Tag Archive
foundation transparency
Foundation Transparency: The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
May 16th, 2013
As I reviewed “Foundation Transparency: What Nonprofits Want,” the latest publication from the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), I had an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. So I dug deep into the archives to find reports on the subject produced by the organization I now lead, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). ...
Transparency for Those that Need It Most
May 15th, 2013
We’re data junkies at CEP, and we spend a lot of time collecting information about foundations through online research and scrolling through foundation websites. It’s always interesting to see how some foundations share detailed information on what they are trying to do, while others—even those that give hundreds of millions of dollars in grants annually—share little to nothing about their work besides the broad program areas they fund. ...
If a Former President Can’t Give Funder Feedback, Then Who Can?
April 17th, 2013
For all the talk of new technologies that might allow grant recipients to provide candid feedback to funders, the funder-grantee power imbalance remains very real. I was reminded of this, vividly, when I was catching up on The Daily Show a couple days ago. ...
Making Evaluation Matter
January 23rd, 2013
Evaluation matters. When we surveyed foundation CEOs about performance assessment in 2011, we saw that nearly all rely on formal evaluations—including of grantees, program areas, and grant clusters—to inform their understanding of their foundations’ effectiveness. ...
Transparency Starts at Home
July 12th, 2012
There seems to be more and more talk of “transparency” among foundation leaders. Leading the charge is Brad Smith, the CEO of Foundation Center, who has brought tremendous new energy and vision to that organization. ...
Are Funders and Their Grantees Discussing Racial Diversity?
April 10th, 2012
As my colleague Kevin Bolduc and I discussed in a previous post, CEP sought to understand the degree to which funders and their grantees are communicating about racial diversity. Between spring 2010 and fall 2011, we collected data about this topic from more than 10,000 grantees of 70 US funders. ...
CEP’s Work to Date on the Topic of Racial Diversity in Philanthropy
April 5th, 2012
In the past several years, discussions about foundations and diversity – in particular diversity as it relates to race – have surfaced more frequently in philanthropy. Perhaps one of the most widely known – if highly controversial – efforts came from The Greenlining Institute’s work on The Foundation Diversity and Transparency Act. ...
Is Anybody There? Does Anybody Care?
April 3rd, 2012
The title of this post is borrowed from a song in the musical 1776, in which George Washington repeatedly writes the Continental Congress, requesting badly needed assistance, only to be met with evasive responses. The lines were called to mind by the experience one of my colleagues had with approximately thirty foundations when he sought support for a project to explore the basic question: “What is Philanthropy? ...
To What End?
March 20th, 2012
The following post originally appeared on Beth Kanter’s blog. The just-concluded GEO conference, held in Seattle last week, was an impressive assembly of hundreds of funders who gathered to focus on pushing for greater effectiveness in pursuit of their intended impact. ...
Getting to Transparency that Matters
February 8th, 2012
On December 6, 2011, the Center for Effective Philanthropy hosted a panel discussion titled Power & Light: Grappling with Transparency and Effectiveness in San Francisco. Presented in collaboration with Foundation Center and sponsored by the Irvine Foundation, the event featured Phil Buchanan, president of CEP; Emmett D. ...
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Grantee Perception Report
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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...
