Ellie Buteau shares the many ways that CEP’s 2011 conference will be featuring community foundations, including new CEP research on community foundation strategy.
CEP Conference To Unveil New Research on Community Foundation Strategy
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.
Early Bird Rates End February 1 for CEP’s 2011 Conference
Alyse d’Amico announces Harvard Business School professor Linda A. Hill’s participation in CEP’s 2011 conference and reminds readers of the upcoming early bird registration deadline.
Talk It Out: The Value of Discussing Reports and Evaluations
Tim Chu shares the value of discussing his annual performance review with his manager and wonders why more grantees are not afforded this same opportunity with their foundation funders.
Farmers or Merchants?
Crystal Hayling on the debate surrounding different approaches to microfinance.
Grantees Tell Foundations How to Make Reporting and Evaluation More Helpful
Ellie Buteau introduces a new research piece that provides a detailed look at grantees’ experience of the reporting and evaluation processes, what makes them most helpful, and how foundations could improve them.
Back to Basics: What Are You Trying to Achieve?
Ellie Buteau, PhD posits that before a foundation can contribute assessment data to Glasspockets, it must clarify goals, strategies, and indicators of success.
How Understanding Their Fields Helped Three Foundations Make Better Decisions and Avoid Costly Mistakes
Our case study, Lessons from the Field: From Understanding to Impact, provides an in-depth look at how three different foundations cultivate an understanding of their fields and then translate that understanding into more effective grantmaking.
Here’s Some Philanthropy Advice for Mark Zuckerberg
Phil Buchanan shares an op-ed by him and Stephen Heintz that offers four pieces of advice to Mark Zuckerberg and the other Giving Pledgers.
Giving As Good As We Get
Individual giving may be down in 2010, but people are giving in new ways and changing the charitable donation landscape. Crystal Hayling explores new giving technologies and questions how nonprofits and grantmakers should use and support them.
Before Strategy Was Strategy
Crystal Hayling describes how, at the beginning of her philanthropic career, her foundation’s close collaboration with its grantees informed the foundation’s strategy and made it a stronger partner in fighting for women’s rights.
Introducing Guest Blogger Crystal Hayling
Phil Buchanan introduces Guest Blogger Crystal Hayling. Crystal is Former President and CEO of the Blue Shield of California Foundation and a member of the CEP Board of Directors. She is currently living in Singapore and is taking some time to write about – and reflect upon – philanthropy, social innovation, and international development.
General Operating Support Remains the Exception
Andrea Brock shares new data that suggests foundations have not shifted towards providing more general operating grants despite the abundance that has been written arguing for unrestricted support.
A Thank You to Funders and Grantees
Kevin Bolduc thanks the 143 funders and the 50,000 grantees who have participated in the Grantee Perception Report process over the last four years and shares a Chronicle of Philanthropy ad that also extends that gratitude.
Challenge Your Assumptions: 2011 Conference Agenda Now Available
Alyse d’Amico shares the preliminary agenda for CEP’s 2011 conference and highlights six of the conference’s sessions.
Student Feedback: A Missing Link in Education Reform
Valerie Threlfall shares a post that was originally published on the Huffington Post: “Student Feedback: A Missing Link in Education Reform.”
Your Feedback Informs CEP’s Research
Ellie Buteau, PhD asks readers to give their feedback on two recent research publications.
Working with Grantees: Why Good Relationships Matter
Phil Buchanan argues that funders should work to strengthen their relationships with grantees. He draws on testimonials from two foundations leaders who see strong funder-grantee relationships as critical to having an impact in their fields.
Monitor Institute and CEP Join Forces to Scale Data Visualization Tool
Phil Buchanan announces CEP’s partnership with Monitor Institute to bring the Strategy Landscape Tool, a new data visualization tool, to the field of philanthropy.
“Open-Source Strategy” (Part 4): Foundation Strategy Development and the Perils of Isolation
“Foundations can’t develop good strategy with closed processes,” asserts Phil Buchanan. He poses four questions for foundation leaders to consider before seeking stakeholder feedback.
“Open-Source Strategy” (Part 3): Getting Burned by Openness
Phil Buchanan discusses the dangers of openness when developing strategy, but explains why he believes the risks are greatly outweighed by the rewards.