Topic Archive
Managing Operations
Chasing Staff Satisfaction
March 20th, 2013
After reading our latest research report, Employee Empowerment: The Key to Foundation Staff Satisfaction, and discussing CEP’s own Staff Perception Report results from 2012, I found myself asking the question, “Can staff satisfaction ever be fully achieved?” I don’t mean this to suggest that the pursuit of staff satisfaction isn’t achievable or important. ...
Mission Driven Investing: Philanthropy’s Surprising Returns
February 20th, 2013
“We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own. ...
Three Employee Empowerment Lessons from Show and Tell
January 8th, 2013
“Can I take the puppy to show and tell tomorrow?” Countless children have asked this question of parents. ...
Creating Community at The Commonwealth Fund
January 3rd, 2013
We at The Commonwealth Fund are delighted to have our work featured in the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s latest report, Employee Empowerment, which highlights the key to employee satisfaction. Over the last ten years, we have taken a number of steps to improve staff satisfaction, starting with surveying our staff on a regular basis, and we have been pleased to see the payoff in satisfaction through staff empowerment and building a stronger sense of community within the organization. ...
What do you want to be when you grow up? Satisfied with your job!
December 12th, 2012
It’s Monday morning. Your alarm just went off, signaling the start of another work week. ...
Measuring Our People: A Metrics-Based Approach to Talent Management
November 7th, 2012
Across the sectors—philanthropy, nonprofit, and for-profit—we’ve experienced a shift in how “people management” is defined. My profession, which was once described as “personnel,” changed into “human resources” and is now transitioning to “talent management. ...
Philanthropy’s Innovation Pile Up
October 4th, 2012
This piece was also posted on Impatient Optimists, where Jeff Raikes will be blogging regularly about challenges and opportunities facing the philanthropic community. At the Gates Foundation, we believe in the power of innovation to improve lives. ...
Companies to the Rescue
June 13th, 2012
This is the fifth in a series of six blog posts. In my last several posts, I have described what I regard as worrisome trends: the way many (inside and outside the nonprofit sector) push for a “blurring of boundaries” between sectors, disparage the term “nonprofit,” and equate “business thinking” with “effectiveness. ...
The Need for Clear Boundaries
May 24th, 2012
This is the second in a series of six blog posts. It has become an article of faith that the “boundaries are blurring” between nonprofits and companies, and that this is inarguably positive. ...
Our Starry-Eyed Idealization of Markets
May 17th, 2012
This is the first in a series of six blog posts. One of the great puzzles of the day is that we increasingly look, starry-eyed, to business and markets to address or even solve our social problems. ...
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...
