Inspiration

Charitable organizations are familiar with logic models as a generally accepted method of reporting on what a project will be doing and what it intends to accomplish as a result of those activities. In some cases, this logic model is applied to the organization’s overall theory of change. As funders, how often do you apply logic models to your funding process? You might go through an exercise around values and the types or organizations you want to support, but have you taken the time to drill down to see how the logic model of the charity applies to your Giving logic?

As we come up to National Philanthropy Day, perhaps this is the time to start reflecting not only on your foundation’s social values, but the logic model behind your giving process. The first step is to define the problem/issue that you want to solve as a result of your philanthropy and then set goals around this. From there you can break out the activities that you want to support to get you to those targets and ultimately this will help you inform the beneficiary as to what you will be measuring – what success looks like.

Interested in learning more about how you can apply Logic Models and Change Theory to your giving? Drop me a line gena@genarotstein.com or visit Karma & Cents – A Social Impact Lab.