Ellie Buteau presents a second data point drawn from a survey of foundation CEOs on the status of performance assessment.
Data Point: Learning From Failure
read more
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.
A Foundation Asks its Constituents About How Best to Spend $100 Million
I was struck by a September 29th blog post written by Chris Langston, program director at the John A. Hartford Foundation in New York City. In his post, Chris asks for suggestions from “grantees, stakeholders, peers, and older persons themselves” about how the...
Data Point: Developing Shared Measurement Systems
The use and management of data stands at the core of the work undertaken by the Center for Effective Philanthropy. The set of survey tools CEP has developed as well as field-wide research builds comparative data drawn from key constituent groups—grantees, donors,...
Data Point: Importance of Social Networks to Donors
Kevin Bolduc presents data from CEP’s Donor Perception Report on the importance of social networks to this foundation constituency.
Data Point: Stakeholders’ Understanding of Foundation Goals and Strategies
The use and management of data stands at the core of the work undertaken by the Center for Effective Philanthropy. The set of survey tools CEP has developed as well as field-wide research builds comparative data drawn from key constituent groups—grantees, donors,...
Data Point: Talking About Staff Performance
Kevin Bolduc presents a data point taken from findings derived from CEP’s Staff Perception Report.
New Report on Strategy at Community Foundations Sparks Debate
Ellie Buteau discusses three critiques offered by readers of CEP’s report on community foundations and strategy.
Data Point: Influencing Donors Who Give to Community Foundations
The use and management of data stands at the core of the work undertaken by the Center for Effective Philanthropy. The set of survey tools CEP has developed as well as field-wide research builds comparative data drawn from key constituent groups—grantees, donors,...
Working Strategically: A Common Challenge for Community and Private Foundations
Community foundation leaders value the idea of strategy—but few use it in their donor or programmatic work.
The Effect of Response Bias: Who Completes our Surveys?
Ellie Buteau, Ph.D., discusses response bias—the decision of foundation leaders to participate or not—to CEP research, and what readers should keep in mind about this particular challenge.
What Foundations are Doing to Understand their Effectiveness
Over the past decade foundations have worked to assess their performance in the fields and communities they seek to address. In particular, data-driven forms of measurement have become more widely used to judge the results of programs, along with a broader range of information now used to assess performance.
Findings drawn from a survey of the CEOs of 173 U.S. foundations with annual grantmaking of at least $5 million focus on the current status of performance assessment among larger foundations.
The State of Performance Assessment, 10 Years Later
Phil Buchanan glances back 10 years as CEP prepares to release a new report on performance assessment for foundations.
What’s Wrong with This Picture?
Phil Buchanan weighs in on the idea that the business sector can address the issues traditionally seen as the domain of nonprofits – and on the persistence of borders distinguishing one sector from the other.
Education, Philanthropy and Metrics
Phil Buchanan writes about the challenge of ensuring that the current efforts of the big foundations and philanthropists to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for poor kids don’t meet the same fate as failed efforts of the past.
Avoiding a False Choice (Why We Need Both ‘Morality’ and Assessment)
Phil Buchanan’s talks about the relationship between passion and assessment in a forum at the Hudson Institute.
Why Foundations Need to Make a Leap of Reason
Phil Buchanan reviews Mario Marino’s new book, ‘Leap of Reason’, calling it a must read for anyone who cares about impact.
Does ‘Daring to Lead’ Draw the Right Conclusions from the Data?
Does a new report on nonprofit leadership draw the right conclusions? Phil Buchanan weighs in on Daring to Lead.
Passion Needed For Data Driven Analysis in Philanthropy
“…while passion and emotion are often the problem because they can lead us astray, they’re also the solution. For it is only a passionate commitment to really getting it right – to seeing results – that can provide the will and discipline necessary to do the hard work of data-gathering, strategy formulating, assessing, and analyzing.”
CEP Releases 2010 Video Annual Report
Phil Buchanan shares CEP’s 2010 annual report, welcoming feedback on the information and the new video format.
Challenging Without Silencing
Phil Buchanan discusses how CEP’s May conference helped him reflect on a challenge he faces as CEP’s president: How do leaders get the best out of people by encouraging them to speak up while simultaneously fostering a culture in which people challenge each other to get to the best solutions?