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Ellie Buteau

Director of Research Projects and Special Advisor on Research Methodology and Analysis

Ellie manages research projects and supports research design and analysis training and work across CEP’s teams. Ellie is managing CEP’s Big Gifts study, a three-year research project designed to understand how nonprofit organizations are using large, unrestricted gifts and what the impact of those gifts has been. She is a leading authority on foundation strategy, foundation performance assessment, and foundation-grantee relationships, as well as an expert in research design and statistical analysis. She has authored or co-authored numerous reports, articles, opinion pieces, and blog posts on issues related to foundation effectiveness, including Foundations Respond to Crisis: Lasting ChangePersevering Through Crisis: The State of Nonprofits, and Crucial Donors: How Major Individual Givers Can Best Support Nonprofits.

Ellie is also a Certified Professional Coach (CPC). She has coached professionals in the United States, Canada, China, and India. She is a graduate of the International Coach Academy and credentialed by the International Coach Federation as an Associate Certified Coach. Ellie volunteers with The Women’s Impact Alliance, a nonprofit that provides coaching to young women leaders of high potential impact.

Before joining CEP in 2004, Ellie led the design and analysis of education and health-related research projects at Cornell University, Tufts University, and a variety of nonprofit organizations. She taught courses on statistics at Tufts University and published research in a number of journals. She received a PhD in Social-Personality Psychology from City University of New York Graduate Center and a BA in Psychology, awarded with Great Distinction, from McGill University in Montreal.

Ellie Buteau's Blog Posts

Introducing ‘Transformative Gifts’ — A Closer Look at What Big Gifts Mean for Nonprofits  

“I was left in awe. I didn’t know what to say except thank you. Our core values were repeated back to us as we were given this gift and investment. I thought, ‘Wow, we can now support the growth of our organization and concentrate on our work, not the fundraising...

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Recent Blogs

Building Capacity, Fostering Trust: A Look at Beyond-the-Grant Support at One FoundationEmily Radwin Manager, Assessment and Advisory Services, CEPLucy Brainard Director, Portfolio Success and Operations, Overdeck Family Foundation
Building Capacity, Fostering Trust: A Look at Beyond-the-Grant Support at One Foundation

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...

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Foundation Governance Today and Tomorrow: Shifting the Mindset from Managing Crises to Long-Term TransformationHanna Stähle Head of Foresight and Innovation, Philea - Philanthropy Europe Association
Foundation Governance Today and Tomorrow: Shifting the Mindset from Managing Crises to Long-Term Transformation

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,...

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