Workflows, data systems, and insight for community-rooted organizations.
Rooted Insights
Visible Change
Rooted Insights
Visible Change
Workflows, data systems, and insight for community-rooted organizations.
Organizations come to Understory when information lives in too many places, workflows have outgrown the tools holding them, and systems no longer support the way the work actually happens.
Understory works with community-rooted organizations whose work has grown faster than the systems behind it — town governments, nonprofits and community organizations, small firms and practices, and local producers. What connects them isn't a sector but a situation: a lean team, real complexity, and the need for systems they can sustain on their own.
We design the systems and craft the stories that help organizations grow insight from the ground up — creating structure, flow, and lasting impact.
Who We Work With
Understory works with community-rooted teams that need clearer, more sustainable ways to run their work and make sense of their information.
Across very different organizations, the starting point usually looks similar:
A lean team with no dedicated systems, data, or communications staff
Information spread across spreadsheets, inboxes, paper, and tools that don't connect
Knowledge that lives in a few people's heads rather than in shared systems
Reporting, grant, or compliance deadlines that arrive faster than the systems can keep up with
Our Services
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We bring order to complexity by aligning tools, workflows, and processes with how teams actually operate — creating clear, maintainable systems that reduce friction and strengthen day-to-day work.
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We make information easy to find and use by designing simple, right-sized systems — from spreadsheets to relational databases — that capture, organize, and connect the data that teams rely on.
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We turn information into understanding, and understanding into insights you can share — helping teams see what's working and why, then shaping the reports, updates, and stories that carry it.
How We Work
Understory’s work is collaborative and human-centered, built to leave teams more capable than it found them, as they move from scattered information and tangled workflows to systems and insight they can rely on.
We start with your reality. We begin by listening — to your goals, your constraints, and how your work actually happens day to day. Whether the work involves systems, evaluation, reporting, or a blend, we design solutions that fit your team's capacity — ones you can understand, use, and carry forward on your own.
We build for clarity and continuity. Every engagement includes clear documentation, shared definitions, and practical workflows that strengthen internal understanding and reduce reliance on any one person. And we build for capacity rather than dependence: by the end of an engagement, teams can make sense of their own data, draw their own conclusions, and chart a path forward themselves.
We meet you at the right level. Some organizations engage with us for a single project; others continue with periodic reporting, evaluation, or system refinement. You get the level of help that fits, and nothing you don't need.
Who We Are
About Understory
Hi, I'm Olivia Noel — a systems builder, data strategist, and storyteller. I help organizations draw insight from their work, build the systems and workflows behind it, and craft the stories that carry their impact.
My approach combines expertise in data systems and workflow design, reporting, and organizational learning with a commitment to making information alive and accessible. I founded Understory from rural Vermont to bring high-quality, human-centered systems to the small towns and community-rooted organizations where deep change grows quietly.
We help community-rooted organizations turn complexity into clarity — designing systems that connect insight to action, and stories to impact.
We help mission-driven organizations turn data into clarity — designing systems that connect insight to action, and stories to impact.
Let’s start a conversation
Deep change starts with meaningful conversation.
Share a bit about your work, and let’s explore what we can grow together.