Resource Library
Browse helpful resources for funders, including evidence-based reports, profiles of funders making change, case studies, and blog series.
Foundation Transparency: What Nonprofits Want
Well-intentioned talk about foundation transparency is a good start, but according to new CEP research, nonprofit leaders want more.
Employee Empowerment: The Key to Foundation Staff Satisfaction
This report is based on survey responses from 1,168 staff members at 31 foundations. The surveys were conducted from 2007 to 2011 as part of CEP’s Staff Perception Report (SPR), which analyzes feedback from foundation staff about their work experiences and views of the foundation’s overall operations.
Room for Improvement: Foundations’ Support of Nonprofit Performance Assessment
Amidst growing pressure for nonprofits to measure and assess their performance, the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) finds that nonprofits sorely lack the support they need.
The State of Foundation Performance Assessment: A Survey of Foundation CEOs
Over the past decade foundations have worked to assess their performance in the fields and communities they seek to address. Data-driven forms of measurement have become more widely used to judge the results of programs, as part of a broader range of information used, as CEOs place great importance on assessing their foundations’ effectiveness.
Rhetoric versus Reality: A Strategic Disconnect at Community Foundations
Leaders of community foundations agree on the importance of strategy, but evidence suggests that few actually use it in the work of their foundations.
Can Feedback Fuel Change at Foundations?
When foundations make a commitment to getting consistent feedback from their grantees that is candid and comparative, they can make substantive changes that result in different—and better—grantee experiences.
Essentials of Foundation Strategy
What separates more strategic foundation leaders from less strategic ones?
基金會戰略發展概要 (Essentials of Foundation Strategy- Traditional Chinese)
Download “Essentials of Foundation Strategy” in traditional Chinese.
基金会战略发展概要 (Essentials of Foundation Strategy- Simplified Chinese)
Download “Essentials of Foundation Strategy” in simplified Chinese.
Beyond the Rhetoric: Foundation Strategy
How do foundations maximize their impact? What is the role of strategy? Is your foundation strategic? Are you? This groundbreaking research examines the current state of decision making at large, private, U.S. foundations.
Beyond Compliance: The Trustee Viewpoint on Effective Foundation Governance
Beyond Compliance is based on the largest-scale research on foundation boards ever conducted and builds off CEP’s earlier governance report, Foundation Governance.