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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.
One theme that has come up again and again in CEP’s research on foundation effectiveness is the importance of foundations communicating their goals clearly. Our past research has shown that how clearly a foundation communicates its goals and strategies to grantees is...
Many people use the start of a new year as a time to think about the future. Some make predictions, others make resolutions. A few have recently shared their hopes for what foundations will do in 2014. But what are foundation CEOs themselves concerned about for the...
Phil Buchanan presents updated CEP’s updated definition of foundation effectiveness, and encourages readers to share their thoughts on what’s missing.
Every New Year, we tend to dream of what the next year might bring. In that spirit, here are my wishes for what we’d see in foundationland in my imagined 2014. Let me emphasize that these are not predictions (I am a bit of a cynic about predictions). These are instead...
Phil Buchanan reflects on the past year and recalls our 2013 conference – In Search of Impact – as one of the year’s key highlights.
Guest authors Fay Twersky and Larry Kramer, of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, react to CEP’s new research report “How Far Have We Come? Foundation CEOs on Progress and Impact” by urging foundation staff to continuously reflect on their strategy and progress, while openly and proactively sharing the results of such reflections.
Steve Seleznow, president and chief executive officer of the Arizona Community Foundation, interprets the findings from CEP’s latest research report, “How Far Have We Come? CEOs on Progress and Impact” from a community foundation perspective. Seleznow points to the unique challenges to evaluating progress introduced by competing interests within community foundations, but rather than giving up on charting impact, he argues instead to transform the conventional definition of impact.
Guest author Lucy Bernholz, Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, reacts to CEP’s research report, “How Far Have We Come? Foundation CEOs on Progress and Impact.” Bernholz recognizes the unique difficulty of assessing progress in philanthropy but argues that the challenge foundations face in measuring outcomes is intrinsic to the work they do.
Guest author Paul Brest, Professor Emeritus at Stanford Law School and former president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, reacts to CEP’s research report, “How Far Have We Come? Foundation CEOs on Progress and Impact.” Though encouraged that foundation CEOs’ recognize the value of acquiring and sharing evidence of what works to improve outcomes, Brest argues that is is crucial for foundation leaders to begin to act on these beliefs.
Phil Buchanan, speaking to an audience of mostly nonprofit leaders at the After the Leap conference, asked if funders get it, when it comes to funding performance assessment for their grantees. Unsurprisingly, but discouragingly, the answer was for the most part, “no.”
Phil Buchanan asks why, despite frequently indicating the desire to do so, aren’t more funders helping their grantees to evaluate and improve their work? Buchanan evaluates the current landscape of funder support for this work by their grantees, and finds that pool is a small one.
Kevin Bolduc, CEP’s Vice President – Assessment Tools, reflects on the challenges and accomplishments of the assessment tools team in 2013, and provides a glimpse of the ever-growing community of tool users coming on board in 2014.
Guest author Linda Wood, Senior Director of the Haas Leadership Initiative at the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, responds to the finding from Nonprofit Challenges: What Foundations Can Do that the majority of nonprofits do not feel adequately supported by their foundation funders. Wood argues that foundations’ skepticism towards investing in leadership development is misplaced, and wonders if funders are providing the right type of support to meet specific needs.
Guest authors Gavin Fenn-Smith and Nicki Roth, of Saroga, the Nonprofit Leadership Forum, make the case for investing in talent and leadership in nonprofit organizations, recognizing that the desired impact to affect social change does not occur without effective leadership.
Nonprofit leaders do not want help from their foundation funders with every challenge their organizations face, but would like more foundation help specifically in meeting the demand for their programs and services, using technology to improve their effectiveness, and developing their leadership skills. Mark Chaffin highlights another key finding from our research report Nonprofit Challenges: What Foundations Can Do.
Nonprofit leaders do not believe foundations are taking full advantage of their resources to help them address their challenges and would like their foundation funders to share knowledge of other nonprofits facing similar challenges. Mark Chaffin highlights these two key findings from our research report Nonprofit Challenges: What Foundations Can Do.
Phil Buchanan highlights the recent promotions of internal foundation staff members to CEO and calls out the value of professional experience working in philanthropy.
Guest author Jessica Bearman, of Bearman Consulting and Project Streamline, calls on grantmakers to seek candid feedback about the impact of their grantmaking practices on grantseekers’ organizations.
Guest author Patricia Kozu of the National Employment Law Project makes the case for both individuals and foundations to target their philanthropy using Giving Circles.
Phil Buchanan calls on foundations to play a role in #GivingTuesday by rewarding effective organizations with impact grants.