Grant writing, evaluation & measurement / Winnipeg, Manitoba

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

MDS Consulting Services helps non-profit and service agencies design evaluation frameworks, define indicators that mean something, and build reporting that funders, boards, and the communities you serve can 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 nobody has 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

Decisions you can defend

Evidence framed to answer the questions leadership is actually being asked, including the uncomfortable ones, and honesty about what it can't tell you.

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.

What usually gets reported

What we define instead

Services

Five 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. That is the same discipline as evaluation, applied before the money arrives rather than after.

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 a data source you actually have, and sized to the reporting cycle you actually run.

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

Data systems and performance monitoring

Getting the system you already bought to produce the numbers you need, then putting those numbers somewhere your team will see them between reporting cycles.

Live dashboards in Tableau and Power BI
Requirements and configuration input
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 retainers

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

Board reporting, staff training, 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.

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.

Email MDS Consulting →