Can Your Theory of Change Fit in a Sentence?
Nonprofits today operate in a reality most standard business advice doesn’t address: chronic underfunding, shifting political landscapes, and external forces that can threaten their work overnight. Doubly so for organizations serving communities most affected by systemic barriers.
Every nonprofit exists because someone saw a gap in the needs of their community and decided to do something about it. Most organizations can tell you what that gap is, but fewer can clearly articulate how their specific work closes it.
When there’s constant pressure to take on new programs, meet funder demands, and prove relevance in an increasingly turbulent environment, that organizational clarity is absolutely essential.
This is where a theory of change can be most effective. And no—we’re not talking about a 20-page strategic plan collecting dust on a shelf; we all know that can’t help much. But if it’s something you say in a single sentence that anyone can understand, it helps move your strategy forward and anchors you to the community you serve.
What a Theory of Change Actually Is
A theory of change connects three things:
- The problem you see in the world
- The world you envision when that problem no longer exists
- How your organization uniquely makes that change happen
It’s the bridge between your mission and your impact, and makes explicit the “how” and the “why” behind everything your organization does.
The concept was first formalized by researcher Carol Weiss in 1995, who argued that complex programs fail in part because the people running them haven’t articulated their assumptions about how change actually happens. Since then, organizations like the Annie E. Casey Foundation and The Bridgespan Group have developed comprehensive frameworks for building theories of change.
These resources are valuable—and can also feel overwhelming when you have a lack of staffing, capacity, and money to use them. Dense, multi-part theory of change documents are useful for deep evaluation work, but end up much less accessible to people across the whole of an organization.
Why We Simplify It
At Insights4Equity, our approach to theory of change is adapted from work we first encountered through Meme Styles and Sunjit Khamba in theWeThrive program at Mission Capital, a coaching cohort for BIPOC nonprofit leaders in Central Texas. In that program, theory of change was taught as a personal framework: a way for individual leaders to articulate how they create change through their careers and in their communities.
We thought, if a leader can say it about themselves, why not an organization? If BIPOC leaders could use this framework to create clarity and hold the line on what actually matters in their own work, couldn’t it do the same for organizations?
That’s the foundation of our simplified theory of change—something you can say in a sentence. Something everyone in your organization, from the executive director to the newest staff member, can understand, articulate, and confidently share with others. Because if your team can say it, it’s far more likely to resonate with others, too.
Think about your mission—you generally expect everyone in your nonprofit to be able to say it, right? So your theory of change complements the what of your mission with how and why. And it serves as a foundation you can build messaging on for any audience.
Why This Matters
Simplicity, clarity, and consistency go hand in hand.
In turbulent times, the ground moves under our feet—something we’ve all felt in recent years. So understanding what you uniquely provide is crucial, and a clear theory of change serves as both an anchor and filter. When someone says “why don’t you do this?” you can check that question against your theory of change and make an informed decision regarding your answer. When a funder suggests a new program that doesn’t fit your definition of success, you have language for why you’re declining. If your team is stretched thin, you have a through-line that helps everyone re-center and prioritize.
This is especially true for organizations led by and serving BIPOC communities, who are navigating additional societal barriers on top of the usual nonprofit sustainability pressures. A theory of change rooted in your community’s specific reality is how you stay accountable to the people you serve and hold the line with your community of support on what matters most.
It also helps you articulate your unique value proposition for both sides of your nonprofit business: the communities you serve and the investors who support you. Clarity about what you do, but also how and why you do it, helps you make a stronger case on both fronts.
How to Craft Yours
Before beginning any theory of change work, map out your programs, strategies, mission, vision, and the story you’ve been telling to connect them together. Listen deeply to your staff and get their input on how they understand and strive to support the organization.
Now you’re ready to tackle your simplified theory of change.
Start with the problem and be specific. “People are hungry” is overly general; try something more like: long-time residents of East Austin are struggling to access healthy food because of food deserts in their neighborhoods.
Then flip it: what does the world look like when that problem no longer exists? No one in Austin goes hungry because food is available and accessible in every neighborhood.
Now look at what’s between those two statements. That’s where your theory of change lives—it’s how you make that shift happen. Other organizations in your space will have different answers. Lock in on what makes your approach unique.
What is the biggest pitfall we see? Organizations overdo it by trying to list every program and service they offer. But a theory of change offers simplicity by zooming out to bird’s eye view. It’s the difference between naming activities like running food drives or doing Spanish translations vs. “Reliably providing direct access to nutritious food to people in food deserts” and “meeting people where they are by making culturally and linguistically relevant information available to them.”
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If your team can’t clearly or confidently say your theory of change in a sentence (or at all), you’re struggling to evaluate whether new programs fit your mission and vision, or your work has expanded in ways that don’t clearly connect back to your goals as an organization, it’s a signal to pause, take a step back, and reflect—and a simplified theory of change can help you step forward again.
Need help crafting yours? This is exactly the kind of work we love doing! Reach out to start a conversation.