ORS Impact
ORS Impact is a Seattle-based evaluation consulting firm, founded in 1989, that provides measurement, learning, and evaluation services to foundations, nonprofits, and government agencies through proprietary frameworks like I2L2 and the MLE Lab cohort program.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1989
- HeadquartersSeattle, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What ORS Impact does
ORS Impact is a privately held evaluation consulting firm founded in 1989 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The firm specializes in measurement, learning, and evaluation (MLE) services for foundations, nonprofits, and governmental agencies engaged in complex social change work. Its core offerings include strategy development, theory of change, evaluation, and the MLE Practice — including the MLE Lab, a six-month cohort-based consulting engagement that helps organizations build MLE practices in a peer-learning environment.
The firm's intellectual property is anchored by proprietary frameworks such as I2L2 (Impact, Influence, Leverage, and Learning) for articulating systems change outcomes, the Participatory Grantmaking Evaluation Framework (Nov 2025), and the Narrative Change Components Framework. ORS Impact pairs these frameworks with rigorous research methods including process tracing and cross-site collective impact studies, producing a publication library of 69+ briefs, reports, and tools used across the philanthropic sector.
ORS Impact operates as a pure professional services firm on a sales-led, direct-engagement model. Revenue derives from custom consulting engagements and the recurring MLE Lab cohort program; pricing is not publicly disclosed. The firm lists marquee foundation clients including MacArthur, Gates, Hewlett, Packard, and Public Welfare Foundation, alongside nonprofits and government clients such as Kamehameha Schools and the City of Seattle. The company has been independently operated with no parent, no external investors, and no funding rounds disclosed, and is led by CEO Sarah Stachowiak with a small team of 11-50 employees.
ORS Impact firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ORS Impact
- Legal name
- ORS Impact
- Website
- https://orsimpact.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1989
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- ORS Impact is a Seattle-based evaluation consulting firm, founded in 1989, that provides measurement, learning, and evaluation services to foundations, nonprofits, and government agencies through proprietary frameworks like I2L2 and the MLE Lab cohort program.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ORS Impact industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Evaluation Consulting Services
- NAICS
- Management Consulting Services (54161), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Education Policy Evaluation & Impact Assessment Organizations (EDADADAD)
Keywords
Where ORS Impact is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Seattle
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
ORS Impact business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Consulting Services: Professional consulting engagements providing evaluation, measurement, and strategy services to foundations, nonprofits, and governmental agencies. Services include strategy development, theory of change, evaluation, and MLE practice development.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
ORS Impact product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ORS Impact delivers evaluation, measurement, and strategy consulting services to foundations, nonprofits, and government agencies working on social change. Core offerings include MLE Lab (a six-month cohort-based consulting engagement), MLE Development & Support, Systems Evaluation, Strategy Development, Theory of Change, and Advocacy & Policy Evaluation. The firm also produces proprietary frameworks such as I2L2 and a library of 69+ publications.
Product overview
ORS Impact is an internationally recognized evaluation consulting firm founded in 1989, specializing in measurement, evaluation, and strategy for social change. The company operates as a professional services firm offering both service engagements and intellectual property products. Core service offerings include MLE Lab (a six-month cohort-based consulting engagement), MLE Development & Support (tailored consulting), and Systems Evaluation services. Key frameworks include the I2L2 (Impact, Influence, Leverage, and Learning) Outcomes Framework for systems change work, and the Participatory Grantmaking Evaluation Framework. The firm also produces extensive publications and resources (69+ publications) covering advocacy evaluation, narrative change measurement, collective impact, field building, and coalition evaluation. ORS Impact works alongside foundations, nonprofits, government agencies, and associations, applying its distinctive expertise in planning, measurement, and evaluation to help clients navigate complex social change challenges.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- MLE Lab: Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation Lab - a six-month consulting engagement designed to help organizations build measurement, learning, and evaluation practices.
Products and services
- MLE Lab A six-month consulting engagement designed for teams to develop Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation (MLE) practices in a safe learning environment, facilitated by field-leading experts in a peer-learning cohort format. For foundations, nonprofits, and government agencies seeking to build MLE practice.
- MLE Development & Support Consulting services to help nonprofit and philanthropic clients determine their overall priorities and approach to measurement and learning, develop learning questions, and build organizational practices and rituals for ongoing MLE.
- Systems Evaluation Evaluation services specializing in complex and dynamic systems, including public health, education, workforce and economic development, comprehensive community change, and advocacy and policy.
- Evaluation Services Evaluation services covering Advocacy & Policy Evaluation and Network Evaluation, supporting foundations, nonprofits, and associations in measuring social change initiatives.
- Strategy Development Consulting services supporting organizations in developing strategy, including theory of change, to guide their social change work.
