A partner that has sat on both sides of the table.
We have been the funder reviewing applications and the organization writing them. That perspective shapes everything we do: honest, practical, and grounded in what actually moves the work forward.
Rigor, translated into results.
NELCRUM Solutions is a consulting firm that partners with mission-driven organizations to build strategy, capacity, and evidence. Our team brings over a decade of public- and nonprofit-sector experience, and, having worked as both funders and applicants, we understand from the inside what makes an organization sustainable, effective, and fundable.
Our work spans organizational strategy, board governance, program design and evaluation, research design, and qualitative & quantitative analysis, translating rigorous social science into practical, measurable results. Increasingly, that work extends into software, building the custom tools that turn good decisions into lasting systems.
Donta Council, Ph.D.
Dr. Dontá Council founded NELCRUM to put rigorous social science to work for the organizations that need it most. His research and applied practice span community and economic development, program evaluation, and the data systems that turn evidence into decisions, having worked on both the funder and the applicant side of the table.
He holds a Ph.D. and brings a decade of public- and nonprofit-sector experience to every engagement, pairing quantitative and qualitative methods with a practical instinct for what actually moves an organization forward.
The principles behind the work.
Evidence before opinion
We start with data and candid diagnosis, not a template. The plan follows the evidence, not the other way around.
Capacity that outlasts us
Success is your team being stronger after we leave, not more dependent on us.
Honesty over upselling
We will tell you when you do not need us, or when software is not the answer. Trust is the whole business.