About Idlewood & Co.

We're a data strategy firm in Columbus, Ohio, working with government agencies, nonprofits, and the funders who back them on data analytics, program design, and program evaluation.

This is where we think out loud.

Most of what shows up here comes straight out of client work — the questions that surface when an organization is trying to figure out whether a program is actually working, how to build a measurement system that won't collapse under its own weight, or what to do with five years of data nobody's ever really looked at.

What you can expect:

• Things you can use. Indicator design, measurement plans, evaluation approaches — written so you could try them Monday.
• Honest findings. We don't stretch evidence past what it can hold. If the data says "we don't know yet," we say that.
• An equity lens. Who's counted, who's missing, and what the averages are hiding.
• Outcomes over outputs. Counting people served is not the same as knowing you helped them.

We build alongside our clients rather than handing down reports. Same idea here — this isn't a place for polished conclusions so much as working thinking.

If something's useful, pass it along. If you want to talk about your own work, just reply to any issue. It comes to us.