The most recent issue of the American Journal of Evaluation (v. 27, n3, Sept. 2006) presents an interesting ethical scenario: when is an evaluator no longer external? In the scenario, an evaluator has been working with an agency for a number of years, and a significant portion of their income comes from the single agency. A foundation, interested in funding a replication of a program that was found to have promising results by the evaluator, is concerned that the evaluator is not external. Although the two respondents from the scenario take different approaches in their analysis, they have similar suggestions: 1) The evaluator should disclose how the situation might present a conflict of interest, and how they would address that conflict 2) The foundation should establish guidance about why external evaluation is important and why they will only fund projects with external evaluators; this will help both the agency and evaluator act accordingly 3) The agency and evaluator should establish each party's role prior to conducting any research or evaluation activities For agencies and funders looking for an external evaluator, they should consider: * What is the purpose of having an external evaluator? * What areas are of particular concern for objectivity? * What are they hoping to gain, or willing to lose, in the trade off between existing knowledge (when an evaluator has a relationship and history with an organization) and objective perspectives?