Logic model template
A logic model is a one-page map of how your program turns resources into results. It runs from inputs to activities, outputs, short and long-term outcomes and finally impact. Funders ask for one to see that your activities can plausibly produce the change you promise. Fill in each row below from left to right.
Federal agencies and larger foundations often ask for a logic model as an attachment that reviewers can check against your goals, activities and evaluation plan. Even when nobody asks for one, drafting it first makes the narrative sections of a proposal much easier to write.
Free to copy and adapt. Square brackets mark what you replace. Nothing here is tied to a particular funder. Read each funder's guidelines for required headings, page limits and attachments before you paste a finished draft into their application form.
The template
Inputs
What you put in. List the staff, money, partners and materials the program depends on, including anything donated.
Staff: [roles and time]
Funding: $[amount] from [sources]
Partners: [names and what they contribute]
Facilities and materials: [list]
Activities
What the program does. Write each activity as something a visitor could watch happening, such as a weekly session or a home visit.
[Activity 1, such as weekly tutoring sessions]
[Activity 2]
[Activity 3]
Outputs
Count what you did. Outputs measure the volume of the work and say nothing yet about whether anything changed for the people you serve.
[Number] sessions delivered
[Number] participants served
[Number] [materials, referrals or other products]
Short-term outcomes
Early change. These are gains in knowledge, skills or attitudes that participants usually show within the first year of the program.
[Percent] of participants [show a measurable gain in knowledge or skill] by [date]
Long-term outcomes
Deeper change. Shifts in behavior or circumstances take longer to appear and often need one to several years of follow-up to measure well.
[Percent] of participants [measurable change in behavior or condition] within [period]
Impact
The big picture. This is the lasting change in your community that the program contributes to alongside everyone else working on the same problem.
[The broad change, such as higher graduation rates in the district]
Assumptions and external factors
What could go wrong. List the conditions that must hold for the model to work and the outside forces that could affect it. A reviewer can then see you have thought about risk.
Assumptions: [such as participants can attend after school]
External factors: [such as changes in school schedules or funding]
Skip the blank page
Quillify writes the goals, objectives and evaluation sections of a proposal from your own program documents. Upload your logic model and the draft works from it.
Questions people ask
What are the five parts of a logic model?
Inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impact. Many models split outcomes into short, medium and long term.
What is the difference between outputs and outcomes?
Outputs count what you did, such as sessions held. Outcomes measure what changed for participants because of it.
Is a logic model the same as a theory of change?
They are related. A theory of change explains why the change happens. A logic model lays out the specific program steps from inputs through to outcomes that are meant to produce that change over time.
Related guides: Logic model vs theory of change. The mistakes that repeat in grant proposals. All free templates.
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