In step two, you worked on breaking down your broad, global vision into more distinct parts–including high-level goals, objectives, and activities. Step three is about taking those varied components and turning them into a roadmap–one that allows you to see how your resources, energy, and activities (inputs) will result in evidence of change (outputs) and ultimately to impact (outcomes). Often called a Theory of Change, these roadmaps can help you illuminate the relationships between your day-to-day programmatic work and realizing the changes you want to see in your community.

Creating a Theory of Change can get complex. (A quick Google search will turn up loads of complicated-looking diagrams). But we’ve found that even a very simple approach to the process can yield essential knowledge about where you want your organization to go–and how you intend to get there. In addition, creating a Theory of Change provides a critical opportunity to identify what evidence you will use to demonstrate your community impact–and to make a plan to collect that data. That step will support effective evaluation down the line (more on that in Step 8!).