ISET-International
ISET-International is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1997 that delivers technical advisory services, proprietary measurement frameworks, and MEL systems on climate resilience and disaster risk reduction to governments, foundations, and multi-lateral organizations across Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1997
- HeadquartersBoulder, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What ISET-International does
ISET-International (Institute for Social and Environmental Transition-International) is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1997 and headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. The organization provides technical advisory services on climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and resilience-building to government agencies, foundations, multi-lateral organizations, NGOs, and vulnerable communities across South and Southeast Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania. Core staff operate from Boulder and Hanoi, with additional staff in Cambodia and Indonesia, supported by a global network of associates. ISET positions itself as a knowledge broker bridging communities, governments, and the global research community, with a particular focus on urban climate and disaster resilience.
The organization's core technology consists of proprietary analytical frameworks and methodologies rather than commercial software: the Climate Resilience Framework (CRF), Post Event Review Capability (PERC), Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities (CRMC), Flood Resilience Measurement for Communities (FRMC), Shared Learning Dialogue (SLD), the Vietnam City Resilience Index, and the Integrated Disaster Risk Management Information System (DRMIS). These frameworks have been validated through peer-reviewed publications, multi-country pilots, and awards including the UNFCCC Lighthouse Award (2014) and US National Hurricane Conference Outstanding Achievement Award (2019). Service lines span Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) systems, program design and implementation, applied research, and technical consultancies.
ISET's business model is grant-funded and project-based. The organization secures funding from foundations (Z Zurich Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation), government development programs (USAID, GCF, ADB, NDF, AFD, NOAA, Colorado DOLA), and international organizations (UN agencies, GIZ), and delivers technical inputs under direct consultancy contracts. Notable recent engagements include the $28M Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance (2018-2024), the ACCCRN program ($15M+ delivered over 11 years), and three major Green Climate Fund independent evaluations (2019, 2022, 2023). The organization is led by Executive Director Karen MacClune, Ph.D., with an 11-50 headcount.
ISET-International firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ISET-International
- Legal name
- Institute for Social and Environmental Transition-International
- Website
- https://i-s-e-t.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1997
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- ISET-International is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1997 that delivers technical advisory services, proprietary measurement frameworks, and MEL systems on climate resilience and disaster risk reduction to governments, foundations, and multi-lateral organizations across Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ISET-International industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Climate Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction Services
- NAICS
- National Security and International Affairs (9281)
- SIC
- International Affairs (9721)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation & Resilience Programs (BPAIAMAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming (BPADAEAK), Sustainability, ESG & Climate Risk Advisory (BPAHAJAH)
Keywords
Where ISET-International is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Boulder
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices4 records
Markets served
ISET-International business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Grant Funding: Primary revenue from foundation grants, government development programs, and international organization funding. ISET-International is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
- Technical Consultancy Services: Delivers targeted technical inputs for government agencies, grant-makers, donors, multi-laterals, and private-sector consulting firms. Projects cut across MEL, program design, research and technical areas.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
ISET-International product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ISET-International is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that builds climate resilience through program design, implementation, evaluation, and learning. It delivers technical advisory services, proprietary resilience frameworks and measurement tools, monitoring/evaluation/learning (MEL) systems, and applied research to government agencies, grant-makers, donors, multi-lateral organizations, and private-sector consulting firms, with a particular focus on urban climate and disaster resilience.
Product overview
ISET-International is a non-profit organization (US 501(c)(3)) that builds climate resilience through consulting services, frameworks, and tools rather than a unified software product. Their offerings consist of analytical frameworks (Climate Resilience Framework), methodologies (Post Event Review Capability/PERC), measurement tools (Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities/CRMC, Flood Resilience Measurement for Communities/FRMC, Vietnam City Resilience Index), stakeholder engagement processes (Shared Learning Dialogue), software platforms (Integrated Disaster Risk Management Information System), programs (Storm Resistant Housing, Vietnam Community of Practice), and publications (technical handbooks, assessment tools like BoCo Strong, policy frameworks like Colorado Resiliency Playbook). These offerings are primarily consultancy and research-based rather than commercial software products, serving government agencies, donors, multilateral organizations, and communities across South/Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Climate Resilience Framework (CRF) An analytical, systems-based approach to building resilience to climate change, providing a conceptual framework that moves practitioners from assessing vulnerabilities and risk to identifying resilience strategies through an open, inclusive learning process. Intended for governments, practitioners, and resilience program implementers.
