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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.
This post originally appeared on the blog in January 2015, and is re-posted here as part of our Rewind series. This post was part of a Q&A series on the blog, in which readers can submit questions about foundation effectiveness to be answered by CEP staff. We’d...
This post, written by former CEP Associate Manager, Research, Ramya Gopal, is part of a series looking back at data that CEP has collected on race. It draws on findings from CEP's 2013 report, How Far Have We Come? Foundation CEOs on Progress and Impact. Diversity —...
CEP’s work focuses on what foundations can do to be more effective in their work through their governance, their staff, their operations, and their work with key stakeholders, including grantees and beneficiaries. Our focus in our work is always on foundation...
This post from former CEP Associate Manager, Research, Ramya Gopal originally appeared on the blog in February 2015 and draws from the CEP research report, Hearing from Those We Seek to Help. It is reposted here as part of our Rewind blog series. Nonprofit leaders...
The tides have turned in education philanthropy, as the last decade has seen public opinion shift from indifferent acceptance to critical inquiry. How did this wave come about, and why? This story is told in my new book, Policy Patrons: Philanthropy, Education Reform,...
The following two blog posts by The Heinz Endowment President and CEP Board Chair Grant Oliphant originally appeared on The Heinz Endowments blog in the past 24 hours. More shootings of black men at the hands of police, this time in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis. Words...
This blog post from CEP President Phil Buchanan originally appeared on the CEP blog in July 2015. It is reposted here as part of our Rewind series. A young donor behind a large, new foundation said something that really struck me — and in a good way. It happened...
This post originally appeared on Alliance and on Forbes. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. The vote last month from the UK to leave the EU has stunned people around the world, leaving the world’s press, and much of the UK itself,...
“In a year that saw political polarization and strife, we were also reminded, in 2015, that progress and positive change happens.Marriage equality became a reality and, when you look closely, it turns out that effective foundations were instrumental players in this...
Recently, I’ve been sharing some “a-ha moments” and takeaways that I’ve had as CEP staff have embarked on learning together from the book Thanks for the Feedback: the Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Sheila Heen and Doug Stone (the latter of whom will be...
In writing about the ways in which philanthropy can give voice to our communal optimism, I recently shared my belief that the wide array of goals across funders is not only inevitable; it’s also important. The problems on which foundations focus are interconnected....
There was a time when families who were establishing private foundations rarely thought about an end to the foundation. They assumed what they had created would last (as intended) in perpetuity from generation to generation. What they discovered, as John D....
Giving and receiving feedback doesn’t come naturally to me, and I’m on a journey of sorts with it. Like many, I appreciate receiving direct feedback as long as it’s delivered in a helpful way, but I tend to dread giving feedback to others. For years, I was a...
John Oliver. Peter Thiel. The Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. We were catching up on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver when my husband leaned over to me and asked, “So, is that philanthropy? Is that what it’s for?” John Oliver had just finished, in his typical...
Three weeks ago, CEP and 21 other organizations published an open letter to foundations making the case for nonprofit infrastructure organizations and their crucial importance to helping foundations and nonprofits be as effective as they can be in their work. The...
This post originally appeared on the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers website. I am honored to be among a diverse group of 22 nonprofit and philanthropy leaders who have signed a letter to thank foundations that have invested in the “nonprofit...
At CEP, we help all types of funders get feedback from grantees. As we’ve highlighted in previous posts, there is no one “right” approach to building strong relationships with grantees. One of the many approaches funders choose is one identified as “high-touch” or...
I often find myself facing a series of pretty consistent questions when I begin a conversation with one of the 47 percent of funders that a recent Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) survey found are not soliciting feedback from grantees....
This post is the seventh and final in a series of seven excerpting CEP President Phil Buchanan’s new essay, Big Issues, Many Questions, which explores five pressing issues facing U.S. foundation leaders and boards at this moment in time. Over the past few weeks, I...
This post is the sixth in a series of seven excerpting CEP President Phil Buchanan’s new essay, Big Issues, Many Questions, which explores five pressing issues facing U.S. foundation leaders and boards at this moment in time. After a period in which grantees were...