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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.
Overdeck Family Foundation, a New York-based education funder, has engaged with the Center for Effective Philanthropy repeatedly over the years to seek out information and feedback to continuously enhance its work and impact. In its most recent CEP survey, the...
It’s not necessarily the most popular take, but I am not afraid to admit it: I am a believer in long-time horizon — or perpetual — foundations. Like any category of institution, they’re not all equally effective, and I do have a request to make of them (I’ll get to...
The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s research on “Foundation Governance Today” could not be more timely. Foundation leadership and governance are operating in a challenging, disruptive environment. It is not only the funding landscape that is dramatically shifting,...
CEP’s recently released report, “A Sector in Crisis,” revealed that nonprofits are responding to both increased demand and reduced funding. We asked four nonprofit leaders to briefly describe what this context has meant for them and how it has impacted their work....
Bill Gates’s May 2025 announcement that his foundation will spend its $200 billion endowment by 2045 reignites a long-running question in philanthropy: whether to exist in perpetuity or spend down assets within a set time frame. Many of the conversations about...
The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s new research snapshot, “Foundation Governance Today: How Boards and CEOs Are Navigating Risk, Accountability, and a Shifting Landscape,” reveals that many foundation CEOs feel their work has become more challenging in this time...
After talking with hundreds of foundation staff and board members over the past two years about governance, I’m not surprised by the findings in the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s new research snapshot, “Foundation Governance Today: How Boards and CEOs Are...
In this conversation, CEP’s Vice President of Assessment and Advisory Services Kevin Bolduc talks with CEP Senior Research Analyst Seara Grundhoefer about data CEP just released that explores the role and responsibilities of foundation boards in helping their...
Today, while American families increasingly struggle to get by, the political divisions dominating public debate are impeding concerted policy progress to help them. But there is at least one approach that unites people across geographies, demographics, and the...
No matter how you look at it, the last year-plus has been a challenging one for foundations, nonprofits, and the people and communities they aim to support. Our sector faced a perfect storm: rising demand for services, federal funding freezes and cuts, political...
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...