 |
 |
 |
| |
|
 |
Lessons from the Field:
Becoming Strategic: The Evolution of the Flinn Foundation
March 2009 |
|
| |
In 2002, Arizona’s Flinn Foundation began implementing a strategy that focused on boosting its state’s bioscience economy and relied heavily on building collaborative partnerships. Since that time, Arizona has had dramatic increases in jobs, research funding, businesses and wages within the bioscience sector. This case study illustrates the benefits of taking a strategic approach to maximize a foundation’s impact. It describes how Flinn’s leaders narrowed the Foundation’s focus and assessed its performance. |
| |
 |
 |
 |
More than Money:
Making a Difference with Assistance Beyond the Grant
December 2008 |
|
| |
| Most of foundations’ efforts ‘beyond the money’ make little difference to grantees. More than Money: Making a Difference with Assistance Beyond the Grant reveals that only when foundation staff provide assistance beyond the grant in one of two ways do grantees report a substantially more positive experience with their funders. The report describes what is entailed in providing assistance in ways that really matter to grantees. Three exemplar foundations are profiled: Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Winter Park Health Foundation, and the Wallace Foundation. |
| |
|
| |
 |
Lessons from the Field:
Aiming for Excellence at the Wallace Foundation
June 2008 |
|
| |
| Aiming for Excellence at the Wallace Foundation describes how leaders at Wallace have responded to results of the Grantee Perception Report ® (GPR), which the Foundation has repeated three times. Each successive GPR has enabled foundation leaders to more sharply hone their performance improvement efforts as they embark on a series of actions. The second in a series, the case study highlights a foundation working to improve its performance in response to comparative assessment data. The case illustrates the need for continuous feedback loops to inform decision making. |
| |
|
| |
 |
Lessons from the Field:
Improving the Grantee Experience at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation
January 2008 |
|
| |
| Improving the Grantee Experience at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation describes how leaders at Packard identified and translated the elements of quality interactions and clear communications with grantees into specific criteria. The case study explores how they developed and implemented these criteria, called Grantee Experience Standards, as a way to strengthen the Foundation’s relationships with its grantees. It also documents program staff’s reactions to the standards and lessons learned from the process. |
| |
|
| |
 |
Beyond the Rhetoric: Foundation Strategy
October 2007 |
|
| |
| How do foundations maximize their impact?
What is the role of strategy? Is your foundation strategic? Are you?
This groundbreaking research examines the current state of decision
making at large, private, U.S. foundations. Through in-depth interviews
with CEOs and program officers, the study examines foundation leaders'
view and use of strategy in making decisions. Analysis of their responses
reveals four categories of decision makers ranging from nonstrategic
to strategic. Beyond the Rhetoric sets the stage for future CEP research
on the role of strategy in creating foundation impact, and highlights
practical implications for CEOs, trustees, and program staff. |
| |
|
| |
 |
Assessment
to Action
A Report on a Gathering of Foundation CEOs, Trustees, and Senior
Executives
August 2007 |
|
| |
| In March 2007, more than 225
CEOs, trustees, and senior executives gathered in Chicago to discuss
a wide range of important issues: the role of strategy and performance
assessment, board functioning and the dynamics of race in the boardroom,
and the challenge of inspiring – and leading – change.
Among the report’s 11 articles are highlights and lessons learned
from presentations by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President and
CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MacArthur Foundation President Jonathan Fanton,
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor at Harvard
Business School, Spelman College President Beverly Tatum, and former
Atlantic Philanthropies President and CEO John R. Healy. |
| |
|
| |
 |
CEP
at 5: Comparative Data Enabling Higher-Performing Foundations
Excerpts from CEP's Five-Year Anniversary Event
February 2007 |
|
| |
| CEP at 5
reflects on CEP’s first five years through stories and pictures
from CEP's Five-Year Anniversary Event held in New York in September
2006. The report features a speech by Rockefeller Foundation Vice
President Nadya Schmavonian, who details the insights her foundation
gained using comparative data to assess its performance. The report
also includes a talk by CEP President Phil Buchanan on “The
Foundation Effectiveness Imperative,” comments from foundation
leaders, and descriptions of CEP's research agenda and assessment
tools. |
| |
|
| |
 |
In
Search of Impact: Practices and Perceptions in Foundations'
Provision of Program and Operating Grants to Nonprofits
December 2006 |
|
| |
| In Search of Impact
informs the debate on operating support with new data about current
foundation practices, attitudes underlying those practices, and the
impact on grantees of foundation choices. The report explores what
motivates foundation CEOs in their decision-making, examining the
tension between CEOs' sense of what is best for their foundations
and what they believe will make the most positive impact on grantee
organizations. In Search of Impact also probes the grantee
perspective through an analysis of thousands of survey responses and
a set of interviews with nonprofit leaders, revealing the importance
of other grant attributes that have been overshadowed in the debate
about type of support. To learn more about this report and to review
reader reactions, click here. |
| |
|
| |
 |
Foundation
Communications: The Grantee Perspective
February 2006 |
|
| |
Foundation Communications:
The Grantee Perspective reveals the key
components of effective foundation communications with grantees.
