Our Staff

Joanne leads the organization in its various efforts to provide leadership, education and advocacy for Colorado’s philanthropic sector. Before transitioning to her role at Philanthropy Colorado, Joanne spent much of her career in journalism with news agencies, magazines and daily newspapers in Denver, Washington, DC, New York City and Chicago, working to inform the public about a wide range of subjects including Wall Street, Congress, high technology and the social profit sector. Joanne brings other experience to Philanthropy Colorado including several years working for a management consultancy on the Innovation team that planned and hosted CEO summits and educational seminars for diverse groups of executives.

Joanne has been a board member of the Washington-based United Philanthropy Forum, a national network of philanthropy-serving organizations, and the Colorado Society of Association Executives. She also served on the first local advisory board of Colorado Media Project and is a past Board Chair of Food and Environment Reporting Network, an independent, non-partisan investigative news organization. She received a Master of Science degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and graduated with a B.A. in both Spanish and History from Wells College, where she has also served on the Board of Trustees.

Sophie Stewart-Lopes joined our team in 2021 in a new role managing operations and culture. She plays a key role in helping us carry out our internal and external equity work, as well as in streamlining and organizing our internal processes and policies. She is currently on point for our Foundation Finance peer network. 

Sophie spent the past six years at The Colorado Health Foundation in key executive administration roles and most recently as Associate Communications and Advocacy Officer on the team producing major events including the Health Symposium. She also co-chaired one of our member peer groups. 

Sophie graduated from Regis University with a degree in communications and a concentration in conflict management and leadership and is currently pursuing an applied project management certificate from UC Irvine. Born in France, she has a baccalaureate in economics and social sciences and speaks French as her first language.

Amy leads our Rural Funders Learning Network and focuses on increasing our statewide presence through our program strategy and peer learning communities. She has more than 20 years of deep experience working in communities, with government, nonprofits and philanthropy. She joined Philanthropy Colorado from The Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, where she spent five-and-a-half years managing an eight-state funder network, the Intermountain West Funder Network. Her previous experience includes working with the head of school and board of directors at the American School of El Salvador, leading community impact efforts for the State of Colorado and nine counties to advance youth development through the OMNI Institute; and collaborative, community-based strategic planning and visioning initiatives for towns and cities throughout the United States through her work with the community services division of the National Civic League.

Amy was an El Pomar Fellow after being affiliated with the U.S. Peace Corps for four years as a volunteer in Kenya and one year as a trainer in community conservation and education. She received a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree from Colorado College (Major: Biology; Minor: Women's Studies) and a Master's degree with a Nonprofit concentration from University of Colorado Denver's Graduate School of Public Administration.

Eliane supports and manages our programs, services, member engagement and various IT systems. She is currently the staff lead for three of our peer groups: Human Resources/Operations, Executive Admin and the Information Technology Roundtable. She has worked at the Denver Children’s Museum, as a Montessori co-teacher, and as an English teacher in Hanoi, Vietnam. She has also been a pastry chef. She is bilingual (English/Spanish) and has an interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree in Biology, Chemistry and English from Texas Tech University.

Here are some of the ways Eliane can help:

• Setting up a member account on the website
• Information about how to renew memberships
• Registering for programs and convenings
• Signing up for member peer groups
• Adding members to email distribution lists for news, programs
• Submitting member news links and resources
• Assistance with job postings

Jan brings more than two decades of experience in the nonprofit, government and philanthropic sectors. Her background includes advocacy and policy analysis, communications and outreach, resource development, and diversity, equity and inclusion. At Philanthropy Colorado, she focuses on programs aimed at expanding the capacity of philanthropic institutions to engage in advocacy work and oversees our strategy to ensure members are engaged in our network. She is on point for three of our peer learning communities: early childhood, small funders and public policy. She also contributes to communications and resource development as we work to carry out our strategic roadmap.

Jan most recently served as Mountain West Director and Sr. Institutional Gift Advisor for the Campus Election Engagement Project, a national nonprofit committed to increasing voter participation among college students. Her wealth of experience includes roles with the Education Commission of the States, El Sistema Colorado, the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs, Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, and the Gill Foundation’s Gay and Lesbian Fund. She has also been a Senior Fellow with the National Civic League.

Jan earned a Master of Public Administration from University of Colorado Denver, a BA in philosophy/political science from California State University Long Beach and studied at University of Uppsala, Sweden. She holds certificates in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace (University of Southern Florida), Network Leadership (University of Colorado Denver), and Data Literacy, Data Visualization and Data for Community Leadership (Tableau).