cottagehealth.org/toolkit
How to create a logic model
Cottage Health Evaluation Toolkit
1
Did you review the basic components of the
program, including its mission, goals, objectives,
and activities?
Creating a logic model starts by having a conversation with
your stakeholders about the key building blocks of the
program and changes that you want to see. Sometimes
grant applications or strategic plans can be useful resources
for the conversation. It can be helpful to start the logic
model development by walking through a set of questions
that guide your conversations with stakeholders. Check out
the Conversation Guide included in this tool.
Have you identified the resources, activities and
participation for your logic model?
• Inputs are the resources needed to deliver the
program and may include: key organizational
resources like program sta, funding, specic facilities/
equipment, as well as partnerships with other
organizations or experts.
• Activities are what you do in your program and are
usually described in action verbs, such as “assess,”
“create,” “provide,” “monitor,” “develop,” “educate,” “train.”
It’s helpful to start by brainstorming all the activities
and then grouping them into key categories.
• Participation is the people who will participate in
or be reached by those activities. This should be the
target audience for your activities, not the people/
groups delivering them. Ask yourself: whom do we
need to reach for these activities to be successful?
Have you identified the right time frame to
measure the outcomes of your program?
Often people think of short-term outcomes as changes that
happen in less than one year, intermediate as 2-5 years, and
long-term as more than 5 years, however, your time frame
may vary depending on the life of your program.
Checklist: Creating a logic model
What
resources
are needed?
What are
our specic
activities?
Whom do
we want to
reach?
What
changes do
we expect
to see in the
short term?
What
changes do
we expect
as a result of
short-term
outcomes
being
achieved?
What will
be dierent
if we are
successful?
Activities
Short-term Participation Intermediate Long-term
Inputs Outputs Outcomes
Outcomes build on each other
Make sure each set of outcomes aren’t
just “more of the same” over a longer
time frame.
Example: A common mistake is to develop a
short-term outcome of serving 100 people and
then simply adding to the number of people
who will be reached for longer term outcomes.
Instead, consider the impact you expect your
work to have with those 100 people over a
longer time frame. For example, how will their
behavior have changed?
Tip:
