Within the ultimate weeks of a 12 months, when content material calendars sluggish and we collectively start to mirror on the 12 months practically gone — and plan, with some stage of disbelief, for the one to come back — we editors bask in a favourite past-time: the curation of the year-end ‘better of’ record.
I’ve been having fun with the fruits of others’ curation in current weeks: the greatest books of the 12 months, the greatest films, the greatest poetry, the greatest new podcasts, and the lists go on and on. We list-curators know most of you didn’t ask for these compilations, however we ask that you simply indulge us on this year-end train anyway. And if, like me, you managed to not see a single new film this 12 months, that is your short-cut to catching up.
In that spirit, and within the privileged place of editor of the CEP weblog, I give you my “editor’s picks” for 2024. This record contains a number of the most well-read and broadly loved items printed on the weblog this 12 months, nevertheless it additionally options some items you’ll have missed — people who stand out in my very own reminiscence due to the pressure of the creator’s argument, their distinctive perspective, or recent concepts. Every of those posts additionally stands the take a look at of time; they’re as related now, going into 2025, as they have been on the time of their publication.
On Altering Philanthropic Practices
Revisiting Massive Questions for Philanthropy, Half 1: Adjustments in Philanthropic Observe
CEP has documented the adjustments in philanthropic follow that occurred in and since 2020, as funders responded to a world pandemic and a nationwide outcry over the homicide of George Floyd. However the query remained (and, arguably, stays) whether or not these adjustments can be sustained. CEP President Phil Buchanan addresses that query on this publish, and notes some regarding developments, too.
What the Music of Taylor Swift Can Educate Us About Nice Philanthropy
Artwork speaks to us in distinctive and highly effective methods, and for CEP’s Joseph Lee, there are invaluable classes about philanthropic follow to be gleaned from the discography of Taylor Swift. After studying this publish, I believe you’ll agree she has knowledge and perception to supply the sector.
Lee writes, “…Swift’s music, whereas unsparingly inward in its focus, can also be about outward change: the need to hunt it in others and on the planet round us — which, for funders, is maybe the final word aim.”
Spaciousness, Belief, and Collaboration: Reflections on the Results of MacKenzie Scott’s Funding
If anyone particular person has shaken up philanthropic follow lately, it’s MacKenzie Scott as she has doled out giant, unrestricted presents on an unprecedented scale, working quietly to empower nonprofits everywhere in the world. Marcus Walton displays on the ability of the Scott reward Grantmakers for Efficient Organizations acquired in 2021, and its affect on the group’s work within the years that adopted, noting the “essential psychological house which we leveraged into inventive situation planning, integration of equitable insurance policies, and important staff constructing.”
Early 2025 will see the discharge of the ultimate report in CEP’s three-year research of the affect of Scott’s presents on grantee organizations, their leaders, and the communities they serve, so keep tuned.
“Between [2008] and 2017, CEP administered the [Grantee Perception Report] survey on behalf of Ford 4 instances… and our outcomes have been constantly disappointing.” Luc Athayde-Rizzaro and Bess Rothenberg share perception into how the Ford Basis recommitted to studying from and appearing on grantee suggestions after their 2017 survey — and went from receiving common rankings from their grantees to what Athayde-Rizzaro and Rothenberg modestly describe as marked enchancment.
They provide concrete classes from Ford’s studying course of throughout three key realms: grantmaking coverage, processes, and tradition.
On Dealing with the Challenges of the Second
Funders: Let’s Cease Making Nonprofits Select Between Balanced Budgets and Burnout
Once we look again on 2024, we’d properly keep in mind it because the 12 months that burnout reared its head and was revealed because the widespread, insidious drawback it’s — and certainly already was. CEP’s annual State of Nonprofits report revealed that burnout was a prime concern for nonprofit leaders, and this discovering was supported by different research launched this 12 months, too, together with a joint research from Unbiased Sector and United for ALICE that discovered that 22 p.c of nonprofit employees wrestle financially.
