About Mainsail Consulting

Let Mainsail come alongside your organization to formulate a Theory of Change. A Theory of Change is an if-then statement that predicts specific outcomes as the result of specific investments of resources and activities. Being something grounded in psychosocial theory, a Theory of Change should include micro, mezzo and macro considerations. Any Theory of Change should be researched and routinely evaluated. Contact Mainsail today.

Based upon the Theory of Change, the next step in logic modeling is to determine what resources or inputs are needed to achieve specific outcomes? It is in this stage that doing a unit cost analysis may be helpful to determine the overall cost of a single unit of service. Projecting the number if anticipated units into a grant request or limiting the number of units served based upon grants received. It is extremely important in this stage to include an administrative cost percentage to each service unit. Equally important is the inclusion of, space, materials and support services to this process. Let Mainsail help your human service organization look at inputs needed to achieve successful outcomes; though repurposing, leveraging and aquisition.

Now that inputs have been determined, how should the organization engage those inputs to achieve successful outcomes? When applying a logic model, activities should tie back into the Theory of Change and contain metrics to measure effectiveness. Activities may include such things as case management, education, online tutoring, etc. Activities need to be evidence based, strategic and intentional. Mainsail exists to assist human service organizations in this most important aspect of program planning.

When receiving support from stakeholders, it is important to track outputs after unit costs have been defined. For example, if an organization receives $150,000 from the ACME Foundation for a program with a unit cost of $150, the ACME Foundation may not renew funding if less than 1,000 units of service can be tracked. Additionally, tracking outputs often demonstrates additional needs. Imagine if during the next funding cycle this same organization can show an additional 800 requests for services that were not covered by the grant received. Count on Mainsail to develop unit costs and help interpret outputs into requests for proposals.

While outputs determine quantity of services offered, outcomes measure the quality-of-service offerings. In a general sense, successful outcomes measure decreases in risk-factors and increases in protective factors. For example, an after-school programs lowers the risk of youth being home alone (risk factor) between the hours of 4:00PM and 7:00PM while increasing the likelihood of children staying in school (protective factor) through educational tutoring. Activities should support outcomes that are measurable. A formative evaluation of outcomes means that outcomes will be measured constantly, and inputs and activities adjusted to achieve desired outcomes. Communication of successful outcomes is key when seeking grant funding and stakeholder support. Even if not defined at the beginning of an initiative, summative evaluation at the end of a program period is extremely important. Mainsail is here for your formative and summative outcome evaluations.