Massachusetts · Nonprofit
THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC
THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 118 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,795,863 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($10,001,000). 63 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 118
- Grants received
- $49M
- Net assets
- $19M
What The Center for Effective Philanthropy Inc does
Mission
Cep provides data, feedback, programs, and insights to help individual and institutional donors improve their effectiveness. We do this work because we believe effective donors, working collaboratively and thoughtfully, can profoundly contribute to creating a better and more just world.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Cep provides data, feedback, programs, and insights to help individual and institutional donors improve their effectiveness. We do this work because we believe effective donors, working collaboratively and thoughtfully, can profoundly contribute to creating a better and more just world.see schedule o for more information on program service accomplishments.
$13,623,914 spent$8,524,922 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $13,623,914.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $8.5M to $20M (+135%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 12% · 2021 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
39% of THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (80% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Anthony Richardson
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 23 funders to 65 funders, grant income rose $3.6M → $5.8M.
21 of 118 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 118 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
29% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 47% · 2019 27% · 2020 15% · 2021 75% · 2022 19% · 2023 15% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
64% of THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC draws 97% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 27 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $14M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC's funding base is broadening — from 23 funders to 65 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 828 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $170k on record.
- Department of State$112k
- Department of the Treasury$58k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 39 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC?
- THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 118 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,795,863 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($10,001,000). 63 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC have?
- IRS filings report 118 organizations giving $48,795,863 in grants to THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC, 63 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $10,001,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Center for Effective Philanthropy →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 118 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing