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Amid the dual crises of a global pandemic and a national reckoning with systemic racism, the U.S. philanthropic sector faces tremendous challenges and opportunities. CEP’s Foundations Respond to Crisis study found that many foundations are making new efforts to...
This post originally appeared on the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation website. As you read this, a nonprofit organization is keeping a mother and children safe from domestic abuse. An elder knows that someone from Meals-on-Wheels will be coming to check on him —...
In a way, we did things in reverse. Compared with how funders usually enter into policy work, our order of operations was the opposite. In the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s work on substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery, we did not start by funding...
If you are ever looking for a way to produce groans and hisses from your board of directors, tell them that it’s time to update your strategic plan. There are only a few special souls in this world who stand at the front end of a strategic plan and are excited about...
Uncertainty is a natural response to change. As such, I am not alarmed that a majority of nonprofit and foundation leaders alike are concerned that changes to the federal tax code precipitated by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will depress charitable giving and hinder...
There are many reasons why an individual might choose to make a donation. An old fundraising adage says that one of the top reasons why people give to charity is that they were asked. More recently, neuroscience has shown that being generous produces positive brain...
I remember in elementary school counting 100 cheerios on the 100th day of school. Though I no longer use my breakfast as an opportunity to mark an occasion (or practice my arithmetic), this month at CEP I find myself again appreciating an important hundredth...
In a meeting a few weeks ago, my CEP colleagues and I were grappling with understanding what potential impact the new U.S. tax code might have on philanthropy. In 2016, charitable giving reached an all-time high of $390.05 billion. But what will the future look...
Articles about foundations aren’t typically as full of barbs as Marc Gunther’s long piece on the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) in the most recent edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. That makes it an entertaining read, but the underlying...
This post from former CEP Senior Research Analyst Mark Chaffin originally appeared on the blog in May 2014. It is reposted here as part of our Rewind blog series. In our research report What Donors Value: How Community Foundations Can Increase Donor...
From November 12-18, community foundations across the country united in celebrating the 25th annual Community Foundation Week, a time designed to recognize the vital impact that community foundations have in their local areas. And all year long, community...
Community foundations today operate in an environment that is dramatically different from the one in which many of their current practices and structures were developed. After all, back when the Cleveland Foundation was first established in 1914, the U.S. telephone...
In recent years, various experts and observers have discussed the value of engaging donors at community foundations.1 The knowledge and connections community foundation staff have, and their ability to educate donors about a community’s greatest needs, have long been...
In our newest report What Donors Value: How Community Foundations Can Increase Donor Satisfaction, Referrals, and Future Giving we explored why donor satisfaction matters at community foundations and what donor perceptions best predict it. We noted that, while not the...
In recent years, broad societal trends have affected community foundations and the way they engage potential donors. Increased access to data and analysis about nonprofit organizations—fueled by the growth of online resources like GuideStar, GiveWell, and Charity...
A Wonderful Problem At The Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF), we have a wonderful problem: two-thirds of our new donors/fund establishers are unfamiliar with our organization — let alone our mission or impact in our community. Sure, they may have seen our...
The research, What Donors Value: How Community Foundations Can Increase Donor Satisfaction, Referrals, and Future Giving by the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) comes at an opportune time. The community foundation sector is reflecting on its history as it...
CEP’s most recent report takes a look at a question all community foundation donor services staff want answered: how can you increase satisfaction among foundation donors? What is the magic bullet for increasing referrals, gifts into existing funds, and overall...
The Rhode Island Foundation was pleased to partner with the Center for Effective Philanthropy on a Donor Perception Report in both 2010 and 2013. (As the first-ever customer of the Grantee Perception Report in 2002, we recognize the importance of direct customer...
The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s recently released report, What Donors Value: How Community Foundations Can Increase Donor Satisfaction, Referrals, and Future Giving, on what donors want and value from community foundations reminds me of my first week of...