Jodon Maclem Corporation

Strategy.
Data.
Impact.

A socially conscious management and analytics firm using analysis for good. We help service-sector organizations see clearly, move strategically, and get ahead.

Our Approach Work With Us

Jodon Maclem will facilitate measurable and meaningful social impact by:

  • Serving as a social incubator of government, nonprofits, philanthropy and NGOs
  • Giving the right people the right information to make the right decisions, then tracking how those decisions create change
  • Connecting social sector workers and community members with decision makers to work on the toughest social questions
20+
Years of social sector expertise
1K+
Professionals reached through workshops
75%
Client repeat engagement rate
∞
Commitment to analysis for good
Our Framework

How we work
with organizations

Every engagement is grounded in a belief that has guided this firm from day one: organizations that can see themselves clearly, move with strategic intention, and anticipate what is coming are the ones that create lasting change.

Head in the clouds, feet on the ground.

01
Pillar One

See
Clearly

Honest, grounded diagnosis. Understanding what is working, what is not, and what your data is actually telling you so your organization can move with confidence.

Program Evaluation
Project Management
Root Cause Analysis
Performance Management
Explore ↓
02
Pillar Two

Move
Strategically

Participatory, community-centered strategy that is traceable, actionable, and owned by the people doing the work. Building a better tomorrow, today.

Strategic Planning
D.U.M.B. Goals Facilitation
Stakeholder Engagement
Implementation Planning
Explore ↓
03
Pillar Three

Get
Ahead

Using AI and predictive analytics so your organization stops reacting and starts anticipating. Responsible, threshold-based frameworks built for the public sector.

AI Readiness Frameworks
Predictive Analytics
Data Strategy and Governance
Data Products and Visualization
Explore ↓

Signature Methodology

The engine behind all three pillars: D.U.M.B. Goals

Before organizations can set SMART goals, they need to dream freely. D.U.M.B. Goals is a proprietary JM facilitation tool that takes a problem statement and generates a complete strategic architecture through collective, unconstrained imagination.

D
DynamicLarger than life, fluid, ambitious
U
UnrealisticUnconstrained by the actual world
M
Mind-BendingNew ways to consider old problems
B
BoundlessUntethered to time limitations
See it in action
Pillar One

See Clearly

The most valuable thing we can offer an organization is an honest picture of itself. Great strategy starts with the courage to look clearly at what the data is actually saying.

Program Evaluation

We help organizations make sense of program results that are complex, mixed, or difficult to act on. Whether your data is telling a clear story or a complicated one, our job is to help you understand what it means and what to do next.

Our program evaluation services include root cause analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and tradeoff assessments, giving leadership the full picture, not just the headline number.

Project Management

We are traditionally trained and certified project managers. Our team holds active PMP certification and brings rigorous methodology to every engagement, from definition through closing.

What sets our approach apart is how deeply we ground the work in the lived context of the communities being served. That is not an add-on. It is how we deliver better projects, stronger outcomes, and stakeholder trust that lasts beyond the engagement.

Building a better tomorrow, today.

White Paper

Program Evaluation: Beyond the Rubber Stamp Coming Soon

A practitioner's honest accounting of what program evaluations are supposed to do, what clients actually want, and how to bridge that gap.

White Paper

Equitable PM in Practice: A Project Manager's Guide to Justice-Centered Work

How grounding the work in community context threads through every phase of the project lifecycle and produces stronger, more durable outcomes.

Download PDF
Pillar Two

Move Strategically

Strategy that is not owned by the people doing the work does not work. We use participatory, community-centered processes to build direction that is traceable, actionable, and genuinely shared.

D.U.M.B. Goals

Before any organization can create SMART goals, it needs to dream freely. D.U.M.B. Goals is our proprietary facilitation methodology that takes a core problem statement and generates a full strategic architecture through collective imagination.

The result is not just a vision statement. It is a complete strategic package: mission, values, KPIs, theory of change, and program evaluation framework, all grown from the same root.

Community Strategic Planning

Our Convergence Method is built on a foundational belief: the people closest to the work hold the most important insights about what the organization needs to become. We facilitate multi-stakeholder processes that surface those insights, build shared ownership, and create strategies that actually get implemented.

We have led strategic planning engagements with state agencies, nonprofits, and educational institutions, presenting to audiences of more than 1,000 people on topics from racial equity to organizational transformation.

Signature Methodology

D.U.M.B. Goals: A Framework for Aspirational Strategy

Our proprietary facilitation tool takes a core problem statement and generates the full architecture of an organizational strategy through collective, unconstrained imagination. See a case study of our work.

Download PDF

White Paper

Community Strategic Planning: The Convergence Method Coming Soon

A participatory approach that centers community voice, builds traceable logic, and produces plans people actually own.

Practitioner Toolkit

D.U.M.B. Goals Facilitator Guide

Everything you need to run a D.U.M.B. Goals session with your own team or clients.

Download PDF
Pillar Three

Get Ahead

The organizations that will define the next decade of public service are not the ones reacting to change. They are the ones using data and AI to anticipate it, responsibly.

AI Readiness for Public Sector Organizations

AI adoption in government and nonprofit contexts is not just a technology question. It is a values question. Our AI Framework and Thresholds provides a responsible roadmap for organizations navigating the shift toward AI-informed decision making.

Project Canary Coming Soon

Project Canary is JM's proprietary predictive analytics framework for public sector organizations, designed to surface early warning signals, anticipate program drift, and help leadership make proactive decisions before problems become crises.

