December 2004

Dear Colleague,

In just three and a half years since the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) received initial funding, it has made significant progress in pursuit of its mission of providing management and governance tools to define, assess, and improve overall foundation performance. CEP has created new comparative data sets and insight to enable higher performance by foundations – producing innovative research and publications, widely-used performance assessment tools, and respected programming that have led to significant positive change in the field. Thanks to the hard work and contribution of CEP’s founders, other Board members, advisors, and staff, CEP is now well positioned to move into its next phase of development and growth.

As part of that next phase, we are writing to inform you that the Board of Directors has formally designated Mark Kramer and Michael Porter as Founders of CEP upon the completion of their terms of service on the Board, effective December 31st, 2004. CEP exists today because of Mark and Michael’s vision, intellectual leadership and their belief that foundations could do more to measure and improve performance. They envisioned CEP, produced and published its initial core intellectual content, guided its research, and contributed to its publications. They generated the support and enthusiasm necessary to sustain the enterprise and they shaped the development of an increasingly strong organization. We are deeply grateful for their leadership and dedicated service to the field. We look forward to recognizing their service with a special presentation at our March 17th -18th seminar in San Francisco. We are also fortunate that, despite their other commitments, they have agreed to continue to serve as counselors to CEP in their newly established role as Founders.

Phil Giudice, who has played a crucial and continuing role in the founding and early development of CEP, will assume the position of Chair of the Board succeeding Mark Kramer. Phil has earned the deep respect of his Board colleagues and of CEP staff for his wisdom, insight, dedication, and hard work on behalf of CEP over the past three and a half years. He brings to his new role a wealth of relevant experience in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors.

We see this as a moment of great challenge and opportunity for the country’s leading foundations and believe that the Center for Effective Philanthropy is playing a crucial role, working collaboratively with others in the field, in helping foundations to maximize their effectiveness.

We are deeply grateful for your continued support.

Yours sincerely,

Phil Buchanan
Executive Director
The Center for Effective Philanthropy

Alexa Cortes Culwell
Chair, Governance/Nominating Committee
On behalf of the CEP Board of Directors
CEO, Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation