Copia Consulting

What Copia Consulting does

Copia Consulting LLC is a privately held, woman-owned boutique consulting firm headquartered in Austin, Texas, founded in 2002 by Angela Luck and Rachel Howell. The firm provides research and evaluation, community engagement facilitation, project management, and special education/parent engagement services to non-profit foundations, charter school networks, and city, county, and state government agencies. Its core verticals are adult and child mental health, criminal justice, child welfare, and education reform, with documented project work on federal initiatives including Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation (I3), and the School Safety Grant.

The firm's service model is built on mixed-methods research — combining qualitative techniques (focus groups, case studies, interviews, observations) with quantitative/statistical modeling — delivered by a small core team that scales through a network of partner firms and independent contractors. A key technical differentiator is the boutique structure itself: Copia markets direct principal access, rapid proposal/report turnaround, and lower indirect-cost rates compared with university-affiliated research entities. Dr. Christina Steiner (PhD, Pardee RAND Graduate School; former RAND Corporation researcher) leads the quantitative evaluation function and brings prior experience managing over $120 million in annual grant funding at a charter school network.

Copia generates revenue through project-based, quote-driven professional services contracts — primarily external evaluation on federal and state grants, organizational development consulting for non-profits, and facilitation/staff training for school districts. Go-to-market is predominantly founder-led, leveraging 30+ years of Austin residency, Texas social-services networks, task force participation (Mayor's Mental Health Task Force, Travis County Reentry Roundtable), and a long-tenured subcontractor relationship with SRI International. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. The firm also operates Copia Cares, a branded social initiative focused on food insecurity and houselessness in Austin.

Name

Copia Consulting

Legal name

Copia Consulting LLC

Website

https://copiaconsulting.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Copia Consulting is a woman-owned boutique consulting firm in Austin, Texas providing research and evaluation, community engagement facilitation, project management, and special education services to non-profit foundations, charter school networks, and government agencies across the social services, mental health, criminal justice, and education sectors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Services Research and Evaluation Consulting

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Other Management Consulting Services (541618), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Sector & Policy Consulting (BPAHACAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

Program & Project Management (PMO) Consulting (BPAHACAL), Policy, Regulatory & Public Affairs Research (BPAHALAF), Think Tanks, Policy Research & Public Policy Institutes (BPAGAFAO)

Keywords

• Research and evaluation services
• Social services consulting
• Community engagement facilitation
• Program evaluation consulting
• Nonprofit organizational development

Headquarters

HQ city

Austin

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, Others

Revenue model

1. Research and Evaluation Services: External evaluation services for federal and state grants, primarily serving charter schools and non-profit organizations. Revenue generated through contracted evaluation project fees.
2. Consulting Services: Project management, community engagement facilitation, and organizational development consulting for non-profit and public sector clients.
3. Special Education Services: Parent symposiums, training sessions for special education staff, and facilitation services for school districts.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Copia Consulting is a boutique evaluation and consulting firm providing external research and evaluation services for federal and state grants, community engagement facilitation, project management, and special education parent engagement. The firm emphasizes qualitative and quantitative mixed-methods research (focus groups, case studies, interviews, observations) and serves charter schools, non-profit foundations, and government agencies in mental health, criminal justice, child welfare, and education reform sectors.

Product overview

Copia Consulting is a boutique consulting firm offering four interconnected core services: Research & Evaluation (qualitative and quantitative analysis for federal/state grants), Community Engagement (facilitation and systems-change work), Project Management (managing multi-million dollar projects), and Special Education & Parent Engagement (working with school districts and parents of children with special needs). The firm also operates Copia Cares, a social initiative addressing food insecurity and houselessness. These services work together to help clients move from vision to action, with the company specializing in education, mental health, criminal justice, and child welfare sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Copia Cares: An initiative representing the intersection of all of Copia's areas of experience, focusing on community needs such as food insecurity and houselessness in Austin and beyond.

Products and services

• Research & Evaluation Services Boutique evaluation services including qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, with emphasis on qualitative research through focus groups, case studies, interviews, and observations. Designed for charter schools, non-profit organizations, and government agencies requiring rigorous evaluation of federal and state grant-funded programs.
• Community Engagement Services Facilitation services that help non-profit foundations identify gaps in community services, develop solutions through stakeholder engagement, and direct funding to critical needs. Includes convening diverse stakeholders across mental health, criminal justice, child welfare, and education to build momentum for transformational change.
• Project Management Services Comprehensive project management including identification of critical project elements, creation of detailed work plans with timelines, budget oversight, and adaptation to changes or new information. Designed for non-profit organizations and public sector clients managing complex social service and youth justice programs.
• Special Education & Parent Engagement Services Services working with school districts to ensure parent voices are heard, conducting Parent Symposiums for up to 200 parents of children with special needs, producing detailed reports with recommendations, and providing training sessions for Special Education staff. Designed for school districts seeking to improve parent engagement and service quality for children with special needs.

Quantifiable outcome

• Successfully completed evaluation projects for major federal initiatives including Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation (I3), and School Safety Grant
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• SRI International (Stanford Research Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2007Copia has partnered with SRI International for over 8 years, subcontracting for evaluation services on numerous state and federal grants including the Texas High School Project, Charter School Program, Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation (I3), and School Safety Grant. This partnership began in 2007 and continues today, spanning multiple evaluation projects.
• Casey Family ProgramscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunded the Parents Forward initiative and commissioned a multi-method study of the Travis County Family Court's Court Ordered Services Program. Partnership focuses on improving child welfare outcomes through evidence-based practices.
• Various Research Firms and Independent ConsultantsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCopia maintains connections to multiple research firms, non-profit foundations, and independent consultants, enabling them to recruit and form customized teams for a wide variety of projects.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Westat: Employee-owned research firm providing statistical, evaluation, and survey research for federal, state, and foundation clients. Direct competitor on federal grant evaluations in social services and education.
• MDRC: Nonprofit social-policy research organization specializing in evaluations of education, employment, and social programs for federal and state agencies. Direct competitor in Copia's federal grant evaluation core.
• Mathematica Policy Research: Large nonpartisan research and evaluation firm with deep federal/state government and foundation clients. Directly competes with Copia for education, social-services, and criminal-justice evaluation RFPs, though at significantly larger scale.
• Abt Associates: Major research and evaluation consultancy focused on health, social, environmental, and economic policy. Competes head-to-head with Copia on federal program evaluations in education, mental health, and child welfare.
• Child Trends: Nonprofit research organization focused exclusively on children, youth, and families — overlapping Copia's child welfare, education, and juvenile-justice evaluation work.
• ICF International: Public-sector consultancy with a sizable evaluation and analytics practice serving federal and state agencies in health, education, and human services. Competes with Copia on similar evaluation RFPs at much larger scale.
• NORC at the University of Chicago: Independent research organization conducting social science and policy evaluation for government and foundation clients. Overlaps with Copia's mixed-methods research in education, health, and justice.
• Urban Institute: Think tank conducting economic and social policy research for federal, state, and foundation clients. Comparable to Copia in domain (criminal justice, child welfare, education) though at much larger scale.

Broad incumbents

• RAND Corporation: Major policy research institution with deep evaluation, mixed-methods, and quantitative modeling expertise — the same pedigree as Copia's lead evaluator. Acts both as a competitor for large evaluations and as a partner via Dr. Steiner's RAND background.
• Booz Allen Hamilton: Large management and technology consultancy with a public-sector practice covering human services, health, and justice. Competes with Copia on broader social-services program support and evaluation work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/163834370328985
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/copia-consulting

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 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 Copia Consulting