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In a toughly-worded op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times headlined “Who Will Watch the Charities?”, Inside Philanthropy founder and editor David Callahan argues that philanthropy “is a world with too much secrecy and too little oversight” and...
Being a foundation CEO isn’t so easy if you’re going to do it well, as I noted in my last blog post. There are tough decisions to be made and today — in the opening plenary of CEP’s biennial conference in San Francisco — we at CEP will share data about three areas in...
Early on in my days as CEP’s first chief executive officer, when we were just trying to get the organization off the ground, I visited with a CEP Board member in her office south of San Francisco. She was new to the Board and very direct. “Show me your calendar,” she...
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,...
Like anyone who spends a lot of time on the conference circuit, I’ve sat through a lot of dud sessions and conferences, as well as some great ones. I’ve also been involved in planning eight CEP conferences, the first back in 2002 in Boston, with fewer than 100...
If we care about impact – and I think that those of us working in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector do (why else would we be doing what we do?) – then we need to know what’s working and what’s not. It’s not always easy but it’s absolutely essential, as an...
Education is a focus area for many of this country’s foundations, and for good reason. Too many young people are not being well-served by their schools, and too many emerge unprepared for college or career. But in much of the discussion of education “reform,” and...
Every September and October, I spend a lot of time in synagogue. The Jewish holidays Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are a time of intense reflection for Jews about where we’ve fallen short as human beings, and how we can lead more ethical, fulfilling lives in the next...
There are lots of critiques of foundations and philanthropy – some justified, some not – and lots of calls for foundations to do a better job of owning up to failure and sharing what hasn’t worked. But we could also do a better job learning from what has, in fact,...
Many years ago, a very accomplished friend who was much further along in his career was discussing with me his potential transition to a new role he was considering accepting. We were on a walk, and he said that he was leaning toward taking the new job. “I think I...