Author Archive
The Most Important Topic We Never Talk About: Exit Strategies
May 6th, 2011
Philanthropy is about beginnings – new ideas, new projects, new awards, and new initiatives. Foundation program staff are attracted to philanthropic jobs because of the opportunity to start projects that will make a difference in people’s lives. ...
Public Expectations: An Obstacle to Foundation Effectiveness?
April 6th, 2010
Most Americans know little about foundations and how they work. Yet even those familiar with philanthropy expect things from it that don’t mesh with reality. ...
Can Foundations Be Learning Organizations?
January 19th, 2010
Nobody dislikes learning, at least in the abstract. It ranks right up there with apple pie, baseball, and foundation partnerships – almost everyone is in favor of it. ...
What Are the Limits of Quantitative Performance Measurement?
January 13th, 2010
CEP’s Essentials of Foundation Strategy concludes, “Assessment of results against strategies remains a significant challenge for foundations: staff struggle to determine the right data to collect and how to collect it.” This is an important finding, and explanations are well worth exploring. ...
Can Failure Be the Key to Foundation Effectiveness?
January 11th, 2010
Philanthropic failure – when there is clear evidence that a project, a program, a strategy or any combination of foundation investments designed to achieve a goal doesn’t work – is beginning to gain a critical mass of attention. From Annie E. ...
Why Haven’t Foundations Made More Progress in Becoming Strategic?
January 6th, 2010
Let me say up front that I am a big admirer of CEP. The field needs an independent voice devoted to the comparative assessment of philanthropic practice, and CEP has helped many foundations, including RWJF, improve over the last eight years. ...
assessing performance
beneficiary feedback
beneficiary perceptions
communications
community foundations
comparative data
conferences
developing strategy
Donor Perception Report
economy
effective philanthropy
Essentials of Foundation Strategy
foundation effectiveness
foundation governance
foundation performance
foundation staff/program officers
foundation strategy
foundation transparency
Funder/Grantee Relationships
funder/grantee relationships
funder effectiveness
giving strategy
goals
Grantee Perception Report
grantee perspectives
Grantee Voice
indicators
leadership
nonprofit sector
overall foundation performance assessment
performance assessment
performance measurement
philanthropy
role of philanthropy
social media
Staff Perception Report
stakeholder engagement
strategy implementation
youth
YouthTruth
Lessons from a Risk Taken
I really appreciate your willingness to share this and your assessment of what didn't work out as planned or anticipated. Thanks.
I really appreciate your willingness to share this and your assessment of what didn't work out as planned or anticipated. Thanks.
Lessons from a Risk Taken
Jon, thanks for the comment. If there’s one thing we learned, it’s that the cost in time and effort and dollars were all higher than...
Jon, thanks for the comment. If there’s one thing we learned, it’s that the cost in time and effort and dollars were all higher than...
Lessons from a Risk Taken
Thanks for sharing the lessons learned, and what I sense are second thoughts about the cost/benefit of the whole enterprise. I appreciate the thirst for...
Thanks for sharing the lessons learned, and what I sense are second thoughts about the cost/benefit of the whole enterprise. I appreciate the thirst for...
Foundations and Impact Investing: What Is Really Going On?
Great insight. Sometimes it's great to invest in multiple countries as security as the economy in one country might decrease and increase in another.
Great insight. Sometimes it's great to invest in multiple countries as security as the economy in one country might decrease and increase in another.
Foundations and Impact Investing: What Is Really Going On?
Great questions. It is likely still too early to get a handle on whether the (potential) results reflect the hype meaningfully. However, I will be...
Great questions. It is likely still too early to get a handle on whether the (potential) results reflect the hype meaningfully. However, I will be...
