Data, Research, and Evaluation

Consulting Services

For Grantmakers, Grantseekers, and Communities

Our data, research, and evaluation projects are grounded in strong social science, shaped by decades of experience, and backed by a university’s commitment to rigorous, independent thinking and lifelong learning.

In practice, these two modes of work inform each other constantly. The questions clients bring us sharpen our understanding of what the field needs. Our field-wide research makes us better partners to the clients we serve. Whether your engagement is fee-for-service or grant-funded, you’re getting a team that’s deeply embedded in the questions philanthropy is wrestling with right now.

Why Work With Us?

Deep roots in the philanthropic sector

Thirty-plus years of experience means we understand how funders and nonprofits work — and we bring established norms, efficient processes, and field-tested best practices to every project from day one.

Relationship-building and trust as a methodology

We don’t treat community and partner relationships as a means to an end. We invest in them as a core part of how good research gets done — and we have a track record of multi-year partnerships that produce lasting community impact to show for it.

Rigorous, mixed-methods expertise

We bring both qualitative and quantitative skills to every engagement, drawing across disciplines and data sources to surface insights that a single-method approach would miss.

University-backed infrastructure

As an applied research center of Grand Valley State University, we have access to IRB oversight, sponsored research support, and institutional resources in AI, IT, and data security — giving your project an added layer of rigor and accountability.

Uncompromising data privacy and security standards

We hold data, privacy, and security to the highest standards in our work, and we help partners understand and apply those same standards within their own organizations.

A commitment to staying current

We actively invest in emerging tools and technologies — including AI and cloud services — and prioritize staff upskilling so our team is always working with the best methods available.

Our Work In Practice

Browse a selection of our work across research, evaluation, and data for foundations, nonprofits, and communities.

Place-Based Economic Development Research for the Jacobs Family Foundation

We conducted an in-depth examination of a family foundation’s 30+ years of innovative, place-based economic development work — analyzing over 100 organizational documents, conducting 26 stakeholder interviews, and building a neighborhood-level econometric analysis. The work served both to document the foundation’s history and to offer practical lessons for other funders investing in community wealth-building in underserved communities.

Grantmaking Landscape Analysis for the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation

Using our extensive IRS Form 990 database, we identified foundations active in specific issue areas, categorized thousands of individual grants, and geocoded the resulting data — giving the foundation a clear picture of existing funding capacity in target geographies as it shaped its own grantmaking strategy.

Community Data Reports on Economic Inclusion for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

We produced a series of community-level research briefs drawing on baseline and trend data from multiple public sources, with a focus on economic inclusion and social determinants of health. The foundation used the briefs to anchor community-level conversations about inclusive growth and equitable opportunity.

Community-Designed Databook and Public Website for Lenawee Community Foundation

We partnered with community residents and leaders — through a facilitated series of workshops — to select 60 meaningful indicators for a county-level databook and companion public website. The community-centered process ensured the data reflected local priorities and gave the foundation a foundation for its updated strategic plan and grantmaking focus.

Organizational Return-to-Work Evaluation for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

We conducted a comprehensive, 14-month evaluation of a major national foundation’s return-to-work policies in the aftermath of COVID-19. Using a multi-phase, agile approach — combining surveys, interviews, focus groups, and administrative data — we assessed the foundation’s policies from multiple staff and stakeholder perspectives. The resulting case study became a resource for other organizations navigating post-pandemic workplace models.

Promise Neighborhood Data System for WMU Grand Rapids Southeast Promise Neighborhood

As part of a five-year federal grant, we served as external evaluator and built a data and reporting infrastructure — tracking federally required outcomes, deploying a community survey via phone bank, collecting student-level data from multiple portals, and creating a data dashboard with community context stories. This data system was cited as one of the highest-quality reporting systems in the national Promise Neighborhood network.

Community Grantee Evaluation Support for the City of Grand Rapids

We provided evaluation services for a network of community-based grantees, supporting a wide range of nonprofits across capacity levels and program areas. Our team developed and deployed surveys, facilitated focus groups, and analyzed program data — producing information that individual grantees used for process improvement and that the City used for strategic program review.