Nathan Hutto of Horizons for Homeless Children proposes a new way to structure the relationship between funders and grantees to improve performance assessment.
Designing a Better Partnership
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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.
Philanthropy’s Innovation Pile Up
Jeff Raikes of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation discusses obstacles in the way of realizing the full potential of innovative solutions.
Shifting Priorities in the Nonprofit Sector: Creating a Performance Management Culture
Cynthia Figueroa of Congreso de Latinos Unidos comments on the themes she sees threaded through our “Room for Improvement” report.
A New Phase for Nonprofit Performance Measurement
David Pritchard of New Philanthropy Capital relates the findings in “Room for Improvement” to similar research NPC is doing in the UK.
Five Hurdles to Nonprofit Performance Assessment
Guest author Lauren Gilbert of Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL) presents a series of obstacles that nonprofits face in their attempts to complete rigorous, valuable performance assessment.
Recasting the Relationship Between Foundations and Nonprofits
Guest author Dan Cardinali discusses how foundations can remove the impediments to better nonprofit performance assessment infrastructure.
A Wake-Up Call for Funders: Effectiveness Requires More Support for Grantees’ Assessment Efforts
Elizabeth Boris of the Urban Institute reacts to the findings of our “Room for Improvement” report, describing foundations as missing in action.
A Crucial Missing Link: Where’s the Foundation Support for Nonprofit Assessment Efforts?
Ellie Buteau presents the key findings from “Room for Improvement: Foundations’ Support of Nonprofit Performance Assessment,” the first report from The Grantee Voice panel.
Learning From Failure: The Genius of Little Bets
Mark Russell reviews Peter Sims’ “Little Bets” and evaluates how the theory of small discoveries leading to big breakthroughs relates to philanthropy.
Data Point: Helpfulness of Foundations’ Social Media for Grantees
Research Manager Andrea Brock shares a data point on how grantees are interacting with their foundation funders through social media–and how they aren’t.
Gloves Off Wisdom for Donors from the UK: A Philanthropy “How-To”
Phil Buchanan reviews Caroline Fiennes’ new book, “It Ain’t What You Give, It’s the Way You Give It.”
Engaging Grantees In Foundations’ Social Media and How To Tell If It’s Working
Elizabeth R. Miller of Knight Foundation shares a list of tips for foundations on how to engage with grantees through social media and tools on how to measure those efforts.
We’re Talking. Who’s Listening?
Bruce Trachtenberg of the Communications Network offers some alternate perspectives on how to interpret CEP’s social media research.
Just One Piece of the Communications Pie
Guest author Stuart Comstock-Gay shares how the Vermont Community Foundation has found success deploying social media as a piece of their overall communications model.
Using Social Media to Shift from Delivering Information to Creating Value
Guest authors Jon Sotsky and Elizabeth Miller discuss Knight Foundation’s social media strategy to increasingly engage with their grantee partners.
If a Tweet Falls…
Guest author Elizabeth Christopherson of the Rita Allen Foundation offers her interpretation of the findings in “Grantees’ Limited Engagement with Foundations’ Social Media.”
From the Pony Express to the Twittersphere
Ellie Buteau shares her perspective on and discusses some of the questions raised by CEP’s new research report, “Grantees’ Limited Engagement with Foundations’ Social Media.”
Scanning the Philanthropic Landscape
Mendi Blue discusses the practice of mapping funders within a specific issue area or geography and highlights the utility of the Strategy Landscape Tool.
Transparency Starts at Home
While the philanthropic sector wrestles with the issue of external transparency, Phil Buchanan argues that foundation leaders must also cultivate internal transparency.
How Did We Do? CEP by the Numbers
CEP Board Chair Kathy Merchant and President Phil Buchanan reflect on 2011 and extend an open invitation to join CEP in the pursuit of more effective philanthropy.