innoweave impact and strategic clarity planning: workshop #1

Innoweave Impact and Strategic Clarity Planning: Workshop #1

November 16th, 2012

2121108-Workshop #1 materials_presentationTBG

What is Innoweave?

A new national initiative to equip Canada’s community sector leaders

with new tools and processes to effect large-scale change, brought to you by these four partner organizations


Agenda

Time Session

9:30 Welcome and introductions

10:30 Strategic clarity and intended impact intro

11:00 Intended impact breakouts with partners

11:15 Theory of change introduction

12:00 Theory of change breakouts and lunch

1:30 Theory of change breakouts with partners

2:00 Succeeding in Phase I

Day ends at 3pm


Innoweave organization participants


This process will enable your organization to articulate what impact you want to have and how to achieve it

Analytics and measures

What, for whom, and how(Today’s focus)

Priorities & resources; Organization


Reminder: we are now entering phase 1 of the six-month process

Oct 15 – Nov 15 Nov 16 Nov 19 –

Jan 16 Jan 17 Jan 18 – Mar 15

Mar 16 – Apr 15

• Familiarize yourself with strategic clarity, intended impact and theory of change

• Draft intended impact statement

• Deep dive into strategic clarity, intended impact and theory of change

• Refine your statement of “what are we doing, for whom”

• Draft/revise your theory of change

• Finish drafting/ refining theory of change

• Analyze current and intended program performance

• Gather evidence from experts supporting and/or refuting your theory of change

• Revisit and refine your theory of change based on Phase 1 analyses

• Denote unanswered questions to address in the future

• Assess what implications your theory of change has on program and operations

• Develop implementation plan

• Create a learning agenda with unanswered questions and the plan to address them

• Submit process feedback to Innoweave and Bridgespan

• Ask final follow-up questions

• Begin implementing strategic direction

WORKSHOP 1

WORKSHOP 2

PREP PHASE

PHASE 1 PHASE 2FOLLOW-

UP


Today is about defining strategic clarity, refining your intended impact and drafting/refining theory of change

KEY QUESTIONS

• What is a strategy? How do you know when you have one that is meaningful?

• What impact will you hold yourselves accountable for achieving? For whom? In what time frame?

• What activities will you undertake to achieve impact?

TODAY’S DELIVERABLES

• Increased understanding of strategic clarity

• Refined intended impact statement

• Draft/revised theory of change


Phase 1 is about testing and refining your organization’s theory of change through analysis

ASK KEY QUESTIONS

PERFORM CORE

ANALYSES

• Are you driving the impact as intended in all programs and work?

• Does your field’s evidence base confirm that these activities create the change?

• Program analysis

• Evidence research

Results guide implications and potential changes to programs and operations

• What activities will achieve our intended impact?

• Theory of change (continue to draft/revise)


The program analysis will explore if gaps exist between intended and actual impact

Target outcomes

Target activities

Target constituents

Actual outcomes

Actual activitiesActual

constituents

From your draft theory of change

From an analysis of your program’s actual participants, services provided, and actual outcomes

For each program, what is the difference between your target and actual program components?


The evidence research helps you pressure test your theory of change

• How plausible is our theory of change and program model?

• What research-based practices exist in our field that might influence what we do?

• What trends in the field might influence our direction?

• What outcomes should we measure?

Conducting evidence-base research helps answer questions such as:


In phase 2, you will determine how/if programs and operations need to change as a result of your findings

Determine changes needed

Map out a planCreate a learning

agenda

• Given what you have learned, what changes do you want to make to your programs or operations?

• How will you make those changes?

• What are the financial implications, and how will you sequence changes?

• Who will lead each change effort?

• What questions are still outstanding?

• Over the next 3-5 years, how will you answer those questions?


Innoweave organization participants


Agenda

Time Session








Day ends at 3pm


At the most basic level, all nonprofits face the same central challenge

Availableresources

Maximum social impact

Challenge :

Bad news:

Good news:

“Strategy” is…

• “Can’t do everything”-- resources are limited while social needs seem endless

• “Everything isn’t equally worth doing”-- possible courses of action yield different levels of impact

• Achieving tightest fit between actions undertaken and intended impact

Transforming available resources into maximum social impact


Intended impact and theory of change are the tools we use to achieve strategic clarity

Intended impact

What? For whom?

Theory of change

How?


Reminder: Intended impact defines success for your organization

Intended impact

What? For whom?

What is the impact that

you will hold yourself

accountable for achieving,

in what timeframe?


Two questions can help crystallize an intended impact statement

Is it specific?

How realistic is it - does it describe

“accountability” or “hope”?


Agenda

Time Session








Day ends at 3pm


Intended impact breakout sessions

Blue Door Shelters & Women’s Centre of York Region

Pembina & Equitas

Causeway Work Centre & John Howard Society

Community Living Kawartha Lakes & FarmStart

Girls Action Foundation & Santropol Roulant

Pathways of York Region & Evergreen

Heartwood Centre & Motivate Canada

Pairings for intended impact breakout


Activity: Check your partner organization’s intended impact by asking the following questions (15 minutes)

Is it specific?

