What DataWise Consulting, LLC does

DataWise Consulting, LLC is a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based social research and evaluation consulting firm that spun out of the Center for Social Research at Calvin University in 2022. Co-founded by Neil Carlson, PhD, Laura Luchies, PhD, and Adriene Galindo, the firm serves a diversified client base spanning nonprofit organizations, government entities, higher education institutions, and a smaller set of for-profit businesses — with named engagements including Children's Healing Center, Partners Worldwide, REA Analytics, Calvin Career Center, REP4, Thrive + Prosper, Flywheel, and Grand Rapids Food Co-op. The firm operates with a small team of roughly 13–15 people, leveraging the consulting lineage and methodological expertise accumulated under Carlson's prior two-decade leadership of the Calvin Center for Social Research.

The firm's core service offering covers survey design and execution, interview and focus group facilitation, data engineering, data analysis, visualization and reporting, evaluation design, and data design. Its technical stack is built on established social-science and analytics tooling — Tableau, Stata, ATLAS-ti, Qualtrics, R, and SQL — rather than proprietary platforms. DataWise has begun layering programmatic offerings on top of its consulting base, including the Applied Research & Evaluation Collaborative and the Community Data Trust (CDT), which represent an effort to productize recurring research work and build shared community data infrastructure.

Revenue mechanics follow a traditional professional services model: project- and contract-based engagements, including multi-year relationships such as the REP4 collaboration running from 2021 through 2024. The firm is bootstrapped, with no outside funding rounds disclosed, and operates a 501(c)(3) subsidiary — DataWise Foundation, established in 2024 — which likely underwrites subsidized or pro bono research work for community benefit and creates a referral pipeline into paid engagements. Pricing, contract values, segment economics, and revenue are not publicly disclosed, which materially limits revenue visibility for external analysts.

Name

DataWise Consulting, LLC

Legal name

DataWise Consulting, LLC

Website

https://wearedatawise.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

DataWise Consulting is a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based social research and evaluation firm serving nonprofits, government, higher education, and select businesses. Spun out of Calvin University in 2022, it delivers survey design, analysis, and program evaluation through a small team of PhD-level researchers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Research and Evaluation Consulting

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Data, Analytics & AI Consulting (BPAHACAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Operations & Process Improvement Consulting (BPAHACAB), Performance Management & Productivity Consulting (BPAHAGAL)

Keywords

• Social research consulting
• Program evaluation services
• Survey design services
• Data visualization consulting
• Impact measurement consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Grand Rapids, MI

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Social Science Research and Evaluation Consulting: Fee-for-service consulting engagements with nonprofits, government entities, higher education institutions, and businesses. Projects vary in scope from small surveys to large multi-year initiatives.
2. Foundation Programs (DataWise Foundation): Nonprofit arm offering programs funded through grants, partner contributions, and sliding-scale fees for service. Includes the Applied Research & Evaluation Collaborative pairing student interns with nonprofits.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

DataWise Consulting is a social research and evaluation consulting firm that guides organizations from research design through reporting, offering end-to-end services including survey design and execution (samples of 20 to 2,000+ respondents), interview and focus group facilitation, data engineering and pipeline development, statistical and qualitative analysis, interactive data visualization (Tableau dashboards), evaluation framework and logic model design, database setup, and reporting. The firm serves nonprofits, government entities, higher education institutions, and businesses with projects ranging from small online surveys to large multi-year initiatives.

Product overview

DataWise Consulting is a social research and evaluation consulting firm offering eight core service offerings rather than a unified software product: Survey Design + Execution, Interview + Focus Group Services, Data Engineering, Data Analysis, Visualization, Reporting, Evaluation Design, and Data Design. Projects range from small online surveys to large, multi-year initiatives involving multiple methods and partners. The affiliated DataWise Foundation (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit) operates complementary programs including the Community Data Trust and Applied Research & Evaluation Collaborative.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DataWise Foundation: 501(c)(3) nonprofit that strengthens West Michigan's research and data ecosystem through educational programs, community partnerships, and shared data systems like the Community Data Trust (CDT) and Applied Research & Evaluation Collaborative.

