This post, written by former CEP Associate Manager, Research, Ramya Gopal, is part of a series looking back at data that CEP has collected on race. It draws on findings from CEP's 2013 report, How Far Have We Come? Foundation CEOs on Progress and Impact. Diversity —...
Ramya Gopal
What Helps Foundations to Deeply Understand their Beneficiaries?
This post from former CEP Associate Manager, Research, Ramya Gopal originally appeared on the blog in February 2015 and draws from the CEP research report, Hearing from Those We Seek to Help. It is reposted here as part of our Rewind blog series. Nonprofit leaders...
The Paradox of Performance Assessment
The issue of nonprofit performance assessment seems to cause a lot of anxiety among nonprofits and funders. On one hand, there is agreement that assessment is necessary to achieving high performance — a nonprofit cannot improve its work if it’s not assessing how it’s...
Being Responsive to Beneficiaries
The following profile is an excerpt from CEP’s recent research report, Hearing from Those We Seek to Help: Nonprofit Practices and Perspectives in Beneficiary Feedback. Crittenton Children’s Center in Kansas City, MO was one of three randomly selected nonprofit...
Using Feedback to Improve Interactions with Beneficiaries
The following profile is an excerpt from CEP’s recent research report, Hearing from Those We Seek to Help: Nonprofit Practices and Perspectives in Beneficiary Feedback. Lifetrack in St. Paul, MN was one of three randomly selected nonprofit organizations whose leaders...
What Characteristics Help Foundations to Deeply Understand their Beneficiaries?
Nonprofit leaders have a sober assessment of foundations’ understanding of those they seek to help. CEP’s latest research shows that only 38 percent of nonprofit leaders believe that most or all of their foundation funders have a deep understanding of their intended...
ONE DC – Listening to Beneficiaries and Seeking Transformative Change
The following is an excerpt from the new research report, Hearing from Those We Seek to Help: Nonprofit Practices and Perspectives in Beneficiary Feedback. ONE DC was one of three randomly selected nonprofit organizations whose leaders rated them in the CEP survey as...
Are Foundations and Nonprofits Seeing Eye to Eye?
For foundations and nonprofits to work effectively together, they need to understand each other’s perspectives. But do they? Drawing on data from CEP surveys, Ellie Buteau, Mark Chaffin and I compared foundation and nonprofit perspectives on four aspects of foundation...
Foundations’ Sunsetting: A Burgeoning Trend?
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal headlined “Spending Down the Family Foundation” suggests that more philanthropists are choosing to donate all their wealth within their lifetimes, instead of holding it in perpetuity. The story cites Bridgespan’s analysis of...
The Grantee Perspective on Nonprofit Sustainability
Although there has much discussion about nonprofit sustainability, the “overhead myth,” and unrestricted funding (see TCC Group’s “The Sustainability Formula,” GEO’s “On the Money” and NFF’s “2013 State of the Nonprofit sector” as just a few examples), nonprofits...
How Far Have We Come In…Understanding Impact?
In the past decade, foundations have become more deeply engaged in assessing their performance. But performance assessment is only a means to an end. The real question is – do foundations feel like they now have a better understanding of their impact? To find this...
Racial Diversity of Foundation Leadership
Diversity—in particular, racial diversity—has become an increasingly discussed issue in the context of foundation effectiveness. Much of the data fueling these discussions has been about the demographics of foundation staff, leaders, and boards and the policies that...
What Are Foundations Working to Accomplish?
One theme that has come up again and again in CEP’s research on foundation effectiveness is the importance of foundations communicating their goals clearly. Our past research has shown that how clearly a foundation communicates its goals and strategies to grantees is...
One Year Later, What Is the State of Grantees’ Use of Foundations’ Social Media?
Ramya Gopal provides an updated look at our research on how nonprofits are interacting—or not—with their funders’ social media efforts.
Data Point: In the Dark: What Are My CEO’s Goals?
Ramya Gopal shares data displaying differences on key measures between staff who know the extent to which they are working toward the same goals as their CEO and staff who do not.