Foundations face little external scrutiny. Most are accountable only to their boards, the IRS, and state attorneys general. They are generally isolated from market or fundraising pressures that influence other organizations in our society, arguably making the role of the board even more vital for foundations than for other types of organizations.

CEP launched the Foundation Governance Project to understand better what constitutes effective foundation governance. We believe that optimizing governance is of crucial importance to ensure that the significant resources foundations possess are most effectively used – yet little research had previously existed on the distinctive challenges of foundation governance.

CEP also offers a board self-assessment tool, the Comparative Board Report (CBR) on a fee basis. The CBR provides foundation-specific comparative data to leadership to assist in optimizing governance and is based in CEP’s extensive research on foundation governance.

The CEO Viewpoint
Initial work on the Foundation Governance Project began in September 2003. In this phase of our research, we sought to understand the views of CEOs of the largest foundations in the United States and learn what foundation boards did in response to the increasing media scrutiny of the early 2000s. We also explored key attributes of foundation boards seen to be most effective by CEOs. Results of this phase of the study were published in Foundation Governance: The CEO Viewpoint (2004).

The Trustee Viewpoint
After examining the CEO perspective on governance, we set out to understand the foundation trustee perspective fully. To do so, we recruited 53 foundations to participate in a process that included surveys and interviews of trustees and CEOs. In our report on this phase of the research, Beyond Compliance: The Trustee Viewpoint on Effective Foundation Governance (2005), we describe five key characteristics of foundation board effectiveness. We also explored several aspects of foundation board demographics, such as presence of family, compensation of members, and race of trustees, and described implications for practice for by foundation CEOs and boards.

Special E-newsletter: Effective Board Discussions
We recently completed work on a third phase of governance research in which we explore the discussions that CEOs and trustees recall as their “best conversations,” which culminated in a special edition of CEP’s e-newsletter meant to assist foundation staffs and boards in setting the stage for highly effective discussions. What kinds of topics do boards and CEOs see as being most important? How can meeting planning and agenda setting help the board focus?

For more information about our research on foundation governance, contact Vice President – Research Lisa R. Jackson, PhD. For more information about the Comparative Board Report, please contact Manager Romero Hayman.