Based on analyses of thousands of grantee surveys, this issue paper
argues for a more holistic approach to foundation communications than
is often practiced today. This report highlights best practices and
provides practical management implications for foundation leaders. |
| |
|
| |
| |
 |
Beyond
Compliance: The Trustee Viewpoint on Effective Foundation Governance
November 2005 |
|
| |
| This report describes
key elements of foundation board effectiveness. Based on the largest-scale
research on foundation boards ever conducted, the report reveals the
foundation trustee perspective on effective governance and provides
practical implications for CEOs and trustees. |
| |
|
| |
 |
Higher
Impact: Improving Foundation Performance
Insights from a Gathering of Foundation CEOs, Trustees, and
Senior Executives
August 2005 |
|
| |
| In March 2005, more
than 200 foundation leaders gathered to consider the challenges of
achieving higher impact through their work. Speakers whose remarks
are described in the CEP report include Independent Sector’s
Diana Aviv, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s Carol
Larson, California HealthCare Foundation’s Mark Smith, The Greater
Cincinnati Foundation’s Kathy Merchant, The Bridgespan Group’s
Jeff Bradach, Global Business Network’s Katherine Fulton, and
Boston Globe’s investigative reporter Michael Rezendes.This
report includes viewpoints of these practitioners and distills lessons
learned. |
| |
|
| |
|
Turning
the Table on Assessment:
The Grantee Perception Report®
(GPR)
June 2005 |
|
| |
This book chapter describes
the origins of the GPR, illustrates lessons learned, and provides
examples of changes made by foundations that have used this tool.
It also reports on some of the broadly applicable insights gained
from CEP's large-scale surveys of grantees.
(This material is excerpted from the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations
(GEO) book, A Funder's Guide to Organizational Assessment.)
|
| |
|
| |
 |
Listening
to Grantees: What Nonprofits Value in Their Foundation Funders
April 2004 |
|
| |
| What do nonprofits really
think of foundations? This report draws on CEP's Spring 2003 round
of surveying 3,200 grantees of 30 of the largest foundations in the
U.S. The report reveals what really matters to nonprofits – and what
doesn't – in their relationships with their foundation funders. It
also details implications for foundation leadership and program staff.
|
| |
|
| |
 |
Assessing
Performance at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: A Case Study
March 2004 |
|
| |
| With a mission to improve
the health and health care of all Americans, the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation (RWJF) is working in a complex environment on complicated
issues. This case study examines how RWJF set out to design a foundation
performance assessment system that combines programmatic impact and
operational effectiveness into a simple scorecard that its board and
staff believe is critical to RWJF's understanding and improvement
of overall organizational performance. |
| |
|
| |
 |
Foundation
Governance: The CEO Viewpoint
February 2004 |
|
| |
| In the wake of increased
scrutiny from lawmakers and the public, foundation boards have received
significant press attention, much of it negative. Yet little research
exists on the distinctive challenges of foundation governance. This
report highlights viewpoints of CEOs of the largest foundations in
the U.S. as a first step in a major study on effective foundation
governance. The report identifies what foundation boards are doing
in response to recent scrutiny and explores key attributes of foundation
boards seen to be most effective by CEOs. |
| |
|
| |
 |
Foundation
Effectiveness: A Report on a Meeting of Foundation CEOs, Senior
Executives, and Trustees
January 2004 |
|
| |
| In October 2003, 100
foundation leaders – CEOs, trustees, and senior management – gathered
to discuss four themes of foundation effectiveness: strategy selection,
funder-grantee relationships, performance assessment, and governance.
Participants heard talks by Michael Bailin, President of the Edna
McConnell Clark Foundation, Edward Skloot, Executive Director of the
Surdna Foundation, and others; participated in interactive panels;
and candidly shared their experiences in making their foundations
more effective. This report includes viewpoints of these practitioners
and distills lessons learned. |
| |
|
| |
 |
Lessons
Learned From a Gathering of Foundation Leaders.
January 2003 |
|
| |
| CEP's report on lessons
learned from its November 2002 seminar features reports on talks by
foundation leaders such as Joel Fleishman of Atlantic Philanthropies
and Duke University; Paul Grogan, CEO of The Boston Foundation; Ricardo
Millett, CEO of Woods Fund of Chicago; Anne-Marie Soulliere, CEO of
the Fidelity Foundation; Lew Sandy, Executive Vice President of the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and others. Topics covered include
the role of the foundation board in ensuring accountability and descriptions
of varied approaches to understanding foundation performance. The
seminar was sponsored by The Boston Foundation. |
| |
|
| |
 |
Indicators
of Effectiveness: Understanding and Improving Foundation Performance
August 2002 |
|
| |
| This report describes
current practices in foundation performance assessment and provides
a framework for overall performance assessment, based on CEP's research
during the Foundation Performance Metrics Pilot Study. The Pilot Study
included a survey of CEOs of the country's largest foundations, a
survey of grantees of 23 foundations, in-depth interviews with foundation
CEOs and trustees, and analysis of publicly available data.
|
| |
|
| |
 |
Toward
a Common Language: Listening to Foundation CEOs and Other Experts
Talk About Performance Measurement in Philanthropy
February 2002 |
|
| |
| While evaluations of
specific grants, or even clusters of grants, are widely
used in assessing grantee performance, this report examines what
information might be useful in assessing overall foundation performance.
The report is based on 74 discussions, including 18 interviews with
CEOs of major foundations, and describes the growing interest in performance
metrics among foundation leaders and a common language for thinking
about overall performance. |
| |
|
 |
| |
