What we do

Our work meets clients where they are. Whether you're designing something new, stuck mid-implementation, or trying to figure out how to turn a great idea into action — we plug in where you need me most.

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  • Great ideas don't implement themselves. We work alongside policymakers, funders, and nonprofits to do the tough, unglamorous work needed to turn a decision, plan, or policy into real results. This can look like…

    • Diagnosing implementation barriers,

    • Developing practical implementation tools, or

    • Rolling up our sleeves and helping your team execute.

    For example: Working with a state agency to figure out why eligible families aren’t being connected to the services they need — uncovering and solving for the specific implementation barriers, like gaps in workflows, staff training, and data systems.

  • Funders and grantees pour enormous effort into designing grants and contracts. But, once the ink is dry, it's often hard to know whether progress is even being made. We build light-touch, high-frequency data tools that help teams learn and course-correct in real time — rather than waiting for a final evaluation to find out what went wrong.

    For example: Building a referral tracker so that a funder could see near real-time data on how many families were signing up for services — and facilitating regular funder-grantee meetings to make sense of the data and adjust their approach as they went.

  • A well-designed grant or contract can be one of your most powerful implementation tools. Too often, it isn't. We help funders and grantees design agreements, reporting requirements, and management structures that drive real learning and results — not just compliance. This can look like:

    • Advising on RFPs, contracts or grant agreements,

    • Designing effective reporting requirements,

    • Setting up contract management approaches.

    For example: Helping a funder shape a portfolio of grants — designing individual investments, advising on reporting metrics, or building collaboration structures to drive results and share learnings across multiple grantees.

  • Stuck at the blank page? We help you take your early ideas and build them into a clear, well-structured strategy so your team knows where it's going and how to get there. This can look like:

    • Helping your team build a shared mental map of the work,

    • Structuring a complex work plan, or

    • Drafting the scopes of work needed to move forward.

    For example: Helping a nonprofit develop a strategic plan to grow their visibility, attract funding, and create structure for internal learning and decision-making.

  • Meaningful stakeholder engagement is hard to get right. Done poorly, you may end up with a wish list of ideas that are out of scope or impossible to act on. Done well, it surfaces the insights that make programs work. We help teams design and facilitate engagement processes that get you to the latter — without taking over your calendar.

    For example: Helping a state agency hear directly from community providers about gaps in their service array — designing the engagement process to surface specific, actionable recommendations rather than a broad wish list, and using those insights to shape a new investment in culturally responsive family services.

  • Sometimes you just need another experienced person on the team who can hit the ground running. Whether you're understaffed for a big initiative, navigating a leadership gap, or up against a critical deadline, we step in — as an embedded team member, management backfill, or surge support — and get up to speed fast enough to move high-quality work forward quickly.

    For example: Managing a team working on a high-profile, multi-partner initiative for a nonprofit research organization while the permanent manager was on parental leave.

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See examples

T‍he work we know best ‍

  • A young person sitting on a purple couch in counseling session speaking to a clinician taking notes, with a glass of water and a potted plant on the table in front of her.

    Behavioral Health

    Behavioral health challenges, including substance use disorder and mental health, are among the most common reasons families become involved in social service systems. We help governments and their partners design and implement approaches that make it easier for families to access behavioral health supports before challenges escalate.

  • A person with blonde hair using a smartphone while leaning on a metal railing outdoors.

    Family Engagement

    Families want support. But too often, the way services are designed and offered gets in the way. Families face confusing outreach, stigmatizing language, or programs that don't reflect their actual needs. We help agencies understand what clients are really experiencing and design approaches that make it easier and more appealing to say yes.

  • Collection of children's colorful drawings on paper, featuring rainbows, sun, hearts, and abstract shapes.

    Child Welfare Prevention

    For many families, involvement in the child welfare system could have been prevented with earlier access to the right supports. We work with governments and their partners to design and implement prevention-focused approaches — strengthening referral pathways, service delivery systems, and the supports families actually want — so that fewer families reach a point of crisis.

  • A person wearing a face mask and gloves shopping in a grocery store, browsing through paper bags filled with products, with shelves stocked with various food items and boxes in the background.

    Cash Assistance & Concrete Supports

    Policymakers are increasingly interested in testing concrete supports, like direct cash, as a more efficient, less stigmatizing approach to supporting families. We help governments and funders design, implement, and build evidence for cash assistance programs as an alternative or complement to conventional social service approaches.

  • A woman in a white dress holding a microphone and speaking to an audience in a conference room.

    Social Service Procurement

    Procurement is one of the most powerful — and most underused — tools governments have to drive better outcomes for families. We help governments design procurement processes that reduce unnecessary barriers to entry, attract providers who are closest to the communities they serve, and stay focused on what actually matters — results for families.

Work with us