Logic Models Archives - Nicole Clark Consulting

12 Nov, 2025

Ask Nicole: Why Theories of Change and Logic Models Aren’t Useful

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2025-11-10T15:25:13-05:00November 12th, 2025|Categories: Program, Service, & Campaign Design|Tags: Ask Nicole, Grantees, Logic Models, Philanthropy, Theory of Change|0 Comments

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Several years ago, I worked on a proposal for a collaborative project. The RFP asked for a narrative and a logic model for the process we were proposing. We spent time crafting both, but I remember thinking: What’s the point of requiring both, especially if you’re still going to come back with additional questions?

If the narrative is clear and if we can articulate what we’re trying to do, isn’t that enough?

I’ve also had nonprofit clients tell me they only create logic models funding, and never revisit them after submitting their proposal.. Or that they only build ToCs when funders require them, not because they find them useful. But the most striking moment was during a funder ToC session I facilitated, where program officers openly questioned whether they themselves would use the tool once it was built.

Theories of change (ToCs) and logic models are treated as standard tools. For some funders, they’re a default request to understand a grantee’s vision, approach, and impact. For some nonprofits, they’re just another part of the proposal process.

But they aren’t useful.

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17 Aug, 2023

Try This: Update Your Logic Model

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-08-16T22:18:56-04:00August 17th, 2023|Categories: Program, Service, & Campaign Design|Tags: Data Driven, Evaluative Thinking, Logic Models, Try This|0 Comments

*Try this activity and let me know how it goes for you.*

When logic models are viewed as a valuable planning and learning tool and used with other programmatic tools, it increases the likelihood that your organization will use them.

So, let’s update your program’s logic model!

This activity is ideal for:

Anyone responsible for designing and/or implementing programs and services

What you’ll need:

A program or service logic model

The steps:

This activity assumes that your program has a logic model, as you won’t be able to update it if you don’t have one.

Visually, your logic model could look like this:

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10 Aug, 2023

The Key to Making Actionable Logic Models

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-08-16T21:07:38-04:00August 10th, 2023|Categories: Program, Service, & Campaign Design|Tags: Logic Models, Nonprofits|0 Comments

Let’s get straight to the point.

When logic models are viewed as a valuable planning and learning tool, rather than solely as a grant making reporting requirement, it increases the likelihood that your organization will use them. When logic models are viewed in connection to other tools you have at your disposal, that also increases a logic model’s utility.

The key to making actionable logic models –logic models that you will actually use — is to have a plan for how this logic model will be used.

Within this key are macro and micro considerations. Let’s start with the micro considerations:

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3 Aug, 2023

Ask Nicole: Why Logic Models Set Nonprofits Up for Failure

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-08-23T11:46:54-04:00August 3rd, 2023|Categories: Program, Service, & Campaign Design|Tags: Ask Nicole, Logic Models, Nonprofits|0 Comments

Have a question you’d like to be featured? Let me know.

During a project meeting, I had a conversation with an executive director on structuring their organizational evaluation framework.

Understanding programs and all their many parts helps me determine an appropriate evaluation strategy, consisting of data collection and analysis, engaging participants in the process of gathering data, etc.

A tool that helps me understand a program’s existence and function is a logic model.

During this meeting, the executive director was adamant about not developing logic models for their organizational programming. I’ve heard this before with other clients, but I was interested in hearing her perspective.

For this executive director, the reservation centered on who typically asks for logic models: Funders and evaluators.

A logic model is a diagram that explains how a program is supposed to work, presenting a birds-eye view of the how the resources and activities, lead to the program’s intended results.

While logic models can be useful, I get why nonprofits don’t like them. I don’t create logic models for my own business, so why should I expect a nonprofit to do it?

I don’t want the absence of a logic model to be the reason a nonprofit isn’t funded, but I’m also happy to see the pushback. Here’s why:

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