Funder Challenges
You aim to solve some of the world’s most daunting problems. You need to chart a course toward a desired solution and identify ways to gauge whether your approach is working.
We provide research, assessment tools, and programming that will increase your effectiveness and help you address the following key challenges.
Understanding the impact of an individual grant is hard enough, but measuring your overall performance in a holistic way presents an even greater challenge.
Our research on performance assessment helped us develop a framework of performance indicators that foundation leaders can use to assess and improve their performance.
Our assessment tools can help you measure your performance in key areas as you work toward achieving your goals. These assessments are designed to gather feedback from grantees, foundation staff and board members, denied applicants, donors, and stakeholders.
Our case studies on the David & Lucile Packard Foundation and The Wallace Foundation describe how these funders used CEP’s assessment tools to make changes and improve their performance.
Our research on performance assessment helped us develop a framework of performance indicators that foundation leaders can use to assess and improve their performance.
Our assessment tools can help you measure your performance in key areas as you work toward achieving your goals. These assessments are designed to gather feedback from grantees, foundation staff and board members, denied applicants, donors, and stakeholders.
Our case studies on the David & Lucile Packard Foundation and The Wallace Foundation describe how these funders used CEP’s assessment tools to make changes and improve their performance.
Strategy, by our definition, is a framework for decision-making that:
In Beyond the Rhetoric, we found that while most foundation CEOs and program officers extol the benefits of having a strategy, fewer work on a daily basis in ways that meet our basic definition. We also identified four types of decision-makers, ranging from not strategic to strategic. Our interactive strategy sub-site brings these findings to life.”
We continue to explore the current state of foundation strategy and provide examples of how some foundation leaders have developed clear goals and implemented a strategy to achieve them in our new research.
Take our strategy self-assessment to learn where you stand on the strategy spectrum.
For examples of foundation strategy, please review our case studies on the Flinn and Stuart Foundations.
- focuses on the external context in which a foundation works; and
- includes a logical causal connection between use of funder resources and goal achievement.
In Beyond the Rhetoric, we found that while most foundation CEOs and program officers extol the benefits of having a strategy, fewer work on a daily basis in ways that meet our basic definition. We also identified four types of decision-makers, ranging from not strategic to strategic. Our interactive strategy sub-site brings these findings to life.”
We continue to explore the current state of foundation strategy and provide examples of how some foundation leaders have developed clear goals and implemented a strategy to achieve them in our new research.
Take our strategy self-assessment to learn where you stand on the strategy spectrum.
For examples of foundation strategy, please review our case studies on the Flinn and Stuart Foundations.
Boards have fiduciary and regulatory responsibilities. Your board is comprised of talented, successful leaders, and they have more to offer than just oversight.
Get practical advice on how to:
- help your board members debate issues in a meaningful way
- counsel your organization’s leadership
- support your grantmaking goals
CEP’s research on optimizing governance is based on large-scale surveys of foundation trustees and CEOs.
Our Comparative Board Report (CBR), a confidential self-assessment for foundation board trustees, provides insight into trustees’ perceptions of their board’s effectiveness, dynamics, and role in strategy development.
Grantees are often the link between your resources and impact, so a positive and productive relationship with grantees is crucial. We have identified three dimensions that are critical to grantee satisfaction:
- Quality interactions with foundation staff
- Clarity of communication of a foundation’s goals and strategy
- The foundation’s expertise and external orientation
Our research, based on rigorously collected, large-scale data gathered from thousands of grantees of nearly 250 foundations of all types and sizes, provides insights into what grantees value. Major reports on funder–grantee relationships include:
- Working with Grantees: The Keys to Success and Five Program Officers Who Exemplify Them
- Listening to Grantees: What Nonprofits Value in Their Foundation Funders
- In Search of Impact: Practices and Perceptions in Foundations' Provision of Program and Operating Grants
- More than Money: Making a Difference with Assistance Beyond the Grant
What about your grantees? What do they value about your organization, and what do they think needs improvement? Our Grantee Perception Report provides insight on relative foundation performance on key dimensions, such as the quality of interactions, perceptions of impact, and the clarity of communications.
Managing operations in ways that support your goals and align with your strategy requires good data.
The Operational Benchmarking Report (OBR) provides comparative data on dimensions such as program-officer caseload, administrative expenses relative to grantmaking budgets, and proportion of staff time devoted to grantmaking and other activities.
The Staff Perception Report (SPR) explores foundation staff members’ perceptions of foundation effectiveness and job satisfaction on a comparative basis.
Our Stanford Social Innovation Review article, "Luck of the Draw," explores how differences in the quality of program officers, even within a single foundation, affect grantee experiences. The article also suggests ways foundation leaders can support improved program officer performance.
The Operational Benchmarking Report (OBR) provides comparative data on dimensions such as program-officer caseload, administrative expenses relative to grantmaking budgets, and proportion of staff time devoted to grantmaking and other activities.
The Staff Perception Report (SPR) explores foundation staff members’ perceptions of foundation effectiveness and job satisfaction on a comparative basis.
Our Stanford Social Innovation Review article, "Luck of the Draw," explores how differences in the quality of program officers, even within a single foundation, affect grantee experiences. The article also suggests ways foundation leaders can support improved program officer performance.
