Resource Library
Browse helpful resources for funders, including evidence-based reports, profiles of funders making change, case studies, and blog series.
The Funding Landscape: Nonprofit Perspectives on Current Issues in Philanthropy
The nonprofit perspective is an essential one for philanthropic funders to consider when it comes to any number of issues. After all, nonprofit staff and volunteers are the ones doing the critical work on the front lines, providing support and creating the change that...
Working Well With Grantees: A Guide for Foundation Program Staff
CEP’s research shows that program officers can be the distinguishing factor between a foundation that makes a difference—and one that simply makes grants. Working Well With Grantees: A Guide for Foundation Program Staff offers program staff critical guidelines for...
Grantee Voice Blog Series
In a series of six posts on the CEP blog in winter 2019, Naomi Orensten shared the candid perspectives of what nonprofit leaders want from their foundation funders. This blog series highlights a number of important practices which foundations can improve — regardless...
Strengthening Grantees: Foundation and Nonprofit Perspectives
Strong organizations, leaders, and networks are crucial to foundations’ and nonprofits’ ability to achieve shared goals. What support are foundations seeking to provide to help grantees strengthen their organizations? Is that support in line with what grantees really...
Donors: 5 Things Nonprofits Want You to Know
Nonprofit leaders have specific ideas for how donors can best support them to do their most effective work, but the power imbalance means important things are often left unsaid. What do nonprofits want their donors to know that they may not be telling them directly?...
Bracing for a Downturn: Nonprofits, Charitable Deduction Worries, and How Foundations Can Help
On January 1, 2018, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act went into effect, providing significant tax reductions for both individuals and corporations and doubling the amount of the standard deduction that individuals can claim in their tax returns. How are nonprofit and...
Staying Connected: How Five Foundations Understand Those They Seek to Help
CEP’s 2016 report, The Future of Foundation Philanthropy, finds that foundation leaders believe learning from the experiences of those they are ultimately trying to help holds a great deal of promise for increasing foundation impact in the coming decades. But...
Relationships Matter: Program Officers, Grantees, and the Keys to Success
Relationships between funders and their grantees are crucial because the two must work well together if they are to achieve shared goals. But funder–grantee relationships can be fraught due to the inherent power imbalance between those who have resources and those who...
Benchmarking Program Officer Roles and Responsibilities
The role of program officer at foundations is an important one — especially to the grantees whose experiences with funders are greatly shaped by their interactions and relationships with their program officers. Yet, relatively little is known about the intricacies of...
Nonprofit Challenges: What Foundations Can Do
Our research shows that only 52 percent of nonprofit leaders believe that their foundation funders are aware of the challenges their organizations are facing.
Room for Improvement: Foundations’ Support of Nonprofit Performance Assessment
Amidst growing pressure for nonprofits to measure and assess their performance, the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) finds that nonprofits sorely lack the support they need.