Engage R+D

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.

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

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

• Evaluation consulting
• Social impact assessment
• Philanthropy advisory services
• Nonprofit strategy consulting
• Culturally responsive evaluation

Headquarters

HQ city

Pasadena

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Evaluation & Learning Services: Professional consulting services for assessing impact, applying diverse evaluation designs, methods, and learning approaches including formative, developmental, and outcome evaluations.
2. Facilitation & Engagement Services: Convening diverse stakeholders to learn from one another and catalyze systems change, helping groups surface key issues and bridge divergent perspectives.
3. Strategy Consulting: Working with organizations to design and implement adaptive strategies using data visualization, design thinking, and creative planning exercises.
4. Capacity Building Services: Helping organizations assess and build their capacity to use data, develop more effective strategies, and achieve better results.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core 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

Named customers15 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Center for Evaluation InnovationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization in evaluation and learning. Co-leads the Funder & Evaluator Affinity Network (FEAN) and collaborates on field-building initiatives including Evaluation Roundtable.
• Informing ChangecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEvaluation 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 UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner for network learning and leadership development.
• Equal MeasurecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-leads the Funder & Evaluator Affinity Network (FEAN) with Engage R+D, focused on advancing evaluation and learning in philanthropy.
• Public ProfitminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEvaluation consulting partner organization.
• Research for ActionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partner organization.
• Program for Environmental Equity (PERE) at University of Southern CaliforniaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner focused on environmental equity research.
• Frontline SolutionsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization in evaluation and consulting.
• Luminare GroupminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization in evaluation.
• Parker StrategiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization in strategy consulting.
• Research for Social ImpactminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization in research.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct 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

• Xx.com/engagerd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Engage R+D