Tag Archive
community foundations
Data Point: Donor Motivations for Initially Establishing Funds at Community Foundations
December 14th, 2012
As the nation discusses ways to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff,” there has been widespread debate over the likely impact of changes to the charitable tax deduction. Since 2009, CEP has been providing community foundations with insight and analysis based on rigorous surveys of their donors, working with CEOs and foundation leaders to enhance their effectiveness. ...
Just One Piece of the Communications Pie
August 7th, 2012
As part of a Community Foundation that tweets, blogs, posts, and shares, I was intrigued by the CEP study on foundations and social media. It’s a useful snapshot of the interaction between grantees and social media as deployed by some foundations: clearly, social media isn’t reaching our grantees and nonprofit partners to the extent we all hope for. ...
A CEP Advisory Board Member Weighs In
September 26th, 2011
Two weeks ago, CEP released a report about strategy at community foundations. Last Thursday, Ellie Buteau wrote a blog post about some responses we have received since the report’s release. ...
New Report on Strategy at Community Foundations Sparks Debate
September 22nd, 2011
The topic of strategy has long been central to research undertaken by the Center for Effective Philanthropy, because we are convinced that strategy is essential if foundations are to maximize their impact on people, communities and issues. For this reason, we have spent considerable energy exploring how to define strategy in philanthropy and how to determine the degree to which foundations do – or don’t – use strategy in their day-to-day work. ...
Data Point: Influencing Donors Who Give to Community Foundations
September 16th, 2011
The use and management of data stands at the core of the work undertaken by the Center for Effective Philanthropy. The set of survey tools CEP has developed as well as field-wide research builds comparative data drawn from key constituent groups—grantees, donors, staff members and others—providing insights that enable funders to better define, assess and improve their effectiveness. ...
Working Strategically: A Common Challenge for Community and Private Foundations
September 14th, 2011
Over the course of CEP’s work, we often hear reasons why foundations cannot, or should not, be compared to one another. According to the conventional wisdom, “If you’ve seen one foundation, you’ve seen one foundation. ...
How Community Foundations Use Donor Perspectives to Improve Their Work
July 22nd, 2011
While donors are the lifeblood of community foundations, at times it can be tough to know exactly what they want from their foundations. For two leading community foundations, learning about their donors’ views from a comparative survey served as a catalyst to get both their donors and their board members more excited and involved in foundations’ work. ...
CEP Conference To Unveil New Research on Community Foundation Strategy
January 28th, 2011
At CEP, we know that community foundations face distinct challenges in developing and implementing strategy. What does it mean to be strategic in a community foundation context? ...
Leadership, Strategy, and Focus: Reflections on the COF Community Foundation Conference
September 21st, 2010
Last week, Vice President—Assessment Tools Kevin Bolduc and Senior Research Analyst Andrea Brock attended the Council on Foundation’s Community Foundation Conference in Charlotte, NC. Here they reflect on some of the conference’s major speakers and themes. ...
One Foundation’s Efforts to Support Grantees in a Time of Need
June 14th, 2010
In the last half of 2009, CEP began asking grantees about their funders’ communications and helpfulness in response to the downturn. The data, gathered from surveys of over 6,000 grantees of 37 foundations, has been analyzed in a CEP report, A Time of Need: Nonprofits Report Poor Communication and Little Help From Foundations During the Economic Downturn. ...
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...
