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Mena Boyadzhiev

Senior Director, Assessment and Advisory Services

Mena leads relationships with funders using CEP’s assessments and custom advisory services. She oversees the design and presentation of CEP assessments and the implementation of CEP’s advisory services practice. Mena is a frequent speaker to foundation staff and boards on topics of philanthropic effectiveness and funder-grantee relationships.

Previously, Mena worked at CEP from 2010 – 2012 as a senior analyst on the Assessment Tools team. Prior to rejoining CEP in 2015, she worked on consumer protection issues at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Consumers Union. Her professional experience also includes work in economic consulting and campaign finance reform.

Mena holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and a B.A. in Economics from Oberlin College. In her free time, Mena can be found exploring her Boston neighborhood with her spouse, energetic twins, and dog.

Mena Boyadzhiev's Blog Posts

Nonprofits in Crisis: Recent Grantee Experiences Reveal the Necessity of Funders’ Attention and Action

“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...

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Recent Blogs

When Federal Policy Retreats, Local Action Must LeadRip Rapson President and CEO, The Kresge FoundationShamar Bibbins Managing Director, Environment Program, The Kresge Foundation
When Federal Policy Retreats, Local Action Must Lead

When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced earlier this year that it was reversing the Endangerment Finding — the long-standing federal policy establishing that greenhouse gases pose a clear and present danger to public health — climate deniers...

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Shifting Out of Neutral Phil Buchanan President, CEP
Shifting Out of Neutral 

Institutional neutrality has been all the rage these past few years, but it is time to recognize that it is a fallacy. Let me start with some background. Since the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack by Hamas in Israel, after which many CEOs took heat for their public...

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