Foundation
Governance Today:
How Boards and CEOs Are Navigating Risk,
Accountability, and a Shifting Landscape
A new CEP Research Snapshot examines the challenges reported by foundation CEOs — and what they need from their boards — in the current context.
Resources for Grantmakers
Access helpful information, like data-backed reports based on rigorous research.
Resources for Individuals
Get insights and information around what it takes to be an effective giver.
Your Partner in Philanthropic Effectiveness
CEP seeks to influence foundations and major donors to be more effective. We offer assessments that gather essential feedback from key stakeholders, data-driven research, customized advisory services, thought-provoking events, and incisive commentary on the CEP Blog.
Improve Your Effectiveness
CEP’s assessments provide unique insights into your effectiveness by gathering candid and actionable feedback from grantees, donors, and funder staff and benchmarking results with other grantmakers.
Featured Resources
A SECTOR IN CRISIS: How U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations Are Responding to Threats
As nonprofits face historic challenges, new data from the Center for Effective Philanthropy reveals how nonprofits are faring and how foundations are responding.
Breaking the Mold: The Transformative Effect of MacKenzie Scott's Big Gifts
Transformative Gifts: Inside Organizations That Received MacKenzie Scott Grants — A Companion to CEP’s Three-Year Study
AI With Purpose: How Foundations and Nonprofits Are Thinking About and Using Artificial Intelligence
State of Nonprofits 2025: What Funders Need to Know
Questions? Connect with us.
Lauren Chan
Senior Coordinator, People and Culture
From the Blog
Funders Just Don’t Understand … Or Do They?
When we started the Let’s Keep Learning initiative in the spring of 2025, we had an initial hypothesis: philanthropic learning seemed to be declining during a volatile time when learning and evaluation could be providing key insights to inform shifts in strategy and...
To Strengthen Nonprofits, Fund Cost Clarity First
CEP’s “State of Nonprofits 2026” confirms what many funders already sense: The sector is under severe strain. Burnout among nonprofit CEOs jumped to 46% this year, up from just under 30% in 2025. Fifty-seven percent of leaders say foundation grants are harder to get...
Despite What You May Have Heard, Foundations Are More Relevant Than Ever
More than a few philanthropy observers have suggested that foundations are now (or will soon become) a less significant segment of the landscape of U.S. philanthropy than they once were. In a much discussed post more than a decade ago, journalist David Callahan...