CEP Advisory Board Member Alicia Philipp weighs in on a research report focused on strategy at community foundations.
A CEP Advisory Board Member Weighs In
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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.
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.
Listening to Beneficiaries: Why Are We So Bad At It?
CEP has been actively exploring the topic of beneficiary feedback through its YouthTruth project since 2008. We were very pleased to share what we are learning – and to challenge the status quo -- on the Tactical Philanthropy blog this week, where the following post...
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.
Funder Uses YouthTruth Data to Spark Community Engagement
Laura Olson shares how YouthTruth survey results inform the work of The California Endowment in its efforts to improve Del Norte County youth outcomes.
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.
Two Personal Takes: Accountability and the Issue of Diversity
Leaders from philanthropy and the nonprofit sector have been invited to CEP from time to time to talk about a wide range of issues. Here, two staff members reflect on conversations with Beth Smith of the Hyams Foundation and Allen Grossman of Harvard Business School.
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.
The Case for Looking at More Than Just Test Scores
In an Atlanta Journal-Constitution op ed, Phil Buchanan, Fay Twersky, and Valerie Threlfall argue for listening to students to find out what’s really going on in schools.
Gates Annual Report Highlights CEP Role in Increasing Global Impact
David Trueblood reports on CEP’s visibility in coverage of the Gates Foundation 2010 annual report.
How Community Foundations Use Donor Perspectives to Improve Their Work
Kathy Merchant, president and CEO of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, and Neil Steinberg, president and CEO of The Rhode Island Foundation, talk about using the Donor Perception Report to strengthen the work of their organizations.
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.
Michael J. Fox: Getting Results By Going the Unconventional Way
Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research co-founders Michael J. Fox and Debi Brooks discuss the challenges and surprises they experienced creating a major new medical research foundation.