Tag Archive
overall foundation performance assessment
Data Point: Why Conduct an Overall Foundation Assessment?
April 4th, 2013
This weekend, CEP president Phil Buchanan, advisory board member Fay Twersky, and board member Anne Warhover will discuss the topic of overall foundation performance assessment at the Council on Foundations Annual Conference in Chicago. As a primer for this session—being held Sunday, April 7 from 4:30 to 6:00 pm—here’s a data point from our archives on why foundations conduct overall assessments. ...
The 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Foundation Boards
March 9th, 2012
In my work with foundations over the past decade, it has become clear to me that, while there are lots of effective and well-intentioned board members out there, it’s easy for foundation boards to get lulled into complacency and slip into bad habits. Here are what I regard as the 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Foundation Boards, drawn from CEP’s research on governance but also from my own observations – having met with dozens and dozens of foundation boards. ...
Data Point: How Foundation CEOs Use Information About the Effectiveness of their Programmatic Work
October 28th, 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. ...
What Foundations are Doing to Understand their Effectiveness
September 7th, 2011
One of the first research projects undertaken by the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) after it was founded 10 years ago was an effort to understand what foundations were doing to assess how effective they are. What we learned in 2001-2002 was that foundation leaders were frustrated by how limited their ability was to determine how well the foundations they lead were doing. ...
The State of Performance Assessment, 10 Years Later
September 6th, 2011
A decade ago, I started my job at CEP and we launched a study on performance assessment at large foundations. It’s not as if we were the first to think the question of whether a foundation was achieving its desired results was important. ...
Understanding the Foundations Outcomes Paradox
May 24th, 2011
For the past four years I have been responsible for producing The Irvine Foundation’s Annual Performance Report, our foundation-wide assessment of program impact and operational performance. Through my work on that report I have come to understand that focusing on outcomes in many foundations is encumbered by the core business activity of making grants. ...
Funders Agree: More Must Be Done to Assess Performance
June 9th, 2010
Foundation leaders think more needs to be done to assess overall foundation performance, but there isn’t nearly enough evidence that progress is being made on this front. That’s what I take away from a survey by LFA Associates that CEP commissioned, with support from the Hewlett Foundation, which we released this week. ...
The Case for Foundation Performance Assessment
April 26th, 2010
Fueled by new technology and a change in mind-set, foundations have become more transparent about their activities and operations in recent years. This has been heartening, given the responsibilities and privileges inherent to our tax status, and the fact that we must work in partnership with many constituents and stakeholders in order to achieve our goals. ...
Our Board’s Perspective on Performance Reporting
April 22nd, 2010
In an earlier post on this blog, I pointed out that the audience for the Annual Performance Report is Irvine’s board of directors. As we delivered the fourth of these at our annual board retreat last month, we devoted some time to learning more about the board’s perspectives on the report. ...
2013 Conference
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 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
Will What Was Said in Detroit Stay in Detroit?
While I unable to attend the conference, I was interested in this edition of your blog. As someone who has moved in and out of...
While I unable to attend the conference, I was interested in this edition of your blog. As someone who has moved in and out of...
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.
