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Transparency — being open, honest, and clear — is a key driver of strong relationships between funders and grantees. It’s valued by foundation and grantee CEOs alike, and grantees think foundations are doing a decent job of being transparent (though more so in sharing...
It’s said that you shouldn’t talk politics in polite company. Does anyone still say that in 2018? I know I haven’t followed that rule in my personal life over the last year. It seems every conversation eventually wends its way back to politics. But the candid grantee...
“Why do you think that our staff who are women are rating our foundation’s culture less positively than men — even though there are more women than men at the foundation and in leadership,” asked the HR director who was working with me on her foundation’s employee...
At CEP we are always thinking about the ways that strong funder-grantee relationships affect the success of foundations’ efforts. This topic has been a major emphasis in our research agenda for more than a decade, as we have continually investigated the questions,...
This blog post from CEP’s Vice President, Assessment and Advisory Services, Kevin Bolduc originally appeared on the CEP blog in October 2015. It is reposted here as part of our Rewind series. Struck by duck (W61.62) Sucked into jet engine, subsequent encounter...
As we approach the end of 2016, I want to take a second to thank the many funders that entrusted CEP’s Assessment and Advisory Services team this year to help them grapple with important questions about their effectiveness. Every year at this time we take a look back...
No matter where you personally stand on the results of our recent elections, one thing is clear: we in the nonprofit sector — grantees and funders alike — are entering a moment of significant change in the context for our work. For some (voucher and charter advocates,...
In the few months since I last wrote about 100&Change, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s $100 million dollar prize in pursuit of one good idea, I’ve been thinking a lot about the transparency of its selection process. One of the biggest changes...
Twice last week I had conversations with leaders from different foundations who described to me their efforts to build “great customer service” for their grantees. It’s actually not an uncommon analogy, and I tend to let it slide. After all, I think it’s important...
In writing about the ways in which philanthropy can give voice to our communal optimism, I recently shared my belief that the wide array of goals across funders is not only inevitable; it’s also important. The problems on which foundations focus are interconnected....