- Post Event Review Capability (PERC) A systematic analysis methodology for examining how a hazard becomes a disaster, using a system-wide approach that reviews events across scales and sectors and all five aspects of the disaster risk management cycle. Targeted at governments, insurers, humanitarian organizations, and researchers.
- Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities (CRMC) A participatory approach and tool for measuring climate resilience at the community level, guiding users through structured processes to generate evidence about community resilience to climate hazards including floods, extreme heat, wildfires, and tropical storms. Designed for community organizations, governments, and development practitioners.
- Flood Resilience Measurement for Communities (FRMC) A participatory method for measuring community flood resilience, centering communities in generating resilience data that is actively used to build flood resilience. Used by community organizations, governments, and humanitarian/development partners.
- Shared Learning Dialogue (SLD) A stakeholder engagement process designed to overcome sectoral siloing and bridge local-to-global information through semi-structured, dynamically facilitated interactions. Used by organizations running multi-stakeholder climate and development programs.
- Integrated Disaster Risk Management Information System (DRMIS)
- Storm Resistant Housing Program
- BoCo Strong Resilience Assessment
- Colorado Resiliency Playbook
- Vietnam City Resilience Index
- PERC Manual (2020 edition)
- Technical Consultancy Services
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 15 million USD of resilience projects delivered over 11 years through ACCCRN program
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use ISET-International
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
ISET-International technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
ISET-International partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
19 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Zurich Insurance Group (Z Zurich Foundation)coreLong-term strategic partnership for climate resilience. ISET has worked with Z Zurich Foundation for over a decade, first in the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance (2018-2024) and now in the expanded Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (2024-2027). ISET serves as MERL lead and core partner contributing to alliance governance. Total alliance funding of $28,000,000 across all partners, with ISET's portion at $2,860,000.
- Concern WorldwidecoreAlliance partner in the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (2024-2027), working across 24 countries on climate resilience programs.
- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)coreAlliance partner, collaborated with ISET on revising the FRMC to incorporate extreme heat and urban settings. Part of the Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities framework development.
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)coreAlliance partner collaborating with ISET, Zurich, and IFRC on revising the Flood Resilience Measurement for Communities (FRMC) to incorporate extreme heat and adapt for urban settings.
- London School of Economics (LSE) Grantham InstitutecoreAlliance partner in the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance contributing to climate resilience research and knowledge development.
- Mercy CorpscoreAlliance partner in the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance, working on humanitarian and development programs.
- Plan InternationalcoreAlliance partner collaborating on Vietnam programs, including joint activities at national level with ISET-Vietnam on advocacy for resilience approach in disaster risk management.
- Practical ActioncoreAlliance partner in the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance with expertise in appropriate technology for development.
- Green Climate Fund Independent Evaluation UnitcoreISET supported three major independent evaluations of GCF's global impact (2019, 2022, 2023), including case studies on Mauritius, Solomon Islands, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Pacific Island LDCs.
- Ajabu AdvisorsminorPartner in delivering Climate Justice Resilience Fund portfolio reviews in 2020 and 2023.
- BaastelminorPartner in leading GCF evaluations together with GCF's Independent Evaluation Unit.
- ARUPminorPartner in ACCCRN program, involved in city selection and initial engagement for climate resilience work.
- Vietnam National Institute for Science and Technology PolicyminorNational partner in Vietnam for ACCCRN program, supporting urban climate resilience initiatives.
- World Bank - EnABLEminorPartnership for designing and drafting the initial MEL framework for the EnABLE funding window benefiting women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples.
- Da Nang Women's UnionminorPartner implementing storm resilient housing project, establishing revolving loan fund for low-income households. Maintained 100% repayment rate for the loan fund.
- Development Workshop France (DWF)minorPartner in storm resilient housing project in Vietnam.
- Thua Thien-Hue Department of Natural Resources and EnvironmentminorGovernment partner in M-BRACE program for climate resilience planning in Hue City.
