Engage R+D
Engage R+D is a Pasadena-based consulting firm founded in 2017 that provides evaluation, strategy, facilitation, and capacity building services to U.S. foundations, nonprofits, and public agencies, with a specialty in equity-centered evaluation.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersPasadena, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Engage R+D does
Engage R+D is a Pasadena-based management consulting firm founded in 2017 by Clare Nolan and Sonia Taddy-Sandino, operating as a for-profit private company. The firm provides evaluation, strategy, facilitation, and capacity building services to foundations, nonprofit organizations, and public agencies. Its named clients include the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, the California Health Care Foundation, the Alameda County Public Health Department, and the California State Library. The firm positions itself around culturally responsive and equity-centered evaluation practices, serving as a thought partner to clients seeking to measure social impact, advance systems change, and build organizational learning capacity.
The firm's core service offerings span four areas: Evaluation and Learning (formative, developmental, and outcome evaluation design and execution), Facilitation and Engagement (stakeholder convening and systems change work), Strategy (adaptive strategy design using design thinking and data visualization), and Capacity Building (helping organizations use data and develop effective strategies). Beyond consulting engagements, the firm co-leads the Funder and Evaluator Affinity Network (FEAN) with Equal Measure, a community of more than 400 leaders from 11 major foundation funders, and has produced multiple field publications including 'Evaluation and Learning at Foundations: A Field Guide' and 'Fostering Participatory Learning Approaches in Philanthropy: A Guide for the Curious.'
The business model is professional services revenue on a quote-based, multi-year engagement model. The go-to-market motion is sales-led and relationship-driven, relying on thought leadership (blog, email newsletter, AEA conference presentations), referrals, and the FEAN network rather than productized offerings. The firm uses third-party AI tools (Claude, CoLoop) to support data analysis and project activities but does not productize AI capabilities. There is no public funding, no institutional PE/VC backing, and no disclosed parent company or subsidiary structure, indicating an independent, founder-controlled consultancy with a team of approximately 15 professionals.
Engage R+D firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Engage R+D
- Legal name
- Engage R+D
- Website
- https://engagerd.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Engage R+D is a Pasadena-based consulting firm founded in 2017 that provides evaluation, strategy, facilitation, and capacity building services to U.S. foundations, nonprofits, and public agencies, with a specialty in equity-centered evaluation.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Engage R+D industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Social Impact Consulting
- NAICS
- Other Management Consulting Services (541618), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Operations & Process Improvement Consulting (BPAHACAB)
Keywords
Where Engage R+D is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Pasadena
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Engage R+D business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations
Revenue model
- Evaluation & Learning Services: Professional consulting services for assessing impact, applying diverse evaluation designs, methods, and learning approaches including formative, developmental, and outcome evaluations.
- Facilitation & Engagement Services: Convening diverse stakeholders to learn from one another and catalyze systems change, helping groups surface key issues and bridge divergent perspectives.
- Strategy Consulting: Working with organizations to design and implement adaptive strategies using data visualization, design thinking, and creative planning exercises.
- Capacity Building Services: Helping organizations assess and build their capacity to use data, develop more effective strategies, and achieve better results.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Professional consulting engagements are customized based on scope, duration, and project requirements. |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
Engage R+D product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Engage R+D is a management consulting firm that delivers professional evaluation, strategy, facilitation, and capacity-building services to foundations, nonprofit organizations, and public agencies. The firm helps clients design and apply diverse evaluation approaches (formative, developmental, outcome), convene stakeholders to catalyze systems change, and build organizational capacity to use data for adaptive strategy and better results.
Product overview
Engage R+D is a consulting firm offering professional services rather than a software product. Its offerings consist of four core service areas: Evaluation & Learning, Facilitation & Engagement, Strategy, and Capacity Building. These are delivered as consulting engagements to foundations, nonprofits, and public agencies. The firm also maintains the Funder & Evaluator Affinity Network (FEAN), a professional community for field practitioners. Additionally, the firm produces field guides and publications including 'Fostering Participatory Learning Approaches in Philanthropy: A Guide for the Curious,' 'Evaluation and Learning at Foundations: A Field Guide,' 'Funder Insights from COVID-19 Rapid Response Grantmaking,' and the 'Network Mapping: A User's Guide.'
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Funder & Evaluator Affinity Network (FEAN): A network co-led by Engage R+D and Equal Measure that brings together funders and evaluators to review the current state of evaluation in philanthropy and work toward shared solutions.
Products and services
- Evaluation & Learning Assessment of program and organizational impact using diverse evaluation designs, methods, and learning approaches including formative, developmental, and outcome evaluations. Targeted at foundations, nonprofits, and public agencies seeking to measure social impact.
- Facilitation & Engagement Convenes diverse stakeholders to learn from one another and catalyze systems change; helps groups surface key issues and bridge divergent perspectives to advance collective work. Used by foundations, nonprofits, and public agencies for stakeholder engagement.
- Strategy Works with organizations to design and implement adaptive strategies using data visualization, design thinking, and creative planning exercises to identify new approaches to complex problems.
- Capacity Building Helps organizations assess and build capacity to use data, develop more effective strategies, and achieve better results; serves as thought partners at all stages of organizational development.
- Funder & Evaluator Affinity Network (FEAN) A network bringing together funders and evaluators to review the current state of evaluation in philanthropy, identify key opportunities and challenges, and work toward solutions that advance shared capacity.
