The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s
Foundation Governance Project Phase II FAQs

What is the benefit to my foundation of participation?

In return for participating in Phase II of CEP’s Foundation Governance Project, your foundation will receive a custom report that compares your trustees’ responses to the responses of other participating foundations. This comparative assessment will portray your foundation’s governance practices and attitudes relative to others and, drawing on our analysis of all responses, raise questions that will help your board become more effective in its role.

What is the benefit to me as a CEO or Chair to have my board participate?

Because the survey is completely confidential and no individual responses will be revealed, the CEP survey is a good forum through which your board members can candidly express their opinions about their experiences serving on the board. The customized report will highlight areas in which your board could change its practices to become more effective.

How do you ensure that the results of the survey are confidential?

The trustee survey is completely confidential. In the customized report your foundation receives, all trustee responses will be aggregated so no individual trustee response will be revealed. In the field-wide report we plan to publish based on the findings, results will also be in aggregate and no individual foundation results will be published. No other foundation will know your results.

What will be asked on the survey?

The survey will explore various topics of interest to foundation boards including foundation board composition, agenda setting, board meeting dynamics, and motivations of board members.

What is the timing for this survey?

CEP will administer surveys on a rolling basis. Surveying will start in July and will continue through the fall. We will survey your board members at a time that is convenient for your foundation.

My foundation is a community/conversion/family foundation. Will our results be comparable to other foundations surveyed?

In Phase I, we did find – not surprisingly – differences between CEO responses by foundation type concerning various structural and operational aspects of the board. However, CEOs conceived of board effectiveness in similar ways regardless of foundation type. We will develop a set of participating foundations that allows for comparison against the overall population of participating foundations as well as subsets of similar type and structure. We believe, based on our work to date, that the comparison both to the larger group and a more comparable subset will prove useful.

Can I add customized questions to the survey?

CEP will develop a set of customized questions for the different types of foundations participating in the survey (community, family, and health conversion). If your foundation is a community, family, or health conversion foundation, we welcome your suggestions for these sets of customized questions. We need to finalize these questions before the first flight of the survey on August 15th so we need any suggestions by July 23rd.

What if only half my trustees complete the survey?

We realize that full participation of all trustees may be difficult to achieve. We will work with you and your board to encourage members to participate in the survey process. This survey process will only be successful with the support of the board. If you feel that less than 70% of your board will participate, this process may not be right for your board.

How much time will the survey take?

The survey should take board members somewhere between 25 and 35 minutes to complete.

Will the study include other research methods in addition to the survey?

The only requirements of participation are that your board members complete the survey and your CEO and/or relevant staff provide us some additional information about your board. However, to the extent that your board is open to allowing us to interview your board chair and other board members, view board meeting materials and meeting minutes, or attend a board meeting, we would appreciate these opportunities to gain a deeper understanding of your board. Providing access to these sources of information will allow us to create a more in-depth report for your foundation and will further inform our field-wide research. We understand that this involves greater effort on the part of your board so we do not anticipate that all foundations will provide us access to these sources of information.

Why is this survey free of charge?

We consider Phase II to be a piloting phase for a future foundation board self-assessment tool that CEP will develop. Your participation in the survey will provide valuable insights to CEP as we develop this tool. Your board members’ responses will also contribute to our field-wide research on foundation governance. We have received grant support from a number of foundations for this work. We are closing out our fundraising for this project later this month and will announce the list of funders at that point.

Who should I contact to get more information on participating?

For more information, please contact Romero Hayman at 617-492-0800 x211 or romeroh@effectivephilanthropy.org.