About This Resource

This resource was created for our CA:RISE program and is now available to the field!

Purpose

To provide a self-guided tour for ESEs to develop a logic model from scratch or improve an existing logic model. This will function as a toolkit or field guide for ESE leaders. This content will also be repurposed in workshops as well as 1-1 technical assistance projects.

This document is a step by step guide to developing a logic model. There are six steps. Each step will have an estimated time it will take you and your team to complete. It is good practice to include people from your team responsible for programming such as on-the-job training, case management, and/or job placement. If you have someone responsible for fundraising, consider inviting them as well because they will use the logic model to communicate your work to donors. We also hope your business leaders attend (managers of your social enterprises). We recognize that you are working to balance strong business outcomes with outcomes for the individuals you employ. By including your business leaders in this process, you will ensure that all parties within your ESE are on board with working toward these outcomes.

INTRODUCTION

A logic model is simply our best way of drawing the path between point a and point b for the participant employees: If they do these activities with us, they will experience these improvements in their lives. Use this project as an opportunity to lay down bold goals for point b.

The logic model design process often feels like strategic planning because it is a map of your most distilled important work ahead. Yet it is also a project that can be used for targeted planning. You might need a logic model to plan how to spend specific resources, or to determine if your program activities are aligned with your goals. It is also a critical tool to communicate with funders.

Many ESEs create logic models for specific programs. It’s usually an assignment, a required attachment, rather than anything with internal utility. This guide will walk you through the process of creating a logic model that represents the largest umbrella of programming that your ESE offers. Why? So that your program leadership sees the way in which all of your employment activity works together to transform lives. It will read as a map that connects the dots between activities and outcomes. It will de-silo your departments. It will tell the story of your ESE’s impact as a whole.

A logic model serves as a hypothesis for how you are solving a problem. As a hypothesis, it begs to be tested. Great logic models lend themselves to program evaluation plans. Program evaluation plans lead to more rigorous programming. With a logic model, you can study your employment model like a scientist. You can dispatch students to research it. You can write journal articles about it. Some might argue that a logic model is the strategic plan for your programming.

Download the toolkit here:

About Flying Whale Strategies

Flying Whale Strategies is supporting a new wave of nonprofit leaders who design definitive solutions to age-old problems. These leaders are working on deeply rooted challenges that have no foreseeable solution: hunger, the education system, criminal justice reform, the climate crisis, the refugee crisis, to name a few. And yet despite the enormity of these challenges, we believe nonprofit leaders could begin with the question, “Why can’t we?” They offer consulting and training in: culture, leadership, development, and operations.