Assessing Performance Archives | The Center for Effective Philanthropy

Heading for the Exit? 5 Considerations for Funders from Collective Conversations
Sharon Bissell Independent Writer, The Former Director of the MacArthur Foundation’s Mexico Office
Michael Jarvis Executive Director, Transparency and Accountability Initiative (TAI)
Richard Christel Program Associate, Transparency and Accountability Initiative (TAI)

Jun 10, 2021 | Guest Author Assessing Performance, Guest Author Developing Strategy, Guest Author Guest Author

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...

How Are Funders Understanding and Sharing What Works?
Ellie Buteau, Ph.D. Director of Research Projects and Special Advisor on Research Methodology and Analysis, CEP

Nov 8, 2018 | Research Assessing Performance, Research Research

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 advance the public interest, it is incumbent upon us to be transparent about our...

The Keys to True Social Sector Impact? Evaluation and Continuous Learning
Meg Long Former president, Equal Measure
Clare Nolan Co-Executive Director, Engage R+D

Oct 3, 2017 | Guest Author Assessing Performance, Guest Author Guest Author

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 — education, health, community...

Q&A: What is Comparative Data?
Naomi Orensten Senior Director of Programs and Strategy, Dorot Foundation

Sep 21, 2017 | Assessing Performance Assessing Performance, Assessing Performance Assessment & Advisory Services, Assessing Performance Constituent Feedback

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 relationship-building with grantees, grantmaking patterns, assistance beyond the grant, or any...

Upping the Support for Nonprofit Performance Assessment
Matthew Harty Director, Programs in Social Enterprise, Columbia Business School

Jul 25, 2017 | Research Assessing Performance, Research Research

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 profession. I found...

Ask Yourself: Do We Really Need This Data?
Kevin Bolduc Vice President, Assessment and Advisory Services, CEP

Jun 29, 2017 | Assessing Performance Assessing Performance, Assessing Performance Rewind

This blog post from CEP’s Vice President, Assessment and Advisory Services, Kevin Bolduc originally appeared on the CEP blog in October 2015. It is reposted here as part of our Rewind series. Struck by duck (W61.62) Sucked into jet engine, subsequent encounter...

How can we help evaluation and learning deliver on its promise?
Tanya Beer Associate Director, Center for Evaluation Innovation (CEI); Co-Director, Evaluation Roundtable

Oct 6, 2016 | Research Assessing Performance, Research Research

When foundation evaluation trailblazer Patti Patrizi conducted the first benchmarking survey of the philanthropic sector’s evaluation practices in 2009, the field was already several years into its embrace of strategic grantmaking and its call for rigorous attention...

So you want to become a more intentional learning organization?
Chera Reid Co-Executive Director, Center for Evaluation Innovation

Oct 4, 2016 | Research Assessing Performance, Research Research

So you want to become a more intentional learning organization? For those who are building out a new learning and evaluation function at their foundation, Benchmarking Foundation Evaluation Practices, the new research report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy...

When to Follow the Herd?
Marc J. Holley Evaluation Unit Director, Walton Family Foundation

Sep 29, 2016 | Research Assessing Performance, Research Research

Just because everyone else is doing something does not make it right. We’ve heard this refrain from a young age. But sometimes it makes good sense to follow conventional wisdom or “best practice.” In shaping a foundation’s grantmaking or evaluation approaches, the...

Making Evaluation Integrated and Indispensable
Nancy Baughman Csuti Director of Research, Evaluation and Strategic Learning, The Colorado Trust

Sep 22, 2016 | Research Assessing Performance, Research Research

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 literature, links to...

Assessing Performance

Sort By: