of-center foundation types frequently pointed — with what felt like envy and a kind of grudging admiration — to conservative foundations as effectiveness exemplars. They would speak of the way foundations like the Lynde and Harry...
There are a lot of interesting data in the recent Benchmarking Foundation Evaluation Practices report, co-authored by the Center for Effective Philanthropy and the Center for Evaluation Innovation. There is useful, practical information on how foundations structure...
When foundation evaluation trailblazer Patti Patrizi conducted the first benchmarking survey of the philanthropic sector’s evaluation practices in 2009, the field was already several years into its embrace of strategic grantmaking and its call for rigorous attention...
So you want to become a more intentional learning organization? For those who are building out a new learning and evaluation function at their foundation, Benchmarking Foundation Evaluation Practices, the new research report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy...
Just because everyone else is doing something does not make it right. We’ve heard this refrain from a young age. But sometimes it makes good sense to follow conventional wisdom or “best practice.” In shaping a foundation’s grantmaking or evaluation approaches, the...
Let the countdown(s) begin! There are only 57 days until Thanksgiving, 95 days until the New Year, and 188 days until the CEP Conference is back — and we’re thrilled to welcome you to our own backyard in Boston this time around! If you are as excited as...
I find it surprising that we are still talking about the role of evaluation at foundations. A quick Google search on “evaluation in foundations” brings up more than 125 million hits — numerous benchmarking reports, articles in scholarly and gray literature, links to...
The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) and the Center for Evaluation Innovation (CEI) have been partnering for the past year to create a comprehensive benchmarking dataset on evaluation practices at large foundations — specifically, U.S. and Canadian foundations...
At effective foundations, the how of grantmaking is everyone’s business. When grantmakers think about their funding strategy, we often focus on where we will give, to what, and to whom. We think about the results we want our funding to spark or enable. But strategy is...
This post originally appeared on LA School Report. There is a growing, and arguably overwhelming, array of ways to measure school performance. Many researchers and policymakers say that we’ve been measuring the wrong things and, in some cases, I think that...
In the few months since I last wrote about 100&Change, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s $100 million dollar prize in pursuit of one good idea, I’ve been thinking a lot about the transparency of its selection process. One of the biggest changes...
Whenever I talk with my foundation peeps about our relationships with grantees, one theme almost always comes up: we funders want our grantees to see us as partners. We want to be Batman and Robin. Bert and Ernie. Han Solo and Chewbacca. That’s a wonderful thought,...
Several years ago, the Medina Foundation, the organization I lead, converted to an online application. About seven months after it launched, one of our grantees called to tell me that it had a pretty serious formatting glitch. This was something we had missed...
A few weeks ago I shared some reflections on the recent annual conference put on by the organization that I lead, the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. I wrote about how the conference was a milestone in several ways, marking the first time that an event...
For the past few weeks, we’ve been following the Stanford Social Innovation Review’s new blog series, curated by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, called “Putting Grantees at the Center of Philanthropy.” Including a post today by CEP Vice...
Twice last week I had conversations with leaders from different foundations who described to me their efforts to build “great customer service” for their grantees. It’s actually not an uncommon analogy, and I tend to let it slide. After all, I think it’s important...
As a director on the Assessment and Advisory Services team here at CEP, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with many regional philanthropy associations, national philanthropy-supporting organizations, and different affinity groups. In fact, through CEP’s advisory...
For the past few weeks, we’ve been following the Stanford Social Innovation Review’s new blog series, curated by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, called “Putting Grantees at the Center of Philanthropy.” Including a post today by CEP Vice President, Assessment...