Launch Modeler Our Work
Explore
Who We Are

The missing tool
for systems work.

Most organizations already know their problems are complex. What they're missing is a way to make that complexity visible — to see how different people understand the same system, where those views diverge, and what actually drives the outcomes they're trying to change.

Emergent Solutions builds software and runs engagements that do exactly that. Our platform lets groups draw their own causal maps, combine them into a shared model, and run simulations against it — so decisions get made from explicit reasoning, not intuition about dynamics no one has ever written down.

We work with foundations doing portfolio analysis, evaluators building theories of change at project start, government agencies navigating organizational complexity, and communities who need their own knowledge taken seriously.

Many
perspectives collected, aggregated, and compared — not just the loudest voice in the room
One
shared model that shows where people agree, where they diverge, and why it matters
Real
simulation — test your assumptions before committing to a strategy
Social Network Analysis
Map relationships, influence, and information flow
Stakeholder Mapping
Identify and analyze stakeholders by power, interest, and perspective
System Dynamics
Model feedback loops, stocks, flows, and nonlinear behavior
Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping
Participatory causal modeling — elicit, aggregate, simulate
Causal Loop Diagrams
Visualize reinforcing and balancing feedback structures
What We Do

Services

We work as partners, not vendors. Most engagements combine platform access with direct facilitation — because the tool is only as good as the process around it.

Participatory Modeling Workshops
We bring a group together, ask them how the system works, and build a model from what they say. The result isn't a consultant's framework imposed on your problem — it's your collective knowledge, made visible and testable.
Theory of Change Development
We build theories of change that can actually be interrogated — causal models you can run simulations on, stress-test against evidence, and update as a program evolves. Not a logic model. A living argument about how change happens.
Portfolio & Systems Analysis
For funders managing multiple grantees or programs: we collect causal models across your portfolio, aggregate them into a meta-level view, and surface whether the underlying theory of change is coherent — and where the gaps are.
Organizational Alignment
When different parts of an organization are pulling in different directions, the problem is usually that they have different models of how things work. We make those models explicit, put them in the same room, and find out what's actually shared.
Evaluation & Research Support
We support evaluators who want to build causal models at project start — so evaluation design is grounded in an explicit theory, not reconstructed after the fact. We also collaborate with research teams on study design, data collection, and analysis.
Social Network Analysis
Who actually talks to whom. Where information flows and where it stops. Which relationships carry the most influence in a system. We map the real structure of networks — in organizations, communities, and fields — and what that structure means for change.
Community Engagement & Mapping
Community members are often the most accurate experts on how a local system works — and the least likely to be asked. We design processes that collect that knowledge rigorously, surface points of agreement and tension, and give communities a model they can use.
System Dynamics Modeling
For problems where feedback loops and delays are the whole story — why a policy that should work doesn't, why a resource that gets added gets absorbed without effect. We build formal models that make those dynamics explicit and testable.
Platform Licensing & Training
Evaluators, consultants, and research teams who want to run their own participatory modeling processes can license Emergent Modeler directly. We provide onboarding, facilitation training, and ongoing support — so you're not dependent on us to use it well.
The Platform

Emergent
Modeler

A browser-based platform for participatory systems modeling. Collect how people understand a problem, combine their views into a shared causal model, and simulate it — in a single workspace, with any size group.

01
Individual Model Collection
Each participant draws their own causal map — what drives what, how strongly, in which direction. No consensus required upfront. The divergence is the data.
02
Aggregation & Comparison
The platform combines individual models into a group view and lets you compare across subgroups — by role, organization, community, or any dimension that matters to your analysis.
03
Dynamic Simulation
Run the model forward. See which variables drive outcomes, how the system responds to interventions, and where your group's assumptions lead — before anyone commits to a strategy.
04
Portfolio & Meta-Analysis
Aggregate models across projects, grantees, or programs to see whether a portfolio's underlying logic holds together — and where the gaps are between intended and actual theory.
Try Emergent Modeler Request a demo →
Applications

Who it's
built for

The problems we work on don't sort neatly by sector. But a few contexts come up most often.

Foundations & Funders
Portfolio Analysis & Theory of Change
Understand whether the causal logic across your grantees is coherent. Collect models from individual projects, aggregate them into a portfolio view, and see where the collective theory of change holds together — and where it doesn't.
Evaluation
Evaluators & Program Designers
Build the causal model at project start, not after. Use it to prioritize what to measure, surface assumptions worth testing, and give stakeholders a shared language for what the program is actually trying to do.
Community & Policy
Communities & Government Agencies
The people closest to a problem usually understand it best. We build processes that collect community knowledge rigorously — not just as input to someone else's analysis, but as the model itself.
Research
Academic & Applied Researchers
Collect causal belief data at scale across populations, expert panels, or stakeholder groups. Analyze how different people conceptualize the same system and what that divergence tells you — with methods that hold up to peer review.
How We Work

Our approach

We don't impose a framework. We start with what people actually think, build from there, and leave you with something you can use — not a deliverable that sits in a drawer.

01
Elicit
Ask people how the system works. Collect their causal maps individually — before anyone has to agree
02
Aggregate
Combine individual models into a shared view. Surface what's agreed, what's contested, and what nobody mentioned
03
Simulate
Run the model. See where the group's theory leads, which levers matter most, and which assumptions are load-bearing
04
Decide
Make decisions from an explicit, shared model — and update it as evidence comes in
Get Started

See what your
system actually looks like.

Try the platform, bring us in for an engagement, or just start a conversation about what you're working on.

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