Sharp Insight

What Sharp Insight does

Sharp Insight, LLC is a woman-led evaluation consulting firm founded in 2013 and headquartered in Kensington, Maryland (Montgomery County). The firm provides full-service program evaluation services to mission-driven organizations, organized around a proprietary four-stage methodology called the Design-Measure-Share-Improve framework. Design services include evaluation strategy development, needs assessments, logic models, and measurement frameworks. Measure services encompass surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews, program observation, and both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Share services cover data visualization, dashboards, infographics, technical reports, manuscripts, and dissemination strategy. Improve services focus on capacity building, including technical assistance, data system support, and evaluation trainings.

The firm's primary customers are nonprofit organizations, government agencies, educational institutions (school districts and universities), and healthcare organizations. Notable engagements include multi-year evaluations for New York City Public Schools (health education impact analysis on 425,000 students), Baltimore City Public Schools and the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation (Baltimore Library Project), the University of Maryland Horowitz Center for Health Literacy (Consumer Health Information Hub monitoring under Maryland HB 1082), and Montgomery County Recreation (out-of-school time impact reporting). The firm also publishes a free resource library (Evaluation Soup blog, tip sheets, quizzes, and methodology guides) to support thought leadership and demand generation.

Sharp Insight operates as a privately held, bootstrapped LLC with no external investors, no parent company, and no disclosed funding rounds. The firm employs 1-10 people and generates revenue through project-based professional services engagements with customized pricing tied to client scope. Distribution is direct client engagement, primarily within Maryland but extending to select out-of-state engagements.

Name

Sharp Insight

Legal name

Sharp Insight, LLC

Website

https://sharp-insight.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Sharp Insight is a woman-led evaluation consulting firm founded in 2013 in Kensington, Maryland, that helps nonprofits, government agencies, educational institutions, and healthcare organizations measure and strengthen program impact through its Design-Measure-Share-Improve framework.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Program Evaluation Consulting

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Other Management Consulting Services (541618)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Competitive Intelligence & Benchmarking (BPAHALAB)

Keywords

• Program evaluation services
• Impact measurement consulting
• Mixed methods research
• Evaluation capacity building
• Data storytelling

Headquarters

HQ city

Kensington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Evaluation Services: Project-based professional services engagements including evaluation planning, data collection and analysis, report development, and evaluation capacity building trainings. Services are customized to each client's context, goals, and resources.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Sharp Insight is a full-service evaluation consulting firm that partners with mission-driven organizations to design customized evaluation strategies, gather and analyze evidence (surveys, focus groups, interviews, SROI analysis), translate findings into compelling data stories (reports, dashboards, infographics), and build clients' internal evaluation capacity through training and technical assistance. Services are organized around the firm's proprietary four-stage Design-Measure-Share-Improve framework.

Product overview

Sharp Insight is a full-service evaluation consulting firm offering professional evaluation services organized around their Design-Measure-Share-Improve framework. The core services include Design (customized evaluation strategies, needs assessments, logic models), Measure (surveys, focus groups, interviews, data analysis), Share (data visualization, dashboards, reports, presentations), and Improve (technical assistance, trainings, capacity building). In addition to consulting services, Sharp Insight offers a library of free educational resources including Evaluation Soup, Survey Design Quiz, Focus Group Tip Sheet, Virtual Focus Groups, Logic Model, Mission-Money Matrix, Top 5 Program Evaluation Myths, Survey Design Tip Sheet, Personal Information on Surveys, RPT (Retrospective Post-then-Pre), In-Depth Interviews, Data Dashboard, Bias Limitation, SMARTIE Indicators, and Outputs vs. Outcomes Quiz. The firm primarily serves nonprofits, schools, government agencies, and organizations seeking to strengthen their impact through data-driven evaluation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Design Services Customized evaluation strategies and tools for mission-driven organizations, including literature and landscape reviews, needs assessments, data strategy consulting, logic models and theories of change, organizational evaluation plans, and measurement frameworks.
• Measure Services Evidence-gathering engagement that designs and executes surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews, program observation, online analytics, Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis, and quantitative and qualitative data analysis to document program outcomes.
• Share Services Data storytelling and dissemination support including data visualization, dashboards, infographics, report summaries and briefs, technical reports, manuscripts, dissemination strategy, data parties, and presentations to communicate findings to funders, partners, and communities.
• Improve Services Capacity-building services including evaluation technical assistance, data system support, and evaluation capacity building trainings that equip client teams to independently continue evaluation work.

