Most economists believe the U.S. economy will enter the next recession by the end of 2021. Though that date is already fast approaching, the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) across the world — and the disruption and uncertainty it has brought with it —...
Data Point
Bringing the Nonprofit Perspective into Debates About Donor-Advised Funds
Donor-advised funds (DAFs) have grown significantly in recent years. In 2018, DAFs reached new highs in four key metrics: dollars distributed from DAFs to charitable organizations, dollars contributed by donors to DAFs, the value of charitable assets under management...
Grantee Voice: Relationships Matter
This is the final post in a six-part series on what nonprofit leaders think foundation funders could improve upon in their work. Findings are based on survey responses from 244 nonprofit leaders who have agreed to be a part of CEP’s Grantee Voice Panel — a nationally...
Grantee Voice: Provide Multiyear, Flexible Funding
This is the fifth post in a six-part series on what nonprofit leaders think foundation funders could improve upon in their work. Findings are based on survey responses from 244 nonprofit leaders who have agreed to be a part of CEP’s Grantee Voice Panel — a nationally...
Grantee Voice: Provide More Assistance Beyond the Grant
This is the fourth post in a six-part series on what nonprofit leaders think foundation funders could improve upon in their work. Findings are based on survey responses from 244 nonprofit leaders who have agreed to be a part of CEP’s Grantee Voice Panel — a nationally...
Grantee Voice: Improve Funder Approaches to Grantmaking Goals and Strategies
This is the third post in a six-part series on what nonprofit leaders think foundation funders could improve upon in their work. Findings are based on survey responses from 244 nonprofit leaders who have agreed to be a part of CEP’s Grantee Voice Panel — a nationally...
Grantee Voice: Improve Foundation Processes
This is the second post in a six-part series on what nonprofit leaders think foundation funders could improve upon in their work. Findings are based on survey responses from 244 nonprofit leaders who have agreed to be a part of CEP’s Grantee Voice Panel — a nationally...
Grantee Voice: Nonprofit Suggestions for Funder Improvement
At CEP, we adhere to the core principle that grantees are a crucial link between funders and their ability to have impact. This shouldn’t be surprising nor controversial. After all, grantee organizations and the individuals who make them up are the ones doing the hard...
Racial Diversity of Foundation Leadership and Impact
This post, written by former CEP Associate Manager, Research, Ramya Gopal, is part of a series looking back at data that CEP has collected on race. It draws on findings from CEP's 2013 report, How Far Have We Come? Foundation CEOs on Progress and Impact. Diversity —...
Are Foundations and Their Grantees Discussing Race?
CEP’s work focuses on what foundations can do to be more effective in their work through their governance, their staff, their operations, and their work with key stakeholders, including grantees and beneficiaries. Our focus in our work is always on foundation...
What Helps Foundations to Deeply Understand their Beneficiaries?
This post from former CEP Associate Manager, Research, Ramya Gopal originally appeared on the blog in February 2015 and draws from the CEP research report, Hearing from Those We Seek to Help. It is reposted here as part of our Rewind blog series. Nonprofit leaders...
What Donors Value from their Community Foundation: Communication
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...
Nonprofits Think Foundations Can Do More to Help with Their Challenges
This post, delving into data from the 2013 CEP report, Nonprofit Challenges: What Foundations Can Do, originally appeared on the blog in October 2013. It is reposted here as part of our Rewind blog series. Nonprofits want more than just money from foundations....
Why Are Foundations Putting Small Dollars Toward Impact Investing?
Impact investing at independent foundations is a mile wide and an inch deep. I think that’s a fair summary of CEP’s latest research report released in May, Investing and Social Impact: Practices of Private Foundations, based on a benchmarking survey of private...
Gender Gap? Analyzing Leadership of the Big Foundations
There’s been a great deal of turnover at the biggest foundations, prompting us to revisit our 2012 analyses of the backgrounds of CEOs of the largest 100 foundations by asset size. We reported last month on the professional backgrounds of foundation CEOs — noting a...
Who Runs the Big Foundations? A Look at the Leadership of the Largest 100 Foundations
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,...
Getting to Assessment and High Performance
Nonprofit organizations — and foundations — talk a lot about accountability. And one of the best ways to be accountable is to demonstrate impact. While you or I would be hard pressed to think of a nonprofit organization that does not want to demonstrate impact, the...
The Paradox of Performance Assessment
The issue of nonprofit performance assessment seems to cause a lot of anxiety among nonprofits and funders. On one hand, there is agreement that assessment is necessary to achieving high performance — a nonprofit cannot improve its work if it’s not assessing how it’s...
Being Responsive to Beneficiaries
The following profile is an excerpt from CEP’s recent research report, Hearing from Those We Seek to Help: Nonprofit Practices and Perspectives in Beneficiary Feedback. Crittenton Children’s Center in Kansas City, MO was one of three randomly selected nonprofit...
Using Feedback to Improve Interactions with Beneficiaries
The following profile is an excerpt from CEP’s recent research report, Hearing from Those We Seek to Help: Nonprofit Practices and Perspectives in Beneficiary Feedback. Lifetrack in St. Paul, MN was one of three randomly selected nonprofit organizations whose leaders...