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The CEP blog aims to offer a range of perspectives, experiences, and opinions related to effective philanthropic practice. We welcome submissions that address crucial issues facing individual and institutional donors and are not self-promotional in nature. The views expressed in these posts are not necessarily CEP’s own.
It’s a milestone birthday for us here at CEP, but I’ll be honest: we don’t really feel like celebrating. More on that later. Let’s start at the beginning. The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), which I am privileged to lead, received initial funding in 2001, 25...
The U.S. political-socio-economic context and its broader impact on nonprofits and foundations continue to evolve. As such, relationships between nonprofits and funders must also keep evolving. In the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s (CEP) recent publication, “A...
Most Funders Say They Get It — Only Half of Grantees Agree A striking disconnect sits at the heart of the new Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) report: 93% of foundation leaders believe we grasp the challenges facing our grantee partners, yet barely half of...
“A Sector in Crisis,” CEP’s recent research report, spotlights the nationwide effects of the current moment on nonprofits across the country — and, importantly, how foundations are (or, in some cases, are not) meeting the moment to support nonprofits. Effective...
In relationships with significant power imbalances, research shows the weaker partner must be highly attuned to the behavior of the stronger partner to ensure their own safety and stability, while the reverse is not true. For nonprofits interested in what their...
Philanthropy has long grappled with a persistent challenge: how to ensure investments create lasting change rather than short-lived gains. For global health funders, this question has become even more urgent as funding in the field faces mounting pressures and deep...
Over the past year, I’ve had more conversations than I can count that start with the same sentence: “We don’t know what’s going to happen next.” That uncertainty isn’t new to nonprofits — we’ve always built plans while juggling unpredictability. But what feels...
It’s hard to talk with nonprofit leaders today without hearing some version of the same story: Policies are shifting, funding is more uncertain, and the demand for services keeps rising. And yet, the organizations closest to communities are being asked to do more with...
A version of this piece first appeared under the title “Minneapolis, San Diego and the morals that make community” in the Times of San Diego. When the violent federal intrusion into Minneapolis began, it was clearly meant to be an example for communities around the...
Advice on leadership is everywhere you turn but, unfortunately, a decent amount of it is not so helpful. Enter into this uneven genre a newly released report from McKinsey & Company, the global corporate consulting firm, which seeks to answer the question, “what...
CEP just released a powerful and provocative survey of nonprofit and foundation leaders about the state of civil society during a time of profound disruption and destabilization. I expect these results to resonate far and wide and, as is often the case with CEP...
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [sic] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are...
The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP)’s newly released report, “A Sector in Crisis: How U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations Are Responding to Threats,” provides a telling look into the current state of the nonprofit and philanthropic fields in the face of an...
The importance of nonprofits’ work in the United States cannot be understated. In the words of one nonprofit leader CEP interviewed in the fall of last year: "Nonprofits are the backbone of our communities. We connect people to vital services, nutritious food,...
You’ve heard from some of my colleagues these last weeks with insights — directly from the mouths of donors and foundation staff — that we hoped would inspire reflection (and even guide action) among grantmakers. But this snapshot of qualitative data wouldn’t be...
The actions of federal agents in Minneapolis, and the federal government’s blatant lies about what occurred, have taken the crisis facing our country to another level. It doesn’t matter your politics, or who you voted for, those in leadership roles at powerful...
Last year, global platforms were buzzing with a real sense of optimism for the future funding of the African continent’s development programs in the wake of global funding cuts. People were openly calling the cuts to USAID both a wake-up call and an opportunity to...
At least according to some sources, the statue of limitations has ended on wishing each other a Happy New Year. But, if you’re anything like me, the entire month of January might be viewed as an extension of your end-of-year celebrations — another happy period of...
Editor’s note: This is the first in what will be a monthly blog column by CEP President Phil Buchanan in 2026. His posts will generally run on the second Tuesday of each month. In a little less than a year, the U.S. nonprofit sector — comprised of more than 1.5...
The Center for Effective Philanthropy recently released a report titled “AI With Purpose” on how nonprofits are or (for the most part) aren’t integrating these technologies into their daily operations. The report warns that “few foundations provide funding or monetary...