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Beyond theory of change worksheet

Transform your impact goals into action with our Theory of Change Worksheet and Sopact's impact management software.
Category
Strategy
Written by
Unmesh Sheth
Published on
November 3, 2021

Transform your impact goals into action with our Theory of Change Worksheet and Sopact's impact management software.

 Theory of Change provides a blueprint that focuses on critical challenges for any social purpose organization.

   KEY TAKEAWAYS  
  • Impact Experiment is a nimble and practical approach to improving social impacts.
  • Ease of designing and communicating impact most effectively.

To understand, we share practical studies.

Theory of change template free

To illustrate that process, we will walk you through an example based on real estate or place-based investments. To demonstrate that, we take an example of affordable housing for thriving communities. A housing company is an Oakland, California-based company providing affordable housing in opportunity zones; its primary goal is to empower underserved populations in the black and Hispanic communities by providing dignified and affordable housing. Ultimately the aim is to create wealth-building through homeownership among those disadvantaged in systematic inequality. At the same time, they do it. It is essential that they also keep an eye on some of the data. By not focusing on this core mission, they may likely create a gentrification process in a balancing financial and social impact goal. They must attract the right people with the proper needs to create a thriving community.

First, we have looked at the process in this video from the point of view of problems that focus on stakeholders and activities. We highly recommend not focusing on all objectives (outcomes) at once. In fact, by focusing on too many goals, then it would become a recipe for disaster.

The process helps you start thinking about designing and communicating impact most effectively. The core principle is to help you create an impact strategy that aligns with the theory of change or a logic model-based approach and integrates the process through the impact management process, which is the five dimensions of impact. Learn how to build a complete theory of change within Impact Cloud.

Theory Of Change Worksheet

This section will walk through a systematic approach to designing the theory of change and impact experiments, which go hand in hand together. This theory of change worksheet reduces the complexity and is significant in demonstrating the framework effectively. We recommend adding the impact statement first, as it will help you frame the social issue your organization is trying to tackle.

The TOC steps from Outcome to Output to Input to Activities can be added while ensuring that the outcome connects to the impact. As practitioners, you can easily add this framework to the Impact Cloud framework, but we recommend you do this Excel-based Toolkit worksheet first to make corrections and get feedback.  The final version of the TOC can then be plugged into the TOC worksheet on the Impact Cloud platform. The Theory of Change plugged into the Impact Cloud platform can be shared with your stakeholders.  

Click here - downloadable theory of change template word

For effective use of the worksheet above, we highly encourage you to understand the complete end of the end process. In the following video, you will clearly understand

  1.  How can I build clear evidence of my real impact?
  2. What are the best ways to collect impact evidence?
  3. How can I have a continuous impact on learning?
  4. How can I understand the complexities of multi-dimensional impact issues?

We have found that the problem is not the traditional theory of change, defining indicators, and collecting data but how it is applied. So many times, we see organizations creating a theory of change with 15+ outcomes and 50+ indicators and metrics! Understanding one outcome is hard enough, and organizations wanting to measure 15 is nearly impossible. The core problem with this approach is that it leads organizations into an endless analysis mode. More importantly, it gets in the way of understanding actionable social impact evidence. A new way to maximize social impact is,

1) Connect with stakeholders rather than the Theory of Change

2) Conduct social impact experiments

3) Simplify data collection to measure what matters

This video is for organizations that engage directly with their stakeholders and understand their social impact evidence. The webinar will show you how to prove social impact using four simple steps.

Theory of Change Example -Worksheet

To further understand, click on the live theory of change created within Impact Cloud. This is a draft theory of change, and every affordable housing program must be personalized based on essential impact experiments.

Affordable Housing Theory Of Change Template
Fig: Theory of Change Worksheet

Conclusion

The theory of change is a foundation for social purpose organizations. Yet, often many organizations trip up this process by excessively focusing on the theory of change.  The main goal is to improve the social impact of programs or investments.   However, organizations must adopt a more nimble and practical approach to improve social impact.  The Theory of Change Worksheet is a powerful tool for organizations looking to drive real-world impact. By mapping out the steps required to achieve your goals and identifying potential challenges, you can develop a roadmap for success. With Sopact's impact management software, you can turn your theory of change into action, tracking your progress and making real-time adjustments as needed. Whether you're a nonprofit, philanthropic organization, or socially responsible business, Sopact can help you realize your impact aspirations.  This article is an actionable step-by-step process that helps you go beyond the traditional theory of change worksheet -- going impact experiment way!  The impact experiment starts with the pragmatic theory of change worksheet but focuses on practical short and frequent impact experiments.

With theory of change is a foundation; it is just a step.  The purpose of the theory of change worksheet is to provide a blueprint that focuses on critical challenges for any social purpose organization.

  • What is an immediate outcome that you should focus
  • Is the outcome important to stakeholders?
  • Can you control the outcome, or does it have external dependencies?
  • Can you collect feedback from stakeholders to improve outcomes?

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