- Publications and Resources Extensive library of 69 publications including briefs, reports, frameworks, tools, working papers, and how-to guides covering topics such as advocacy evaluation, narrative change, systems change, theory of change, and network evaluation.
Quantifiable outcome
- Conducted rigorous study of 25 collective impact initiatives to understand when and how collective impact contributes to systems and population change
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use ORS Impact
Customer profileNamed customers14 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
ORS Impact technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
ORS Impact partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Spark Policy InstitutecoreORS Impact and Spark Policy Institute completed a rigorous study to understand when and how collective impact contributes to systems and population change. Looking across 25 initiatives, the study examined the contribution and outcomes of collective impact, design and implementation, with a specific focus on equity. This partnership produced a landmark cross-site study of collective impact initiatives.
- Fund for Shared InsightcoreORS Impact evaluated Fund for Shared Insight, a 12-year, $78 million initiative that supported nonprofits in gathering feedback from clients and funders in listening, responding, and shifting power. ORS shared core accomplishments, contributions to philanthropic and social sectors, and lessons learned from this decade-long engagement.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights4 records
ORS Impact competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- FSG: FSG is a global consultancy advising foundations and nonprofits on strategy, evaluation, and collective impact. It directly competes with ORS Impact on systems-change evaluation and serves many of the same large US foundations.
- La Piana Consulting: La Piana Consulting partners with nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies on strategy, mergers, and impact. It overlaps on foundation and nonprofit advisory, including theory-of-change and strategy work.
- The Bridgespan Group: Bridgespan advises philanthropists, foundations, and nonprofits on strategy, evaluation, and scaling impact. It overlaps on foundation advisory and impact evaluation for the same marquee funder segment.
- TCC Group: TCC Group is a consulting firm for nonprofits and foundations offering strategy, evaluation, and capacity-building services. It serves the same core buyer (foundation and nonprofit leaders) with overlapping capabilities in evaluation and MLE practice development.
- Center for Evaluation Innovation: The Center for Evaluation Innovation focuses specifically on evaluation strategy and practice for foundations and advocacy efforts. It is a niche peer overlapping on advocacy and policy evaluation frameworks and funder audiences.
- Spark Policy Institute: Spark Policy Institute specializes in collective impact and systems-change evaluation. It is a direct collaborator with ORS Impact on the 25-initiative cross-site study and serves an identical evaluation-advisory niche.
- Harder+Company Community Research: Harder+Company provides research, evaluation, and learning services for nonprofits, foundations, and public agencies on social impact programs. It is a directly comparable boutique evaluator competing for similar foundation and community-change engagements.
- Innovation Network / Insight for Equity: Innovation Network (now Insight for Equity) provides evaluation and learning support for nonprofits, foundations, and networks. It overlaps on MLE practice-building and network evaluation methodology.
Broad incumbents
- Arabella Advisors: Arabella Advisors is a larger consulting and advisory firm for philanthropists and nonprofits spanning strategy, program design, and impact. It is a broader incumbent offering evaluation-adjacent services but at significantly larger scale.
- Mathematica: Mathematica is a large policy research and evaluation firm with deep practice in social programs. It is a broader incumbent competing on large foundation and government evaluation contracts where ORS Impact's boutique scale is mismatched.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
ORS Impact social profiles
Digital presenceORS Impact financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ORS Impact leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
ORS Impact funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ORS Impact 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 ORS Impact
What does ORS Impact do?
ORS Impact delivers evaluation, measurement, and strategy consulting services to foundations, nonprofits, and government agencies working on social change. Core offerings include MLE Lab (a six-month cohort-based consulting engagement), MLE Development & Support, Systems Evaluation, Strategy Development, Theory of Change, and Advocacy & Policy Evaluation. The firm also produces proprietary frameworks such as I2L2 and a library of 69+ publications.
Is ORS Impact a public or private company?
ORS Impact is a private company. It is classified as unknown and is currently operating.
When was ORS Impact founded?
ORS Impact was founded in 1989. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is ORS Impact based?
ORS Impact is headquartered in Seattle, United States, in the North America region.
How does ORS Impact make money?
One revenue line is on record: consulting Services.
Who are ORS Impact's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are FSG, La Piana Consulting, The Bridgespan Group, TCC Group, Center for Evaluation Innovation, Spark Policy Institute, Harder+Company Community Research and Innovation Network / Insight for Equity. Broad incumbents are Arabella Advisors and Mathematica.
Does ORS Impact have an API?
No public API is recorded for ORS Impact.
What industry is ORS Impact in?
ORS Impact's product category is Evaluation Consulting Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDADADAD, Education Policy Evaluation & Impact Assessment Organizations. Its NAICS code is 54161 and its SIC code is 8742.