- Lao Cai Department of Natural Resources and EnvironmentminorGovernment partner in M-BRACE program for climate resilience planning in Lao Cai City.
- Thailand Environmental Institute (TEI)minorRegional partner in M-BRACE program supporting climate resilience in Thai cities.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights5 records
ISET-International competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Mercy Corps: Mercy Corps is a Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance partner alongside ISET, working on humanitarian and climate resilience programs. Both organizations deliver community-based programming with emphasis on vulnerable populations in developing country contexts, with similar donor bases and program geographies.
- Practical Action: Practical Action is a Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance partner with expertise in appropriate technology for development. Both organizations focus on community-level climate resilience and disaster risk reduction in developing countries, with overlapping methodologies around participatory approaches and community engagement.
- Plan International: Plan International is a Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance partner collaborating with ISET on Vietnam programs. Both organizations engage in community-based resilience programming with overlapping focus on vulnerable populations, gender mainstreaming, and advocacy for resilience approaches in disaster risk management.
- Concern Worldwide: Concern is a core alliance partner in the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (2024-2027) alongside ISET. Both work in humanitarian and climate resilience programming across multiple countries, with Concern providing NGO implementation scale and ISET contributing MERL and measurement expertise.
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA): IIASA is a Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance partner that collaborated with ISET on revising the FRMC for extreme heat and urban settings. Both organizations contribute systems-analysis and modeling expertise to climate resilience research, with IIASA focusing on technical research and ISET on field implementation.
- ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability: ICLEI works with local governments on urban climate resilience and sustainability planning globally. Both ISET and ICLEI focus on city-level climate resilience, urban planning integration, and capacity building for municipal governments, with ISET providing deeper measurement expertise and ICLEI offering broader network reach.
- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC): IFRC is an alliance partner collaborating with ISET on CRMC development and the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance. Both organizations deliver community-based climate and disaster resilience programs globally, with overlapping NGO/implementing-partner roles and complementary technical capacities in vulnerability assessment and community engagement.
Broad incumbents
- World Resources Institute (WRI): WRI is a global research organization working on climate resilience, sustainable cities, and environmental governance. Both ISET and WRI produce research, frameworks, and tools for climate adaptation, with WRI operating at significantly larger scale and broader scope while ISET maintains deeper community-level implementation focus.
- Zurich Insurance Group (Climate Resilience Alliance): Zurich is the strategic anchor of the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance where ISET serves as MERL lead. Both focus on community-level flood and climate resilience measurement across 24+ countries, with Zurich providing insurance industry perspective and ISET contributing methodology and community programming expertise.
- Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI): CDRI is a multi-stakeholder coalition focused on disaster and climate resilient infrastructure globally. Both organizations work on resilience measurement and program design with developing country governments, with CDRI operating at larger infrastructure-system scale and ISET maintaining community-level programmatic focus.
Market position
Strengths1 record
Weaknesses1 record
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
ISET-International social profiles
Digital presenceISET-International financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ISET-International leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles18 records
ISET-International funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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ISET-International 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 ISET-International
What does ISET-International do?
ISET-International is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that builds climate resilience through program design, implementation, evaluation, and learning. It delivers technical advisory services, proprietary resilience frameworks and measurement tools, monitoring/evaluation/learning (MEL) systems, and applied research to government agencies, grant-makers, donors, multi-lateral organizations, and private-sector consulting firms, with a particular focus on urban climate and disaster resilience.
Is ISET-International a public or private company?
ISET-International is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was ISET-International founded?
ISET-International was founded in 1997. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is ISET-International based?
ISET-International is headquartered in Boulder, United States, in the North America region.
How does ISET-International make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Grant Funding is the primary driver. The others are technical Consultancy Services.
Who are ISET-International's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Mercy Corps, Practical Action, Plan International, Concern Worldwide, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Broad incumbents are World Resources Institute (WRI), Zurich Insurance Group (Climate Resilience Alliance) and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
Does ISET-International have an API?
No public API is recorded for ISET-International.
What industry is ISET-International in?
ISET-International's product category is Climate Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAIAMAD, Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation & Resilience Programs, with a secondary code of BPADAEAK, Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming. Its NAICS code is 9281 and its SIC code is 9721.