Quantifiable outcome
- Supported by 11 major foundation funders through FEAN including Moore Foundation, California Endowment, Ford Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, and others
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Engage R+D
Customer profileNamed customers15 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Engage R+D technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Engage R+D partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Center for Evaluation InnovationcorePartner organization in evaluation and learning. Co-leads the Funder & Evaluator Affinity Network (FEAN) and collaborates on field-building initiatives including Evaluation Roundtable.
- Informing ChangecoreEvaluation consulting partner, notably co-presented at AEA 2024 on culturally responsive and equitable evaluation at the Expanding the Bench celebration.
- Leadership for a Networked World (LNW) at Harvard UniversityminorAcademic partner for network learning and leadership development.
- Equal MeasurecoreCo-leads the Funder & Evaluator Affinity Network (FEAN) with Engage R+D, focused on advancing evaluation and learning in philanthropy.
- Public ProfitminorEvaluation consulting partner organization.
- Research for ActionminorResearch partner organization.
- Program for Environmental Equity (PERE) at University of Southern CaliforniaminorAcademic partner focused on environmental equity research.
- Frontline SolutionsminorPartner organization in evaluation and consulting.
- Luminare GroupminorPartner organization in evaluation.
- Parker StrategiesminorPartner organization in strategy consulting.
- Research for Social ImpactminorPartner organization in research.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Engage R+D competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- ORS Impact: Evaluation and strategy consulting firm serving foundations and nonprofits on impact measurement, strategy design, and learning. ORS Impact is a similarly sized peer in the equity-centered foundation evaluation market with overlapping customer base.
- Frontline Solutions: Mission-driven research, evaluation, and consulting firm working with foundations and nonprofits. Frontline Solutions is a listed partner of Engage R+D and competes directly on culturally responsive evaluation and equity-centered research engagements.
- Research for Action: Research and evaluation firm serving foundations, nonprofits, and public agencies on policy, systems change, and community development. Research for Action is a listed Engage R+D partner and operates with overlapping methodologies, segments, and cultural responsiveness positioning.
- Informing Change: Berkeley-based evaluation and learning consulting firm serving foundations, nonprofits, and public agencies. Informing Change is a listed partner of Engage R+D and co-presented with them at AEA 2024 on culturally responsive and equitable evaluation, reflecting near-identical practice focus.
- Center for Evaluation Innovation: Evaluation and philanthropic learning organization focused on advancing evaluation practice in philanthropy. Center for Evaluation Innovation is a formal partner of Engage R+D, co-leading FEAN and the Evaluation Roundtable, and serves the same funder-evaluator community with overlapping services.
- Public Profit: Evaluation and capacity-building consulting firm focused on the social sector. Public Profit is a listed partner of Engage R+D with overlapping service lines (evaluation, capacity building, strategy support) and a comparable foundation/nonprofit client base.
- Equal Measure: Philadelphia-based evaluation and learning firm serving foundations, nonprofits, and public agencies. Equal Measure co-leads the Funder & Evaluator Affinity Network (FEAN) with Engage R+D, making it the most directly comparable peer on service offering, target customer base, and network co-leadership.
Broad incumbents
- The Bridgespan Group: Strategy and management consulting firm focused on the social sector, including foundations and nonprofits. Bridgespan operates as a broad incumbent with overlapping strategy, capacity building, and learning services aimed at foundation and nonprofit clients.
- Arabella Advisors: National philanthropic advisory and consulting firm (including through acquired Blueprint Research+Design, where Anna Saltzman worked). Arabella offers evaluation and learning as part of a broader portfolio competing for foundation consulting budgets that Engage R+D also targets.
- Mathematica Policy Research: Large, established policy research and evaluation firm serving foundations, federal agencies, and nonprofits. Mathematica is the prior employer of senior Engage R+D consultant Anna Saltzman and represents a broad incumbent competitor with overlapping evaluation capabilities.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Engage R+D social profiles
Digital presenceEngage R+D financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Engage R+D leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Engage R+D funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Engage R+D M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Engage R+D
What does Engage R+D do?
Engage R+D is a management consulting firm that delivers professional evaluation, strategy, facilitation, and capacity-building services to foundations, nonprofit organizations, and public agencies. The firm helps clients design and apply diverse evaluation approaches (formative, developmental, outcome), convene stakeholders to catalyze systems change, and build organizational capacity to use data for adaptive strategy and better results.
Is Engage R+D a public or private company?
Engage R+D is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Engage R+D founded?
Engage R+D was founded in 2017. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Engage R+D based?
Engage R+D is headquartered in Pasadena, United States, in the North America region.
How does Engage R+D make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Evaluation & Learning Services are the primary driver. The others are facilitation & Engagement Services, strategy Consulting and capacity Building Services.
Who are Engage R+D's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are ORS Impact, Frontline Solutions, Research for Action, Informing Change, Center for Evaluation Innovation, Public Profit and Equal Measure. Broad incumbents are The Bridgespan Group, Arabella Advisors and Mathematica Policy Research.
Does Engage R+D have an API?
No public API is recorded for Engage R+D.
What industry is Engage R+D in?
Engage R+D's product category is Social Impact Consulting. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHACAB, Operations & Process Improvement Consulting. Its NAICS code is 541618 and its SIC code is 8742.