Framework

AI Development: A Framework for Responsible AI Adoption in Service Organizations

How to evaluate AI readiness, set organizational thresholds for adoption, and build responsible practices into your AI strategy from the ground up.

Download Framework

What organizations gain when they get ahead:

Early Warning SystemsSurface program drift before it becomes program failure
AI Readiness AssessmentKnow exactly where your organization stands and what it needs
Responsible Data StrategyBuild data systems that amplify community voice, not just administrative efficiency
Predictive CapacityStop reacting. Start anticipating.
Our Foundation

What we mean when we say
analysis for good

We have taken pride in cultivating our data craft and building a practice grounded in a simple belief: it is not enough to know what data says. We have to know what it is for. We believe the distinction between being good at this work and doing this work for good is the foundation at Jodon Maclem. We carry that pledge in how we design which methods best serve our clients, how we hold and present our findings, and who we believe the work ultimately serves.

Good Practice

Good at it.

Our experience has afforded us insights about the toughest of analysis and outcomes. We have thought through what integrity looks like under pressure and made very clear our limitations and boundaries before the pressure arrives. C.O.M.P.A.S.S. is our decision-making framework for analytical work inside organizations navigating real constraints: political consequence, stakeholder preference, budget shifts. It is not a theoretical construct. It is a practical discipline built for the moments when the work gets hard.

  • Good practice
  • Good instinct
  • Good morality
Read the C.O.M.P.A.S.S. Framework →
Good Vision

For good.

While we provide rigorous analysis to meet the needs of our clients, we understand that data and decisions are not neutral. We strive to carry our perspectives and beliefs in transparent ways and our team members challenge ourselves and our clients to think about long-term implications of the work we do. In dynamic policy discussions, with ever changing parameters and priorities, we try to be adaptive and amendable. However, as a firm, when trade-offs must be made, ecological integrity comes before short-term convenience, and community well-being comes before economic considerations. We hold our position even when it is contested because we believe the long-term impacts of these prioritizations greatly benefit a lasting good.

  • Good intentions
  • Good vision
  • Creating good
Read our Environmental Longevity Position Paper →
Good Method

Doing good.

When we design how data gets collected, we are making decisions about whose truth gets counted. We research and employ the most useful methodologies to help our clients answer their most pressing questions in meaningful ways. Utilizing mixed methods approaches allows us to lean into the rigor of quantitative data and also validate the realities of people's lived experiences.

That inclusion and reinforcement is not just a methodological choice. It is a moral one.

  • Good rigor
  • Good methodology
  • Good process
Read the Community Voice Methodology →
The proof

Clients don't just hire us.
They come back.

75%
of clients return for a second engagement
4
years of sustained public sector practice

That number reflects something simple: organizations come back when the work actually moves them forward. And the work moves them forward when it starts from an honest picture of where they are.

Truth-telling is not only our philosophy; it is our modus operandi. Effective strategy cannot be built without first understanding where an organization stands and where it needs to go. We prioritize identifying the right path forward with an honest accounting of the risks, the constraints, and the distance between current state and ideal state. The hard analysis is not the hard part; it is the necessary part. It is what makes everything else possible.

Our clients span the organizations closest to public life: state agencies navigating complex policy terrain, city departments managing community trust, school districts measuring what matters, nonprofits building durable strategy, and NGOs doing work that does not wait for the right conditions.

They come back because they leave with something real: a strategy that can actually be built, a finding that names the right problem, a path from where they are to where they are trying to go, real answers.

State Agencies City Agencies School Districts Nonprofits NGOs

See a sample of our data work →

"The organizations that create lasting change are the ones willing to understand exactly where they stand, and build from there."

We built Jodon Maclem for those organizations. Our commitment to you is this: we will not leave you with a comfortable picture that leads nowhere. We will give you the clearest possible view of where you are, the most honest accounting of what stands between you and your goals, and a path forward you can actually walk.

That is our value add. That is what we are here for.

Work With Us
Engage JM

Work With Us

We work with government agencies, nonprofits, philanthropy, and NGOs who are serious about doing good and doing it well.

◎

Project Engagements

Short or long-term scoped work across evaluation, strategic planning, project management, or data analysis. We come in, do the work, and leave you with something you own.

◈

Workshops and Facilitation

Bring D.U.M.B. Goals, project management training, or strategic planning facilitation to your team. We have presented to audiences of 10 to 5,000 attendees.

◇

Strategic Advisory

Ongoing advisory relationships for organizations navigating complex transitions: new strategic direction, AI adoption, or major program redesign.

Not sure which pillar fits your organization?

Diagnostic tool coming soon

© 2026 Jodon Maclem Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

jodonmaclem.com

LaCole Foots, Founder and President, Jodon Maclem

About the Founder

LaCole Foots

Founder and President, Jodon Maclem Corporation

LaCole Foots is the founder and president of Jodon Maclem Corporation. With over two decades working at the intersection of data, strategy, and public service, she brings a rare combination of rigorous analytical training and deep human sensibility to every engagement.

A Carnegie Mellon-trained public policy expert and certified Project Management Professional, LaCole has worked across education, transportation, criminal justice, and environmental policy. She began her career as a consultant at Deloitte before founding JM in 2022 to bring that same caliber of work directly to service-oriented organizations.

Her philosophy: the best analysis is useless if the people who need it cannot act on it. At JM, data is never just a product. It is the foundation for decisions that change lives.

PMP Certified Carnegie Mellon MS Temple University BA Fmr. Deloitte Consultant Harvard SDP Faculty
Learn more about LaCole's
intellectual pursuits curiouscole.com → Learn more about LaCole
as a person lacolefoots.com →