How can you develop a theory of change for your non-profit organization?

A non- profit brand needs to have SMART goals which means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and time bound. Having smart goals ensures that the organisation has researched all the metrics well before goal setting increasing the chances of success. For example; if I work for education of the children from poor families running a school I need to set goal being well informed of my capacity, scaling up possibilities and monetary support from stakeholders. Otherwise the goal will not be achievable.

In my experience of founding an NGO in 2 different countries. Having a good board with a high level of governance is key. Checks & balances are critical for long term sustainability. Next up, vision and mission. Then execution. You need to be able to execute a plan, and you need to have clear simple goals. Next layer is SOPs. You can start off simply with a couple of documents and keep adding. Again this increases likelihood of sustainability. Then you keep adding to the layers of the onion. Identifying good volunteers, HR is critical. Then managing and engaging volunteers as they will be the engine room of a start up NGO. To add staff to the NGO clear processes need to be added so donors have transparency on how their money is being spent.

If you are leading a non-profit, besides a goal and a solution, you must have a moonshot. After that, you can trace a path of different goals you want to achieve in the short, mid and long term. You can establish those targets segmenting your regional scope, the amount raised, the number of people involved or any other scale to have a successful path of achievements and be capable of growing in scale. Remember that most of Non Profits need to raise funds and establish alliances to operate, so you need to build a success case as a first step to foster growth.

Establishing a theory of change is similar to creating a roadmap that traces the sequential steps to attain your objective. It enables you to determine if your efforts are effectively contributing to the desired impact and prompts consideration of alternative approaches if necessary. Non-profit organizations can use worksheets to develop their theory of change by including key terms, definitions and important questions.

Defining a long-term goal is crucial to create a clear vision for your work. It should be specific, realistic, and meaningful to your target population and stakeholders. Consider their perspectives and involve them in the goal-setting process. Additionally, ensure your goal aligns with your values and the broader social and environmental contexts. Ultimately, your long-term goal sets the stage for impactful action to bring about meaningful change in the world.

Mapping outcomes is crucial for breaking down your long-term goal into manageable steps. It allows for setting milestones, tracking progress, and making data-driven adjustments to strategies. By identifying specific indicators for each outcome, it becomes possible to objectively measure progress. This process enhances accountability, transparency, and the ability to celebrate smaller victories along the way. In summary, mapping outcomes is a vital step in achieving long-term goals, promoting strategic planning and enhancing the potential for meaningful and sustainable change.

Mapping outcomes with clear indicators at different levels is a strategic approach. It provides a structured pathway to track progress and measure success, allowing for effective evaluation of your efforts towards achieving the overarching long-term goal.

As mentioned before, you need to establish those milestones, KPIs and OKRs to measure your success and be able to communicate them to your key stakeholders. Tracing a route for your final goal means walking a path of different achievements. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Foster a culture of mapping as well as measuring the outcomes. Clarity on goal, Sense of purpose and deep rooted faith in ecosystem always helps in generating greater trust. Create a definite plan of short term , medium term and long term outcome and all output should be mapped to create a robust deliverables. This helps in effectively tracking the goals

It's important to distinguish between Output and Outcomes. Outcomes have to be quantifiable as well as should align with impact objective. The permanent outcome vs temporary outcome to the problem is also important factor to decide if the efforts by NGO and CSR are patchwork or solves the problem once for all.

Establishing clear causal links is fundamental for demonstrating the logical progression from outcomes to the ultimate goal. It not only enhances transparency but also strengthens the rationale behind your approach, providing a well-grounded framework for achieving meaningful and sustainable impact.

The crucial task of connecting the dots now begins. What are the causal relationships between our actions and the desired outcomes? How, for example, do our reading programs actually improve literacy? This necessitates a thorough understanding of the problem at hand as well as the mechanisms of change. We must identify the underlying causes of low literacy rates and design programs to address them directly. Perhaps our programs provide access to high-quality learning materials, train effective teachers, or foster a welcoming learning environment that encourages reading.

O conflito de interesses e a falta de transparência deste setor residem no fato de que há registro de casos em que os agentes públicos e/ou privados se utilizam dessas instituições para realizar transações indevidas, com verbas ilícitas através de contratos e licitações duvidosas. Na busca por sanar os conflitos e ilicitudes existentes, no Brasil, foi aprovada a Lei conhecida como Marco Regulatório das Organizações da Sociedade Civil. O objetivo é regular na esfera jurídica as relações de parceria entre a administração pública e as organizações do Terceiro Setor, buscando assegurar o cumprimento do propósito coletivo e social.

I think if the activities were adequately described and mapped right to objectives from the begining and the short term objectives would lead to achieving long term ones, this step won't be needed.

In practice, a well-developed and effectively implemented Theory of Change not only guides the organization toward its long-term vision but also enhances its ability to respond to challenges, seize opportunities, and deliver tangible and sustainable outcomes in the communities it serves.

An excellent execution of mediocre strategy is always better than poor execution of a great strategy. It is very critical that whole team is aligned with the purpose and all activities are clearly defined which leads to our all sorts of goal posts. Well defined actions with wholehearted belief of people will yield better than expected results.

In order to raise funds, be relevant to your stakeholders and a valuable player in the communities you're trying to impact, you need to be crystal clear and your constituents need to be 100% certain of what are your activities and how they are linked to your final goal.

Describing specific activities and aligning them with outcomes and the long-term goal is essential for turning your strategic plan into actionable steps. This ensures that your efforts are targeted, feasible, and well-resourced, increasing the likelihood of achieving the intended impact.