How realistic is it - does it describe

“accountability” or “hope”?


Agenda

Time Session








Day ends at 3pm


Reminder: Theory of change explains how your intended impact will be achieved

Theory of change

How?

What activities will we

undertake to achieve the

intended impact? What changes are needed to get to the destination,

and how will they be achieved?


What arewe tryingto achieve?

All good theories of change address the same strategic components

How willwe getthere?

Resources

Context

Beneficiaries

Activities

Interim outcomes

Ultimate outcome •What is our intended impact?

•How will we know we are on track?

•What are the specific activities? For how long? How often?

•What staff, skills, systems, and tools do we need?

•What external context creates the ideal program environment?

•What are the characteristics of the population we want serve?


Creating a theory of change can seem deceptively simple. Don’t fall into the six common pitfalls!

• Failing to take external context into account

• Unconfirmed evidenceor plausibility

• Confusing accountability with hope

• Creating a mirror instead of a target

5

1

2

• Being unfaithful to your theory

4

6• Not specific enough to be measurable

3


Activity: Spot the pitfalls in Youth Boost’s (YB) theory of change

Who do we serve?

How do we serve them?

Short-term:

At-risk youth:

Grades 7-12

Intermediate-term:

High schools in Edmonton

Schools:

Description of Organization: $3M organization runs series of wrap-around services to serve at-risk youth in grades 7-12 (currently serving 200 youth annually) with the goals of transforming lives and ultimately transforming cities/districts to provide a safe environment for all youth

First draft of Intended Impact/Theory of Change:

Wrap-around model customized to

individuals’ needs:

Transform lives of at-risk youth

Influence policy in service of youth

Intended Impact

• Long-term mentoring and case management

- At home, at work, and in school (with parental involvement)

• Academic services (e.g., tutoring) • Reach ~1,000 at-risk

youth per year within 3 yrs through growth in existing and new regions

• Increase youth & high school graduation rates

• More productive citizens (e.g., increased income and economic stability, greater self-sufficiency and resilience)

• Lower impact on social services

• Support for wrap-around approach for at-risk youth

• Increase attendance/ on-grade promotion rates

• Lower suspension and dropout rates

• Improve academic outcomes


Supportive school and district leadership

Answer key: Youth Boost’s refined theory of change addresses major pitfalls

“Hoped for Impact”

“Intended Impact”Who do we serve?

How do we serve them?

School strategy aligned to district goals

Cooperative human service agencies

Aligned philanthropy

Accomplished with:

Research-based, wrap-around modelcustomized to individuals’ needs:

Short-term:At-risk youth:

In grades 7-12 with at least two

risk factors

• Increase attendance/ on-grade promotion rates

• Lower suspension and dropout rates

• Improve academic outcomes

Intermediate-term:

• Reach ~400 at-risk youth per year by ’15-16 through growth in existing and new regions

• Increase youth & high school graduation rates

• Improve post-secondary success:

– Raise college/ university enrollment

– Raise 1 & 2 yr retention

Involved business community

Supportive higher ed. community

Transform lives of at-risk youth

• More productive citizens (e.g., increased income and economic stability, greater self-sufficiency and resilience)

• Lower impact on social services

Engaged gov’t leaders at all levels

• Transform Edmonton community

• Safer, healthier youth environment for all local youth

Achieve school tipping point

Deep district alignment

Strong community engagement

School trans-

formation

Chronically under-

performing middle and

high schools in Edmonton

Schools:

Edmonton School District

seeking to support broader socio-

emotional needs of

youth

District:

High penetration in schools

Tightened link between program, outcomes funding & org

• Long-term mentoring and case management– At home, at work, and in school (with parental

involvement)• Academic services (e.g., tutoring)• Employment training and placement• Post-secondary planning and preparation

Improved data driven decision-making at all staff levels throughout the organization

Implemented through:

Long-term:

Coordinated client-centered, delivery system


The greater your focus on systems change, the more emphasis you should place on external context research

Program focus

Typically for

•Service provider articulating program model

Theory of change will

show

•Specific short, medium, and long-term outcomes

•Exact profile of the target beneficiary

•Specific activities/services, dosages, and durations (or specific practices to prescribe services)

•Resources used

•Context in which services are delivered

External focus

•Policy or systems change work (often via collaborative, coalition)

•Ultimate goal to be achieved

•Systems that must change / audiences that must be influenced / barriers that must be addressed; and for each

• Point of departure

• Point of arrival

• Strategies required

•Ecosystem of organizations and roles each will perform to realize change


Agenda

Time Session








Day ends at 3pm


Activity: Spend 60 minutes developing a first draft using the provided worksheets (or refine the drafts you already have)

Beneficiaries ActivitiesIntermediate

outcomesUltimate outcomes

External context


Agenda

Time Session








Day ends at 3pm


Activity: Check your partner organization’s theory of change against the six pitfalls (30 minutes)

• Failing to take external context into account

• Unconfirmed evidenceor plausibility

• Confusing accountability with hope

• Creating a mirror instead of a target

5

1

2

• Being unfaithful to your theory

4

6• Not specific enough to be measurable

3


Agenda

Time Session








Day ends at 3pm


Reminder: you will finish your theory of change revisions and complete two analyses during Phase 1

Strategic Clarity guide and

instructional video

Evidence Research guide

ASK KEY QUESTIONS

PERFORM CORE

ANALYSES

Program Analysis guide and program

info template

RESOURCES TO HELP

• Are you driving the impact as intended in all programs and work?