Quantifiable outcome

• 425,000 middle and high school students analyzed in NYC health education evaluation
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Harry and Jeanette Weinberg FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPublic-philanthropic partnership evaluating the Baltimore Library Project, which renovates school libraries and staffs them with certified library media specialists in Baltimore City Public Schools. Sharp Insight led a multi-study evaluation examining implementation best practices and the financing model.
• NYC Public Schools Office of School Wellness ProgramscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMulti-year engagement (2021-2023) to conduct mixed-methods evaluation exploring which health education practices are associated with significant impacts on student health risk behaviors. Collaboratively developed research plan, statistical models, and public-facing materials.
• University of Maryland, School of Public Health - Horowitz Center for Health LiteracycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to support monitoring and evaluation of the Consumer Health Information Hub, created under Maryland House Bill 1082. Co-developed evaluation questions, logic model, evaluation plan, and annual technical reports for state legislators.
• Nonprofit MontgomerycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to develop the 2025 State of Nonprofits report for Montgomery County, MD. Supported mixed-methods design including survey development (55 member organizations), data analysis, and report co-development with Nonprofit Montgomery leadership team.
• Montgomery County Recreation DepartmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to analyze years of program data on out-of-school time programs and create a 13-page Impact Report demonstrating program impact on children, youth, and families across the community.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Equal Measure: Equal Measure is a Philadelphia-based evaluation and capacity-building firm serving nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies. It is one of the closest direct peers to Sharp Insight by mission, service mix, and client base.
• The OMG Center for Collaborative Learning: OMG Center is a woman-led evaluation and learning organization that partners with foundations and nonprofits on impact measurement and capacity building. Its mission and evaluation-plus-capacity-building model mirror Sharp Insight's approach.
• Beacon Research: Beacon Research is a small evaluation firm providing program evaluation and research services to foundations, government agencies, and nonprofits. Comparable in size, methodology emphasis, and customer segments to Sharp Insight.
• TDA Consulting: TDA Consulting is a woman-owned evaluation firm offering program evaluation, strategic planning, and capacity-building services to nonprofits and public agencies. Closely aligned with Sharp Insight on services and target customers.
• Informing Change (formerly Innovation Network): Informing Change is a mission-driven evaluation and learning firm serving foundations, nonprofits, and public agencies with mixed-methods evaluation and capacity building. Comparable service mix and customer profile to Sharp Insight.

Broad incumbents

• Mathematica Policy Research: Mathematica is a large, established policy research and evaluation firm with deep government and foundation contracts. It competes for the same program evaluation RFPs as Sharp Insight but operates at far greater scale across many policy domains.
• MDRC: MDRC is a major nonprofit social policy research organization conducting rigorous evaluations of education, employment, and social programs. It is a larger incumbent competing for the same rigorous-impact-evaluation engagements.
• Westat: Westat is a large employee-owned research firm offering program evaluation, statistical analysis, and survey research for federal, state, and foundation clients. Competes with Sharp Insight on larger evaluation contracts.
• NORC at the University of Chicago: NORC is a large independent research institution affiliated with the University of Chicago that conducts program evaluation and policy research for government and foundations. Represents the large-scale incumbent side of the same market.
• Abt Associates: Abt Associates is a global research and consulting firm with a substantial program evaluation practice serving federal agencies and foundations. Competes for large-scale public-sector evaluation work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sharpinsightllc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sharp-insight-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Sharp Insight