Resource Library
Browse helpful resources for funders, including evidence-based reports, profiles of funders making change, case studies, and blog series.
State of Nonprofits 2025:
What Funders Need to Know
In CEP's 2025 State of Nonprofits report, nonprofit leaders share the challenges they are facing, including that: The polarized and unpredictable political climate poses risks to their funding, their organizational mission and values, and the communities they...
CEP’s Three Year Study on the Impact of MacKenzie Scott’s Large, Unrestricted Gifts
See Report 1 See Report 2 See Report 3 MacKenzie Scott shocked the philanthropic and nonprofit worlds with the announcement that she had given $1.7 billion to 116 nonprofit organizations in July 2020, at a time when many nonprofits were reeling from the impacts of and...
Challenging Times: How U.S. Nonprofit Leaders are Experiencing the Political Context
This Research Snapshot examines how nonprofits are experiencing the rapid shifts in policy and the current U.S. political climate under a new presidential administration. Drawing on responses from 585 nonprofit leaders collected from February 3 to 21, 2025, the report...
Breaking the Mold: The Transformative Effect of MacKenzie Scott’s Big Gifts
The third and final report in CEP’s study on the impact of MacKenzie Scott’s gifts on nonprofit recipients.
Transformative Gifts: Inside Organizations That Received MacKenzie Scott Grants — A Companion to CEP’s Three-Year Study
This companion piece to the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s three-year research study on the impact of MacKenzie Scott’s large, unrestricted giving presents in-depth profiles of seven organizations that received Scott grants. Going beyond the data presented in...
Foundations and Nonprofits Sound the Alarm on Current and Future Impacts of the U.S. Political Climate
CEP Research Snapshots are brief, data-informed research reports.
Bridging the Gap: Grantee Perspectives on Intermediary Funders
What are grantees’ experiences with intermediary funders? Read CEP’s research on the topic – the largest study of grantee experiences with intermediary organizations to date.
How Foundations Are Supporting Grantee Staff Well-Being
CEP Research Snapshots are brief, data-informed research reports.
State of Nonprofits 2024: What Funders Need to Know
In the four years since the COVID-19 pandemic began and movements for racial justice gained widespread public attention, nonprofits across the United States have demonstrated their pivotal role in meeting their communities’ needs and advocating for those they serve. Individual and institutional funders, too, have responded to calls for change. Given the vital role nonprofits play in communities across the U.S., we sought to understand how they are faring now and to shed new light on their experiences with funders.
Funding Nonprofit Endowments: Foundation Perspectives and Practices
Traditionally, endowment funding has been directed to wealthy and well-established nonprofit institutions. In recent years, the conversation about endowments as an equity approach has received more attention in philanthropy. Little is currently known about the degree to which foundations are funding nonprofit endowments.
How Foundations Are Responding to the U.S. Supreme Court Affirmative Action Rulings
This Research Snapshot, which represents a specific moment in time — fall 2023 — when the data were collected, reveals that while most foundations were discussing the Supreme Court rulings internally, few planned to make changes, and some were, in fact, leaning into...
Emerging Impacts: The Effects of MacKenzie Scott’s Large, Unrestricted Gifts
In just three years, MacKenzie Scott gave more than $14 billion in unrestricted support to more than 1,600 organizations. Her gifts have often come as a surprise to recipients, with no restrictions on how or when they must be used, and with few, if any, reporting requirements. These gifts have been transformational for recipient organizations.
Before and After 2020: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Changed Nonprofit Experiences with Funders
Data from funders who solicited grantee feedback both before and after 2020 reveal a greater degree of change than what was typical prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that 2020 was a watershed year for grantmakers. Based on analysis of data collected from 61...
State of Nonprofits 2023: What Funders Need to Know
Nonprofits across the United States played a vital role during a period of crisis that began in March 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic and was followed by a nationwide racial justice reckoning that summer. As nonprofits experienced heightened demand coupled with marked uncertainty about revenues, they responded with resiliency and imagination, while many funders also stepped up, increasing philanthropic giving in a time of urgent need. Following this intense period of trial and turmoil, we wanted to take stock of current nonprofit perspectives and understand their evolving experiences with funders.
Giving Big: The Impact of Large, Unrestricted Gifts on Nonprofits
In late July 2020, MacKenzie Scott shocked the philanthropic and nonprofit worlds with the announcement that she had given $1.7 billion to 116 nonprofit organizations. The gifts came in the form of massive, unrestricted grants, with a significant proportion targeted to organizations focused on issues of equity, and were made with no restrictions – only an expectation of an annual three-page letter back to the donor for the three years following their receipt.
Much Alarm, Less Action: Foundations & Climate Change
Despite the urgency of climate change and the narrowing window for action, philanthropic funding to address climate change remains very limited. Total philanthropic giving by foundations and individuals focused on climate change mitigation represents less than two percent of total global philanthropic giving, according to the ClimateWorks Foundation. While there is some evidence of increased momentum in recent years, more action will be needed to match the scale of the climate crisis.
In Their Own Words – Funders Share Stories of Change – A Companion Piece to Foundations Respond to Crisis: Lasting Change?
These funders’ stories, which serve as a companion to CEP’s report Foundations Respond to Crisis: Lasting Change?, explore the many changes that funders have made, across numerous aspects of their work, as well as how they made those changes and why. It is our hope...
Overlooked (Part One) – Foundation Support for Asian American and Pacific Islander Leaders and Communities
Across four research studies the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) has conducted in the past two years, we’ve noticed two concerning trends emerge for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and Native American nonprofit leaders and communities (trends that...
Overlooked (Part Two) – Foundation Support for Native American Leaders and Communities
Across four research studies the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) has conducted in the past two years, we’ve noticed two concerning trends emerge for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and Native American nonprofit leaders and communities (trends that...
Foundations Respond to Crisis Series
This series of reports examines the extent to which staffed foundations have changed their practices to meet the compounded crises of 2020.