• Does your field’s evidence base confirm that these activities create the change?

• Program analysis

• Evidence research

• What activities will achieve our intended impact?

• Theory of change (continue to draft/revise)


The next two months are analytically heavy and time-consuming, but there are ways to make it manageable

• Develop a work plan next week as a social contract for you and your team

–Who is in charge of each analysis?–When will the working team discuss initial findings from each analysis?

–When will the team look across analyses for themes?–How and when will we engage our Board with these findings?

• Ask Bridgespan and your coach for advice – don’t be a stranger!


Sample work plan for Phase 1 analyses

Theory of change Program analysis Evidence research

Topics for work team meeting

11/19 – 11/23

•Finish drafting this during our weekly team meeting

•Finish gathering existing historical info on program beneficiaries, activities and outcomes

•Make list of sources: those used by our org in past, peer organizations, and known field researchers in our area

•Assign point person to each analysis

•Fill in this workplan

•Finish drafting theory of change together

11/26 – 11/30

12/3 – 12/7

12/10 – 12/14

12/17 – 12/21

1/2 – 1/4

1/7 – 1/11

EXAMPLE


Deliverables for Phase 1

• Refined intended impact and theory of change statements

• A workplan and first draft of the program info datasheet

• Preliminary evidence research and analysis


Program analysis example exercise: Essex Youth Services in principle…

Essex Youth Services:TARGET

Case Management (CM)

Employment trainingEducation

Math/English tutoring for in-school youth

GED support for out of school youth

• Program description– Youth get bi-weekly

sessions with social worker– Case-load of 50 youth per

case manager (social worker)

• Target participants– 500 youth ages 14-18

living in Essex county– Youth come from families

at or below Low Income Cut-Off poverty line

• Target outcomes– Youth remain free from

engagement with juvenile justice system

– Youth get placed in education programs

• Program description– Job skills training and

internships – Offered twice a year

• Target participants– 50 youth per session– Age 18+

• Target outcomes– Acquisition of a full-time

job– Employed 90 days later– Employed 1 year later

(may not be in same job)

• Program description– Weekly 2 hours of

group tutoring in math and 2 hours of group tutoring in English, by grade

• Target outcomes– Graduation from high

school with an 80% average

– Individualized Life Plan (ILP) to seek post-secondary education or employment

• Program description– 2 hours a day, 3 days

a week of GED tutoring

• Target participants– 250 youth– Must be engaged in

CM

• Target outcomes– Acquisition of GED

within 2 years– Individualized Life

Plan (ILP) to seek post-secondary education or employment

Advance to

Referred to

EXAMPLE


In reality, the program looked different

Essex Youth Services:ACTUAL

Case Management (CM)

Employment trainingEducation

Math/English tutoring for in-school youth

GED support for out of school youth

• Program description– Only 50% of youth get bi-

weekly sessions (vs. 100% target)

– Case-load is 35 (vs. 50 target)

• Target participants– 70% of 555 youth served

are from Essex county (vs. target of 100% for 500 youth)

– Economic status is not tracked (vs. target of only serving youth at or below Low Income Cut-Off poverty line)

• Target outcomes– 35% of youth have

additional involvement w/ juvenile justice system (vs. target of 0%)

– Only 80% of youth participate in education program s (vs. target of 100%)

• Program description– Full participation in job

skills training but only 25 internship slots per semi-annual session

• Target outcomes– 85% job placement rate

and 90% are still in a job 90 days later (close to target)…but

– No data tracked for employment 1 year later

– Internships do not influence likelihood of job placement

• Program description– Only 73% of youth

participate in both math and English (vs. 100%)

• Target outcomes– Graduation rate is 90%

for students who participate in both math and English, but only 60% otherwise

– ILPs and grade advancement are not tracked

• Program description– 85% of youth get

target dosage of GED support (close to target)

• Target participants– 250 youth (same as

target) but many not engaged in CM

• Target outcomes– 90% get GED within 2

years (close to target)– ILPs closely tracked,

in accordance with target

Advance to

Referred to

EXAMPLE


Select implications for Essex to consider

• Consider implications of implementing higher case-loads

• Streamline intake process (e.g., focus on Essex county youth)

• Explore potential link between more regular (bi-weekly) sessions and lower rates of juvenile justice re-engagement

Case management

Education programs

Employment programs

• Explore ways to ensure that youth get math and English support

• Decide whether non-CM youth can participate in GED programs

• Have GED team share expertise in ILPs with the tutoring team

• Consider making internships optional, or eliminating altogether

• Decide whether Essex wants to track and be held accountable for 1-year employment retention

innoweave impact and strategic clarity planning: workshop #1

Documents

theory of change breakouts

innoweave impact

intended impact breakouts

organizations theory

intended impact intro11

theory of changefinish

theory of changedraft

theory of changerevisit