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One of the most common questions we’re asked at CEP is what it takes for a foundation to be as effective as possible. Over the years, through our assessments and research on foundation best practices, we have created a working definition of foundation effectiveness,...
Don’t let anyone tell you differently: making meaningful progress on our toughest societal challenges is extremely difficult. There is no magic formula. And a big ego doesn’t help. That is certainly true in education, where all stripes of donors have spent heavily and...
At this time of year, it’s common to hear the hope expressed that, as the Counting Crows song goes, “maybe this year will be better than the last.” That hope for a better year is usually accompanied by a lament about how terribly, horribly bad the year that just ended...
There’s lots of talk about effectiveness in philanthropy, but defining it isn’t necessarily easy. Our Board of Directors took a stab at it a few years back, and we put out what we called our “working definition of foundation effectiveness.” We got a lot of feedback on...
It’s often frustratingly difficult to find basic information on foundation boards: their size, their structure, and their composition, for example. At CEP, we’re frequently asked by foundation CEOs and board members for help finding this kind of benchmarking data. So...
In our staff surveys at CEP, year after year, we receive great marks on most dimensions. But if there is one consistent critical theme over the years, it is a real concern about workload. And if I am to be brutally honest, I think I have sometimes trivialized that...
This 2012 post on foundation governance was for a long time the most widely read on the CEP blog. We are re-posting it here today as part of our "Blog Rewind" series for those who didn’t see it back then — or for those who want a refresher on what habits boards...
On the CEP blog last week and this week, CEP President Phil Buchanan is discussing, in a series of eight posts, recent critiques of large, staffed foundations and assertions that recently-established, “lean” foundations are paving a promising new path without being...
On the CEP blog last week and this week, CEP President Phil Buchanan is discussing, in a series of eight posts, recent critiques of large, staffed foundations and assertions that recently-established, “lean” foundations are paving a promising new path without being...
On the CEP blog last week and this week, CEP President Phil Buchanan is discussing, in a series of eight posts, recent critiques of large, staffed foundations and assertions that recently-established, “lean” foundations are paving a promising new path without being...