It will surprise no one that at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), we’re big fans of feedback. For more than two decades, we’ve been encouraging funders to seek confidential feedback to get a clearer sense of their impact, build stronger relationships, and...
Mena Boyadzhiev
2022 in Review: A Note of Thanks to Our Partners
This winter, I celebrated my 10th year at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP). Many of the foundations I worked with in my earliest few years here were first-time partners who had signed up for their first CEP assessment — and in some cases, their...
From Survey Questions to Action: One Foundation’s Approach To a Targeted Review of Stakeholder Feedback
In my conversations with funders who engage with the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) on assessments and advisory engagements, I’ve heard that what many of our foundation partners find most challenging are the “Now what?” discussions that come after an...
Foundation-Wide Strategy Reviews: Lessons from 13 Private Foundations
For funders planning to evaluate or review their strategies, a wide range of resources on program evaluation and assessment can provide guidance on methodology, data use, and analysis. And yet, the available literature on how to structure foundation-wide...
Asking the Right Questions to Meet the Moment
Over the last several months, the world has been changing at a dizzying pace. In our conversations with funders and nonprofit leaders, we’ve heard about the devastating impact of the pandemic — and the existential shock it’s created for our sector and its ability to...
The Transformative Power of General Operating Support
At CEP, we are always eager to learn how the recommendations we provide through our assessments and advisory services affect not just the funders we partner with, but also — and most importantly — the work of their grantees toward improving lives and tackling complex...
Supporting a Foundation’s Move towards Unrestricted Support
Providing general operating support can be challenging for grantmakers. From our perspective at CEP, we know funders can sometimes wonder: Is our grant being used to further our mission? Without tying a grant to outcomes, how can we measure our impact? Nonprofit...