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It’s a big statement but I think it’s correct: I really don’t think there is any person in this country who has done more to influence how grantmakers approach their grantmaking, and specifically the way they relate to those they fund, than Kevin Bolduc. Kevin, my...
Seven days into the second Trump administration, after a raft of executive orders including several targeting “DEI programs,” we published a piece I authored on this blog titled “In Defense of DEI.” In it, I lamented, “the remarkable and rapid capitulation of many...
More than a few philanthropy observers have suggested that foundations are now (or will soon become) a less significant segment of the landscape of U.S. philanthropy than they once were. In a much discussed post more than a decade ago, journalist David Callahan...
A few years into my tenure as CEP’s president, when I was in my mid-30s, I made a confession to our board of directors in executive session. It was a big one. “I don’t really know what I am doing,” I said, explaining that the organization was growing quickly and that...
Institutional neutrality has been all the rage these past few years, but it is time to recognize that it is a fallacy. Let me start with some background. Since the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack by Hamas in Israel, after which many CEOs took heat for their public...
“There are too many nonprofits.” “Yes,” someone else will chime in. “There are too many nonprofits.” It’s a comment I hear frequently in gatherings of funders, and when it’s said, I notice, many people nod. We heard this from some foundation CEOs when my colleagues on...
When Grace Chiang Nicolette joined the Center for Effective Philanthropy in 2011, our staff numbered 32. Our audience was overwhelmingly foundations. Our media profile was relatively modest — and it was pretty common for folks who we were convinced should know us to...
It’s not necessarily the most popular take, but I am not afraid to admit it: I am a believer in long-time horizon — or perpetual — foundations. Like any category of institution, they’re not all equally effective, and I do have a request to make of them (I’ll get to...
It’s a milestone birthday for us here at CEP, but I’ll be honest: we don’t really feel like celebrating. More on that later. Let’s start at the beginning. The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), which I am privileged to lead, received initial funding in 2001, 25...
Advice on leadership is everywhere you turn but, unfortunately, a decent amount of it is not so helpful. Enter into this uneven genre a newly released report from McKinsey & Company, the global corporate consulting firm, which seeks to answer the question, “what...