Topic Archive
Programming and Communications
Documentary Paints a Bleak but Fair Picture of Detroit’s Decline
May 20th, 2013
As organized philanthropy descends upon Detroit for this year’s conference of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, we will confront first-hand one of the most challenging urban environments in our nation. One of the trickiest issues for foundations is how to balance the way we represent the grim reality of cities like Detroit with inspiring accounts of heroic efforts to revive the city. ...
Countdown to the CEP Conference
May 14th, 2013
The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s 2013 national conference, Pursuing Results: Effective Foundation Practice, kicks off in less than a week! We look forward to hosting nearly 300 leaders from the field of philanthropy in Detroit for two days of hard-hitting programming, May 21-22. ...
This Revolution Will Be Improvised
April 10th, 2013
A few weeks ago, I had the great privilege of visiting London, including appointments with senior advisors to Number 10 Downing Street and the UK Cabinet. There, inside the wood-paneled room of Number 10, surrounded by paintings of icons and trophies of the past, the main message I heard was: We cannot do this alone. ...
Diving Deeper into Nonprofit Performance Assessment
March 27th, 2013
“We started off where many of your respondents started, which was having an intention around evaluation, wanting to know more. It’s not our core business. ...
Building Through Collective Experience
February 27th, 2013
Philanthropy tends to work on big problems, where the way forward isn’t necessarily clear and even the end point is up for debate. Given that ambiguity and the scope of work required to make meaningful progress, it can be hard to know where to start or how to keep yourself focused on moving forward. ...
Pursuing Results: What We Hope to Learn in Detroit
January 17th, 2013
Practicing effective philanthropy can sound deceptively simple—simply set clear goals, develop coherent strategies to achieve them, be disciplined about implementing those strategies, and use relevant performance indicators to assess your progress. But no matter how clear, coherent, and disciplined you are, achieving the results your intended beneficiaries need is a long-term effort. ...
Who Wants to Go to Detroit?
January 10th, 2013
I was surprised the first time I heard doubts about why we’re holding our 2013 National Conference in Detroit. When I pressed the person, who works in philanthropy, the skepticism seemed to miss the point. ...
Data Point: Helpfulness of Foundations’ Social Media for Grantees
August 29th, 2012
While not all grantmaking institutions view grantees as a primary audience for their social media—and even those who do don’t necessarily share the same goals—our latest research sought to address a very basic question: Are grantees using their foundation funders’ social media? In 2011, the Center for Effective Philanthropy surveyed more than 6,000 grantees about their experiences with one of the 34 foundations in this research. ...
Engaging Grantees In Foundations’ Social Media and How To Tell If It’s Working
August 16th, 2012
Last week, more than 175 funders tuned into a webinar hosted by the Center for Effective Philanthropy to hear more about new research that seems to have struck a nerve. According to the report, titled Grantees’ Limited Engagement with Foundations’ Social Media, very few grantees—about 16 percent—are engaging on social media with their foundation funders. ...
We’re Talking. Who’s Listening?
August 9th, 2012
In a perfect world, our ideal audiences would read every one of our tweets, consume every blog post, and make sure not a day goes by they don’t check Facebook for our latest updates. But we know it’s not a perfect world, and for proof we have the results of a Center for Effective Philanthropy survey that examined grantees’ engagement with foundations’ social media. ...
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...