Following CEP’s report, Jamie Allison powerfully takes on the issue of burnout and nonprofit budgets, providing her practice-based perception and recommendation for funders trying to act on the problem.
Accountable AI: How Philanthropy Can (And Ought to) Help the Motion
Whereas not a brand new improvement, AI got here to the fore in new methods in 2024, representing each problem and alternative for a lot of. As each funders and grantees grappled with find out how to implement safe-usage insurance policies and operationalize the know-how responsibly, a bunch of specialists got here collectively to share their perception on the CEP weblog. Should you’re searching for extra steering for funders on AI, discover CEP’s full (and ongoing) collection on AI in philanthropy.
Embracing Belief, Eschewing Dogma in Philanthropic Observe
A perennial problem, and one not distinctive to the philanthropic sector or every other, is that of nuance. On this publish, Buchanan discusses the danger of dropping sight of nuance in the case of the difficulty of “belief” in philanthropy, and his discomfort with phrases like “trust-based philanthropy” when used dogmatically.
However the publish has broader implications — particularly that, “if ever there was a time when we have to make sure that we’re being nuanced in our fascinated with what is smart when, it’s now.”
On Philanthropic Fashions, Previous and New
Endowments are Nice — However Sustainability and Autonomy are the Higher Good
Talking of nuance, in a publish reflecting on CEP analysis launched earlier within the 12 months concerning the use and perceptions of endowment grantmaking by funders, Neel Hajra makes the case that whereas generally endowment grantmaking is a good alternative, it’s under no circumstances the clear proper alternative for all funders or all grantees — neither is it all the time the simplest manner of “power-yielding” by means of grantmaking.
Protecting larger autonomy and sustainability for nonprofits as his North Star, Hajra encourages foundations “to double-down on commitments to sustainability, belief, and enabling entry to main and deliberate giving.”
If Intermediaries Are to Be a Viable Device for Fairness, Then They Should Be Funded Accordingly
As CEP’s Elisha Smith Arrillaga put it in a current op-ed for Alliance Journal, intermediaries “have loved a sunny fame lately.” Lauded as a instrument for funding with larger proximity and belief, Smith Arrillaga led up CEP’s analysis into grantee perceptions of and experiences with middleman funders, discovering that grantees’ experiences are literally not considerably extra constructive with intermediaries than with different funders.
In a publish knowledgeable by each historical past and private expertise, Village of Knowledge CEO Will Jackson takes on disconnect between the sunny fame of intermediaries and their less-than-standout efficiency in CEP’s grantee notion dataset.
Because the debates over endowment grantmaking and middleman use represented within the above two posts makes clear, approaches to philanthropy are as quite a few and diversified because the aim(s) of grantmakers. Through the years, nevertheless, claims to the invention of the “proper” philanthropic mannequin have come and gone.
Responding to 1 extra breakthrough declare of this type put forth in an article in Stanford Social Innovation Evaluation, Buchanan takes situation with the seek for a silver bullet in philanthropic follow. “[E]ven although there are some tenets of effectiveness that I’d argue apply in just about any circumstance, there are a number of the way to be efficient in mild of a donor or basis’s particular aim or targets,” he says.
This 12 months on the weblog, I’ve had the enjoyment of working with numerous considerate contributors who generously supplied their perception, expertise, hard-won classes, and greatest recommendation to their fellow funders. I’m so grateful to each one of many authors who contributed to the weblog for what they shared — and for making it a spot for nuanced debate and dialogue about philanthropic follow, funder effectiveness, and, broadly talking, this endeavor we’re every part of to make the world higher, extra simply, and extra equitable.
Should you’d prefer to be taught extra about find out how to contribute to the CEP weblog, don’t hesitate to attain out — I’d love to listen to from you.
Chloe Heskett is senior editor, author and content material strategist on the Programming and Exterior Relations staff at CEP. You could find her on LinkedIn.
