Jane Ward

Director at PEAK Grantmaking

Jane Robinson Ward serves as the grants director at the Meyer Foundation, one of the Washington area’s oldest and largest locally focused philanthropies. Working across operations and program teams, Jane manages the Foundation’s $6 million annual grantmaking portfolio and grants database, ensures legal compliance, and is currently developing a new knowledge management strategy. Since coming to Meyer in 2006, she has led efforts to streamline processes for grant applicants and staff, implemented the Foundation’s first-ever online application and reporting system, and played a key role in designing and developing the Foundation’s Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative, Julie L. Rogers Sabbatical Program and, most recently, new funding priorities that promote racial equity and systems change in the Greater Washington region.

Before joining Meyer, Jane spent a decade at the National Council of Nonprofit Associations, with responsibilities that spanned program design, fund development, finance, administration, and government relations. She led the Council’s work to deliver grants and technical assistance to seed 15 new state associations around the country and was the Council’s lead staff in organizing nonprofits nationwide to fight the Istook amendment, and proposed federal legislation to silence nonprofit advocacy.