Grant writing, evaluation & measurement / Winnipeg, Manitoba

You already know the work matters. I build the evidence to prove it.

MDS Consulting Services, led by Matt Sanscartier, PhD, CE, helps non-profit and service agencies design evaluation frameworks, and build meaningful indicators and reports that funders, boards and communities understand and trust.

Start a conversation → See how I work

01Activity

02Output

03Outcome

04Impact

Most reporting stops at step two. Funders and boards are most interested in steps 3 and 4.

What partnering gets you

Evaluation should make your organization stronger, not busier.

Measurement work often lands as one more thing for an already stretched team to maintain. The engagements I take on are designed to do the opposite.

Credibility

Reporting that survives scrutiny

Board packages and funder reports built on indicators that are defined, sourced, and repeatable, so you never have to reconstruct last year's numbers from memory.

Capacity

Less burden on your team

Data collection designed around the systems and staff you already have, not additional work on top of what you already do.

Confidence

Telling evidence-based stories

Data always tell a story: I help you build it and ground it in what the data are saying. Together, we'll find the questions you want to ask, and find answers that you need.

Indicator design

I work with you to define, measure, and show your value.

Large firms tend to focus on the forest at the expense of the trees. I work to unite and sharpen everything: the big picture and the details that matter.

The question you're asking

What usually gets reported

What we define instead

Services

Eight ways I tend to be useful.

Engagements are scoped to what you need. Most begin with one of these and grow from there.

Evaluation frameworks and theory of change

A clear articulation of what your program is trying to change, how, and for whom. I build these with your staff rather than delivering them from the outside, because programs need to be meaningful to those who work within them. They also need to be communicated clearly and concisely, and to lead with the impact they create. Everything else on this page depends on getting this part right.

Theory of change and logic models
Outcome frameworks and results chains
Evaluation questions and methods plans
Developmental, formative, and summative designs
Portfolio frameworks spanning multiple programs

Grant writing and funding applications

Reviewers fund proposals that say precisely what will change, for whom, and how you will know. This is still evaluation, it just comes before the money, rather than after. As an added bonus, it gives you a solid base for what comes next.

Full application drafting and editing
Outcome sections and logic models
Evaluation and measurement plans
Budget narratives and application review

KPI and indicator development

Indicator sets that are precisely defined, tied to data you actually have, and sized to your real capacity, even if the data you hold today are thin, spotty, or scattered.

Indicator definitions and data dictionaries
Baselines, targets, and disaggregation
Board and funder reporting templates

Qualitative and quantitative research

When the data you need do not exist yet, I collect them. Methods are chosen to fit the question, and findings land in language you can act on.

Focus groups and key informant interviews
Survey design and deployment
Analysis across qualitative and quantitative data
Findings reported in plain language

Advanced quantitative analysis

For questions that descriptive statistics cannot answer. The modelling is rigorous, and the write-up is built for your boardroom rather than a methods journal.

Multi-level modelling
Structural equation modelling
Time-series analysis
Cleaning and structuring messy data

Data systems and performance monitoring

Whether that means getting more from the systems you already have or choosing and building one that fits, the goal is the same: numbers your team can rely on and see all year, not just at reporting time.

Live dashboards in Tableau and Power BI
System selection, requirements, and configuration
Data collection and workflow design
Data quality checks and cleanup

Capacity building and advisory

Training and light touch support so the framework keeps working once the project ends and the consultant leaves.

Staff training and documentation
Board reporting and presentation support
Ongoing advisory service

Facilitated workshops

Hands-on sessions tailored to what your organization needs, whether that is a half day with your board or a series with program staff. You leave with skills your team keeps, not a binder that gathers dust.

Reporting and data collection for staff
Grant and proposal writing
Qualitative and quantitative analysis for non-profits
Theory of change and logic model development

How an engagement runs

Phased, with a decision point at every handoff.

Each phase produces something you can use on its own. If the work should stop after phase two, it stops after phase two.

PHASE 01

Discovery

Interviews, document review, and a hard look at what you already collect, what it costs you to collect it, and what it is genuinely telling you.

PHASE 02

Framework

The outcome framework and indicator set, defined to the level of detail where two people would count the same thing the same way.

PHASE 03

Tools

Reporting templates, collection processes, and workflows built to fit your staffing reality rather than an ideal version of it.

PHASE 04

Handover

Reporting for your board, training for your staff, and a rollout designed so the framework keeps running without me in the room.

Where the work has been

Sectors and settings

Community safety and justice Mental health and crisis response Healthcare and health policy Alternative emergency response Grantmaking and foundations Human services and case management

Matt Sanscartier, principal of MDS Consulting Services

About

You hire me, and you get me.

I run MDS Consulting Services as an independent practice. I hold a PhD in sociology from Carleton University, and I've been a Credentialed Evaluator with the Canadian Evaluation Society since 2022. I'm the one who sits in discovery and key informant interviews, writes your framework, trains your staff, and works with you to develop outcomes. This is true regardless of your budget. I also currently serve as President of the Canadian Evaluation Society.

The work sits mostly with non-profit and service agencies: community safety programs, mental health and crisis response teams, human services agencies, and the funders who support them. I specialize in turning messy data into sharp insights that help organizations communicate the impact of their work.

I take a small number of engagements at a time so each one gets proper attention. If you need something I can't offer, or is beyond my capacity, I can connect you with the right people.

Credentialed Evaluator, Evaluateur qualifie: a designation of the Canadian Evaluation Society

Start a conversation

Let me know what you need to prove.

A first conversation is free and useful either way. Bring a grant deadline, a reporting question you cannot answer yet, or a framework that stopped working.

Contact me →