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“We assume that they feed everything to a giant fiery furnace.” This was the best guess of a frustrated nonprofit executive in the first round of Project Streamline research when I asked what foundations did with the reports he wrote for them. Over the years, I’ve...
The Ford Foundation’s recent decision to shift funding focus entirely to inequality has sparked further conversations about foundations’ responsibility to fund programs and initiatives combating socioeconomic and racial inequality. Recent events from Ferguson to South...
There’s been a great deal of turnover at the biggest foundations, prompting us to revisit our 2012 analyses of the backgrounds of CEOs of the largest 100 foundations by asset size. We reported last month on the professional backgrounds of foundation CEOs — noting a...
With recent CEO turnover at large foundations, there’s been much talk about an apparent trend of foundation boards appointing CEOs with some background in philanthropy. We’ve seen several high-profile internal promotions in the last couple of years to the top job,...
Loyal readers, you can now receive every new CEP blog post directly in your inbox. We’re excited to unveil a new email subscription service to the CEP blog so you can always stay current with the latest news, ideas, and discussions from CEP staff and guest bloggers....
Guest authors Gavin Fenn-Smith and Nicki Roth, of Saroga, the Nonprofit Leadership Forum, make the case for investing in talent and leadership in nonprofit organizations, recognizing that the desired impact to affect social change does not occur without effective leadership.
Phil Buchanan highlights the recent promotions of internal foundation staff members to CEO and calls out the value of professional experience working in philanthropy.
Brian Hughes offers foundations advice on how to make the most of the performance review process.
Phil Buchanan continues his exposition on the nonprofit overhead debate, warning that a failure to acknowledge our worst offenders blurs our ability to make a cogent argument.
Phil Buchanan weighs in on the issue of overemphasis on overhead as a measure of nonprofit effectiveness.
Director of Talent Brian Hughes examines the fluid nature of staff satisfaction but emphasizes the importance of pursuing it for any organization that wishes to be effective.
Guest author Sterling Speirn lays out the reasoning behind the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s foray into impact investing and the returns they have seen after five years with this approach.
Chris McCrum of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation draws connections between leading staff and a shared experience from elementary school.
Guest authors Diana Davenport and John Craig discuss how The Commonwealth Fund has sought to improve their staff satisfaction through empowerment.
Guest author James R. Knickman shares his perspective on empowering employees at the New York State Health Foundation.
CEP Director of Talent & Administration Brian Hughes presents his approach for applying data to talent management.
Phil Buchanan reviews Caroline Fiennes’ new book, “It Ain’t What You Give, It’s the Way You Give It.”
Stephen Sullivan announces the launch of a new look and feel for the CEP blog.
Following up on his last post about the background of CEOs at the 100 largest foundations, Phil Buchanan further delves into the question of gender breakdown of that cohort.
Phil Buchanan examines where current foundation CEOs came from and what that means for the future of philanthropic leadership.