A Special Goodbye from Grace
After 15 years at CEP and more than 50 episodes co-hosting Giving Done Right, Grace Nicolette is stepping away. In this special episode, Phil Buchanan turns the microphone to her. Together they look back on how philanthropy has shifted over the past decade and a half, from the rise of multi-year general operating support to the risks of inaction in a moment of crisis?
Grace shares the guests and stories that have stayed with her, including April Tam Smith, Jeremy Lin, and a give and take with GiveDirectly’s Paul Niehaus over effective altruism. She also opens up about the personal threads running through her career: her faith, her parents’ own story of generosity, and the family reasons drawing her toward her next chapter. Through it all, one idea keeps surfacing for Grace: in philanthropy, relationships matter most.
Guest Info:
As a vice president, Grace oversaw CEP’s partnerships, outreach efforts, fundraising, communications, and innovative programming. She was co-host with CEP’s President Phil Buchanan of the widely acclaimed Giving Done Right podcast. Grace was formerly a client lead on CEP’s Assessment team, where she led the marketing, creation, and presentation of CEP’s benchmarking assessments for individual foundations. She is a frequent speaker to foundation staff and boards on topics of philanthropic effectiveness and philanthropy in China.
Prior to joining CEP, Grace co-founded a philanthropy advisory firm in Shanghai that identifies investments in high potential nonprofits and social enterprises in China. She was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2011. Grace has an executive education certificate from Harvard’s Kennedy School in Global Leadership and Public Policy and graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania as a Benjamin Franklin Scholar.
Credits:
Podcast Production: Cold Italian
Artwork: Jay Kustka
Resources:
A Fond Farewell to a Catalyst of CEP’s Growth and Evolution
Relationships Matter: Program Officers, Grantees, and the Keys to Success