An anthropologist and urban planner specializing in community and identity formation, Jackie leads the Institute's application of forecasting to the challenges facing philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. She has worked for over 25 years as an executive, grant-maker, evaluator, or researcher for foundations, including the Pew, Lilly, and Northwest Area foundations. She has served as vice president of The Philadelphia Foundation and founding managing director for philanthropic services at U.S. Bank Private Client Group. Jackie is currently a partner with Copeland Carson & Associates, a national philanthropic services and evaluation firm. At one time a senior fellow with the University of Minnesota’s policy institute, Jackie designed their public interest philanthropy program; taught philanthropy to graduate students; and did participatory action research with immigrant and other diverse communities on social justice issues.

Jackie’s recent books and articles, Creating Africa in America (2004), Creating Evaluation Anthropology (co-edited with Mary Odell Butler, 2005), and “Kenyan Diaspora Philanthropy in the United States” examine issues in cross-cultural philanthropy, evaluation, community revitalization, alternative finance, and transnationalism. Jackie holds two masters degrees in urban planning and cultural anthropology with a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. She has done fieldwork in Nigeria as well as various U.S. cities and rural communities. Her undergraduate degree is from Georgetown University in literature and African studies.