ETB Blogs

ACE Evaluation Network Member Highlight: Jane F. Morgan

With 95 Evaluators and growing in the Network, we are highlighting an ACE Evaluation Network Member each month to share their experiences and current projects with the ETB® community.

Advancing Culturally-responsive and Equitable (ACE) Evaluation Network Member, Jane F. Morgan, MPAff is the founder and president of JFM Consulting Group (JFM). Jane is a seasoned evaluator and facilitator with more than 20 years of experience in the nonprofit, philanthropic, and public sectors. She has designed and implemented a wide range of evaluations in partnership with organizations in the arts, education, community development, workforce development, health, and food security. Jane also supports organizations through training and technical assistance, helping organizations build their capacity to engage in evaluation. Jane began her professional career in Detroit, Michigan working in philanthropy at the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan and with the Council of Michigan Foundations. Over the years as an evaluator, she has worked with a number of Funders and others on establishing evaluation plans and strategies for monitoring grant focus areas with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Community Foundation, and Max M. & Marjorie Fisher Foundation. Her deep experience as an evaluator enables her to apply this skillset in all of her work. Jane holds a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from Michigan State University, a Master of Public Affairs from the L.B.J. School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, and has completed 50 hours of coursework toward a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan.

What first attracted you to the ACE Evaluation Network?
I was first attracted to the ACE Evaluation Network because it provided an opportunity to make new professional connections and, especially, because of the potential to cultivate relationships and develop business opportunities with foundations that I might not otherwise have had access to. The Network’s focus on promoting access to evaluators of color helps remove barriers, especially as it relates to philanthropy, and is critically important in terms of increasing equity within the field of evaluation. I have been a member of the Network since 2015 when it was a program of the Annie E. Casey Foundation — an added plus given the Foundation’s high visibility and credibility in the philanthropic sector.

What do you value most about the ACE Evaluation Network?
The ACE Evaluation Network has offered me the chance to establish relationships and, hopefully, do business with foundations outside of the current sphere of my business. The Network has also served as a space for engaging and connecting with evaluators of color in partnership in work. The networking and learning opportunities available through the Network have been valuable components of the program.

What’s a current project you are working on?
I have not yet secured a project through the Network, but I do have some interesting projects underway. Currently, I am evaluating the Statewide Equity Fund (SEF), an initiative of the Council of Michigan Foundations. The SEF is a statewide collaborative of foundations engaged in supporting and promoting equitable distribution of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act for COVID-19. The program is designed to help ensure that funding reaches segments of communities in most need, and therefore makes the evaluation of this initiative is timely and extremely important.

To learn more about Jane, connect with her on LinkedIn.