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Elisha Smith Arrillaga

Vice President, Research

Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Ph.D. manages CEP’s Research team, leading the creation, development, analysis, and release of various research projects and initiatives relevant to the philanthropic sector’s most pressing issues. Prior to CEP, Dr. Smith Arrillaga was a faculty fellow and professor of practice in philanthropy and education policy at the University of Texas, and she served as executive director of several national and state level nonprofits, including the Dana Center, a national center on math and science education equity and the Education Trust West. Dr. Smith Arrillaga has also served on a range of state and national advisory groups including Google’s Emerging Artificial Intelligence Research Roundtable and has spoken widely at conferences, published articles and op-eds and has been interviewed by various media outlets, including Forbes, Fortune, USA Today, the New York Times, and CNN.

Elisha Smith Arrillaga's Blog Posts

Getting Proximate: Effecting Change by Centering Community Voice

Earlier this year, the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions team held its annual retreat in Montgomery, Alabama, visiting the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Sites. As part of this transformative experience, the Forum’s team was honored to spend time with Bryan...

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Recent Blogs

A ‘Perfect Storm’: One Nonprofit Leader on Fear, Funding, and Finding a Way ThroughCaroline Gasparini Coordinator, Research, CEPElizabeth Lindsey Executive Director, Genesys Works National Capital Region
A ‘Perfect Storm’: One Nonprofit Leader on Fear, Funding, and Finding a Way Through

“We have had to be agile, flexible, and optimistic in ways that I haven't experienced before.” Elizabeth Lindsey, who leads the Washington, DC area location of the youth-empowerment nonprofit Genesys Works, has spent most of her career in the...

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An Urgent ‘Passing Gear’ Call to Action: Leveraging Foundation Grantmaking in a Landscape of RetrenchmentJon Pratt Senior Research Fellow, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, Nonprofit Financial CommonsRuth McCambridge Director of Content, Nonprofit Financial Commons
An Urgent ‘Passing Gear’ Call to Action: Leveraging Foundation Grantmaking in a Landscape of Retrenchment

In CEP’s latest research report, “The State of Nonprofits 2026,” one of its three major findings is that “despite ongoing financial challenges, many nonprofits are making strategic adaptations to their work in order to survive.” That is absolutely right — but is...

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