Innovative practices which may not result in very heavy investment but larger engagement using the existing resources can be implemented smoothly. This will include coordination across departments and keeping people accountable and involved will help reach an effective solution in a much much lower or zero price increment and adding the campaign to implementing the same will result in fruitful outcomes.

These are the concrete steps we take to implement our programs and achieve our goals. For our reading program, this could entail recruiting and training volunteers, organizing book drives, or conducting literacy assessments. Detailing these activities ensures that our theory of change is grounded in reality, with each action contributing to the bigger picture.

As suposições, embora embasadas em princípios sólidos, necessitam de avaliação contínua e adaptação durante a implementação das atividades. Um gerenciamento proativo de riscos, abordando desafios potenciais como resistência à participação ou obstáculos logísticos, emerge como elemento crucial para assegurar a eficácia sustentada do plano ao longo do tempo.

What helps me to stay on track is to know my goals. As a student, obtaining my degrees was hard, and I wanted to give up because of many reasons. Of course, these reasons were just assumptions. For example, one time I needed to finish a project for a course. The examiner, however, would neither discuss the project with me, nor give me any particular topic. After a while, I realized there was not much time for me left to complete the project. I knew I wanted to get my degree, so I knew I had to finish the project. Thus, I challenged my core assumption that I need to communicate with the examiner to finish the project. The identification of a wrong mindset or an assumption was easy because I focused on my goal. In the end, I got the degree.

There are going to situations which would need you to make assumptions in order for you to meet the outcomes. However, my personal experience has been that when we have a lot of assumptions embedded in the plan, it does not help in achieving realistic outcomes.

You should keep in mind that guessing and leading by assumptions is an expensive game that rarely leads to great results. when you face an assumption it's better to kick off a small-scale test action before scaling up. findings of your small-scale actions can help your growth in your next step. seeking feedback and applying the findings will help you to align your Compass with the reality of your ecosystem and give you a chance for necessary adjustments as you go.

Consult widely on those assumptions, and seek different perspectives from various sources. Be open to having these assumptions challenged and be open to changing or re-shaping.

I absolutely agree that a Theory of Change should be considered a “work in progress” that evolves as the organization matures. However, most of those evolutionary changes should be incremental, not transformative, in order to allow pursuit of impact goals without constant distractions of reworking the ToC.

Incorporate a learning mechanism in the Theory of Change to gather insights from successes and failures. This facilitates continuous improvement and adaptation of the theory based on new experiences.

In this digital era, we can use advanced technologies which are at our disposal to review as well as refine the theory of change. Digital data plays a gamechanger as the assortment, reviewing and analytic approach becomes very easy and targeted. Although after we have achieved the above mentioned steps, I'd suggest that we use human input for refining the theory of change. Most of the organisations never work adequately on the feedbacks. This leads to the lack of the finesse that end user expects. If we pay attention to the minor details, feedbacks speak a lot. And thus, if worked upon, they can help the non-profit organization grow manifold to success.

Strategic goals provide a clear and overarching vision, guiding the organization towards a defined future state. This long term direction helps align efforts and resources. The operational & tactical goals should also be reviewed to fit with the current organization needs.

Tools like Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or Balanced Scorecards can aid in monitoring and evaluating progress. Conducting Stakeholder Analysis or Focus Group Discussions can facilitate the collection of valuable feedback for refining the theory of change. Regularly reviewing and refining the theory positively impacts adaptability. By incorporating feedback and data-driven insights, organizations can stay responsive to evolution.

We were committed to the idea "there are no sacred cows." We were willing to add, delete, or modify any of our business practices to better accomplish our mission. At times we even eliminated popular programs because they were no longer effective. With innovation as a core value, we constantly looked to improve. With that said, we emphasized that if a program or practice was eliminated, the people on the effected team were safe and we would find them a "seat on the bus." This approach wasn't easy, but it was right for the organization, and it fostered continuous growth, improvement, and positive change.

To develop a theory of change as a CFO for a nonprofit organization: 1. Understand the organization's mission and social impact goals. 2. Identify key stakeholders and assess community needs. 3. Define specific outcomes and impact goals. 4. Map activities and interventions to achieve the desired outcomes. 5. Establish indicators and measurements for monitoring progress. 6. Develop a logic model illustrating the causal pathway. 7. Engage stakeholders in the process. 8. Monitor progress and adapt the theory of change as needed.

In my experience nonprofits often do not look at the financial dynamics of the ‘business.’ While the goal may not be a profitable company, financial sustainability goes a long way toward delivering on your mission. Be sure to include a financial model as part of your strategic work and then continue to review and test to ensure that you can build toward the impact you want to have.

Non-profits often have a team of dedicated members focussed on their mission, e.g. caring for children or preserving nature. They are the best in their field, have admirable motivation and results. However, a charity needs administration, accounting, advertising & funding, possibly grant applications, staff coordination, etc - which sometimes could be done better. This would allow its members to spend even more quality time with their cause, have more (financial) means: have a bigger impact. It is worth to be clear about those operational shortcomings, approach e.g. law offices and accounting firms to pro bono “outsource” some of those tasks, benefit from Microsoft / Google / etc “non profits” offerings (often free) - get better organised.

One thing that is often excluded is what I call “exit criteria.” If a non-profit is anchored in a cause, and their mission is to materially impact that cause, then if you are successful you must think of when/if your organization might no longer be needed.