Products and services

• Survey Design + Execution

Quantifiable outcome

• REP4 Net Promoter Score of +42, with scores ranging from -45 to +100 across institutions
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Grand Rapids Food Co-opcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2025Summer 2025 internship project where three DataWise Foundation interns partnered with GRFC to design and run a community-wide survey distributed to over 1,000 community members. Interactive Tableau dashboards were developed for planning and decision-making as the co-op moves toward opening.
• Thrive + ProspercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partnership to measure progress across T+P's four workstreams—housing, health, education, and economic opportunity. Designed and managed measurement system, developed surveys including annual T+P Omnibus survey, and facilitated event voting. Supporting initiative execution since 2022.
• REP4coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Multi-year evaluation partnership measuring student outcomes and institutional alignment. Surveyed 337 students across seven institutions before, immediately after, and 3-4 months following regional summits. Analyzed 44 student pitches from 2021-2024.
• FlywheelcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to help Midwest communities tackle housing inaccessibility. Sourced, cleaned, and stored housing accessibility data from multiple sources. Built automated pipelines and interactive dashboard visualizing housing accessibility across Michigan counties.
• Grand Rapids Food Co-op (Board)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCole Sweda, DataWise Foundation Executive Director, serves on the board of the Grand Rapids Food Co-Op, strengthening organizational ties.
• Catherine's Health Center (Board)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCole Sweda, DataWise Foundation Executive Director, serves on the board of Catherine's Health Center, demonstrating community health sector involvement.
• Grand Rapids Community Foundation (Advisory)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCole Sweda participates on an advisory committee with the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, providing community foundation sector engagement.
• Community Data Trust PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCDT is a partnership of local nonprofits, public agencies, funders, and educators working together through shared data systems and clear agreements. Governed by a diverse advisory group representing nonprofits, government, and community voices. Creates secure, collaborative way to share and use data.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Innovation Network: Innovation Network is a nonprofit evaluation consultancy that builds evaluation capacity for nonprofits and foundations through applied research, training, and tools. It is a direct peer in terms of customer base (nonprofits/funders), service offering (evaluation + capacity building), and methodology (mixed methods, equity lens).
• Equal Measure: Equal Measure is a Philadelphia-based evaluation and consulting firm focused on the social sector, providing program evaluation, applied research, and learning services to nonprofits and funders. It mirrors DataWise's nonprofit/government focus and mixed-methods delivery model at a similar scale.
• TCC Group: TCC Group is a small, mission-driven consulting firm that provides evaluation, strategy, and capacity-building services to nonprofits and foundations. It is highly comparable to DataWise in target customer (nonprofits/foundations), service mix (evaluation, learning, strategy), and use of mixed methods.

Broad incumbents

• NORC at the University of Chicago: NORC is a large, university-affiliated independent research organization conducting social science survey research and program evaluation for government, nonprofits, and foundations. It overlaps with DataWise in survey research, mixed-methods evaluation, and social-sector clients but at substantially greater scale.
• FSG: FSG is a global mission-driven consulting firm advising foundations, corporations, and nonprofits on strategy, evaluation, and collective impact. It overlaps with DataWise in social-sector evaluation and impact measurement but serves larger enterprise clients and operates at a much greater scale.
• Mathematica Policy Research: Mathematica is a major policy research and evaluation firm providing social program evaluation, survey research, and data analytics to government and philanthropic clients. It is comparable in core evaluation and survey capabilities but competes at a scale DataWise cannot match for large RFPs.
• Westat: Westat is a large employee-owned research firm offering survey design, statistical analysis, and program evaluation for federal, state, and nonprofit clients. It mirrors DataWise in survey and evaluation work but operates nationally with substantially larger staff and resources.
• The Bridgespan Group: Bridgespan is a leading nonprofit and philanthropy consulting firm offering strategy, evaluation, and organizational development services. It is comparable to DataWise in nonprofit consulting focus but operates with significantly larger teams and broader geographic reach.

Emerging players

• Keystone Accountability: Keystone Accountability is an international social-sector consultancy that helps NGOs and funders improve performance through feedback, evaluation, and accountability tools. It overlaps with DataWise's equity-oriented, listening-first evaluation approach but serves global clients rather than regional.
• Liberty Mutual / True Impact (Mission Analytics): Mission Analytics is a small data and evaluation consultancy serving nonprofits and social enterprises with impact measurement, data strategy, and dashboard development. It is comparable to DataWise in scope and target customers but operates in different geographies with a more enterprise-data emphasis.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/datawiser
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/datawise-consulting-llc
• Instagraminstagram.com/wearedatawise

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Subsidiaries1 record

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 DataWise Consulting, LLC