Funder exits are inevitable – whether as a result of a foundation’s strategic realignment, shift in priority countries, budget cuts, poor portfolio performance, or, in the worst case scenario, opaque top-down decisions. No surprise then that funders, and especially...
Assessing Performance
How Are Funders Understanding and Sharing What Works?
[vc_row el_class="sixtysix-thirtythree"][vc_column width="2/3"][vc_column_text]In a post on the CEP blog last week about measuring foundation progress, Mark Zezza and Maureen Cozine of the New York State Health Foundation write, “As stewards of resources to...
The Keys to True Social Sector Impact? Evaluation and Continuous Learning
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As stakeholders in the social sector, we all care deeply about impact. We are driven to move the needle on the systemic and social conditions that will improve individual and community outcomes in the fields in which our sector works...
Q&A: What is Comparative Data?
[vc_row el_class="sixtysix-thirtythree"][vc_column width="2/3"][vc_column_text]We’re reviving our Q&A series on the blog, in which readers can submit questions to be answered by CEP’s experts. We’d love to hear from you with questions related to...
Upping the Support for Nonprofit Performance Assessment
The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s Benchmarking Program Officer Roles and Responsibilities report provides useful insights into an often unexplored and relatively unknown area — the foundation program officer’s perspective on their role and...
Ask Yourself: Do We Really Need This Data?
How can we help evaluation and learning deliver on its promise?
So you want to become a more intentional learning organization?
When to Follow the Herd?
Making Evaluation Integrated and Indispensable
I find it surprising that we are still talking about the role of evaluation at foundations. A quick Google search on “evaluation in foundations” brings up more than 125 million hits — numerous benchmarking reports, articles in scholarly and gray...
Breaking Down the Data on Evaluation
Resources for Improving Application and Reporting Processes
Assessing the Assessment: The Grantee Perception Report
Feedback really does fuel change. That’s why we created the Grantee Perception Report (GPR) – to allow funders to hear from grantees and continually improve based on their unbiased, comparative feedback. And that’s why it’s important that...
Thank You to Our 2015 Assessment Users
In reflecting on a year almost (but not quite) yet done, it can often be difficult to fit into a small space all the important things that happen in the span of 365 days, whether it’s in a family holiday card or in a year-end blog post. On the assessment and...
Funder Q&A: Opening Yourself Up to Grantee Feedback
Last month, CEP staff were joined by Baptist Healing Trust President and CEO Cathy Self and Program and Communications Officer Jennifer Oldham for an insightful webinar discussing the Trust’s experience surveying grantees through the Grantee Perception...
Struck by Duck: Do We Really Need This Data?
Struck by duck (W61.62) Sucked into jet engine, subsequent encounter (V97.33XD) Pedestrian on foot injured in collision with roller-skater (V00.01) Bitten by pig, initial encounter (W55.41XA) If you’re Facebook friends with any physicians, your newsfeed probably...
How Come This Foundation’s Grantees Love Its Reporting Process So Much?
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This post originally appeared on the blog of Giving Evidence, which encourages and enables charitable giving based on sound evidence. Most charities hate the reporting which funders make them do. Notionally a learning process,...