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Listen now to the season two trailer. The needs in the world around us seem more urgent than ever: a seemingly unending global pandemic; the ravages of climate change; and countless humanitarian crises at home and abroad. We have seen that philanthropic foundations...
Unprecedented. Uniquely challenging. Tumultuous. Uncertain. There’s been no shortage of buzzwords to describe 2020 that we are all sick of hearing. Whatever language you use to describe this year, the crises of 2020 have demanded philanthropy to rethink...
The CEP blog is a busy place throughout the year. In fact, this is the 91st post on the blog in 2018! While we highly recommend reading every post (you can subscribe in the box on the right to make it easy to do that!), we know that time is short — always, but...
I don’t recall ever reading a nonfiction book as quickly as I’ve just read Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms’s new book, New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World — and How to Make It Work for You. It helps that Phil Buchanan, CEP’s president, reviewed the...
I might be going out on a limb. Hanging by a thread. Treading on thin ice. But that’s how I feel poking a bit of fun at Vu Le and Nonprofit AF, whose Monday morning musings often give me a chuckle while raising important issues about the ways that funders and...
‘Tis the season for end-of-year lists. Best albums of 2017? Pitchfork has you covered. Best books? The New York Times Book Review is the place to go. Best movies? NPR has a list to binge your way through on New Year’s Day. Here on...
We are all watching with concern and sadness the terrible devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey. A number of CEP’s colleague organizations have provided helpful resources to guide the giving of those looking to help. Here are a few: Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner...
This post originally appeared on the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation blog. In the last couple of weeks, I have been thinking a lot about my late parents. For my father, who served as an infrantryman in World War II and marched with Dr. King, seeing men...
Underlying most grantmakers’ strategies are a set of assumptions that guide implementation. These assumptions are laid out early in the development of the strategy and are based on a combination of current context, data, and hunches about how the work will unfold. The...
This interview with The Heinz Endowments President and CEP Board Chair Grant Oliphant, by Nell Edgington, originally appeared on the Social Velocity blog. In today’s Social Velocity blog interview, I’m talking with Grant Oliphant, president of The Heinz...
It isn’t very often you get to spend two days dedicated solely to learning, reflecting on the learning practices at your own institution, and also hearing about the learning practices of others. But that’s exactly what the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO)...
2016 marked CEP’s 15th anniversary. In the decade and a half since its founding, CEP has published nearly 40 pieces of research, worked closely with more than 300 funders through our assessments and advisory services, hosted six national conferences, and...
As a director on the Assessment and Advisory Services team here at CEP, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with many regional philanthropy associations, national philanthropy-supporting organizations, and different affinity groups. In fact, through CEP’s advisory...
“In a year that saw political polarization and strife, we were also reminded, in 2015, that progress and positive change happens.Marriage equality became a reality and, when you look closely, it turns out that effective foundations were instrumental players in this...
John Oliver. Peter Thiel. The Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. We were catching up on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver when my husband leaned over to me and asked, “So, is that philanthropy? Is that what it’s for?” John Oliver had just finished, in his typical...
Three weeks ago, CEP and 21 other organizations published an open letter to foundations making the case for nonprofit infrastructure organizations and their crucial importance to helping foundations and nonprofits be as effective as they can be in their work. The...
This post is the sixth in a series of seven excerpting CEP President Phil Buchanan’s new essay, Big Issues, Many Questions, which explores five pressing issues facing U.S. foundation leaders and boards at this moment in time. After a period in which grantees were...
This post is the second in a series of seven excerpting CEP President Phil Buchanan’s new essay, Big Issues, Many Questions, which explores five pressing issues facing U.S. foundation leaders and boards at this moment in time. Relative to other sectors, the nonprofit...
If you watched the Oscars on Sunday night — or if you have been on the internet since — you’ve likely by now seen or heard about Lady Gaga’s striking performance of “Til It Happens to You,” her Oscar-nominated song from the film, The Hunting Ground. The performance of...
As the holidays approach, many of you may have lengthy road trips and plane rides ahead of you. After wrapping up all your work on a busy year, maybe you’ll want to sack out and catch up on those six months of lost sleep. Or maybe you’re searching for a great listen...