Applying a logic model to your funding application
Take the time to develop your implementation model—undercooked funding applications will always fail.
Here we cover the importance of service/project design when presenting an argument to fund one of your new bright ideas. This article is ideal for small and mid-sized health and social services organisations. Our perspective on this topic comes from our experience working with organisations that commission services and we think that by sharing our experience we can help organisations get an insight into where to put their effort when articulating their ideas to funders.
Our work supporting commissioning organisations to go to market and commission services has seen us assist with:
developing specifications for outgoing tenders and requests for proposals
develop scoring tools to evaluate funding applications
chairing selection panels to evaluate funding submissions.
We also work closely with service providers in developing their ideas and services using evidence-based principles so we have a balanced view of both sides of the ‘funding’ fence.
Our observations from the commissioning side
The components that set a strong application apart from the rest include:
the application is well written—some organisations can afford grant writers or have skilled staff on deck to put together well-written content. (Although, as a panel member, I try to overlook how polished the writing is and focus on the service model)
organisations can describe their general business, their client group and issues facing the community
frameworks exist to support organisational capability, governance and sustainability
a rationale for why or how that organisation is best placed to implement.
A lot of the content that organisations will use to cover the points above usually comes from existing information from previous grant and tender applications and has evolved and been refined over time. Importantly, it isn’t thrown together at the last minute!
However, the biggest thing that we believe is holding many organisations back is not including a clearly outlined service or project model in their application. The implementation model component of any application is often weighted higher than other components, so organisations who haven’t spent time developing a strong project/service logic can be punished.
Our top service design tip
We recommend that organisations who are pitching a service or project idea to a funder to consider spending more time on developing a service or project model logic. This will help to outline two key elements of their pitch—the service model and the evaluation framework.
We encourage organisations to get back to basics and concentrate on some key pieces of information:
Inputs: what resources go into the program?
Activities: what actions will be implemented?
Outputs: what is produced through those activities?
Outcomes: what are the changes of benefits that result from the program and over what timeframe?
Impact: to what extent has the overall goal of the program been realised?
The intent of developing a project/service logic model is to isolate each of the project components and link them to evidence that would suggest the realisation of positive outcomes over time. This systematic approach to designing implementation helps to explain what assumptions have been made and the evidence for these assumptions.
This is critical to enable a potential funder to understand the rationale behind why your idea is a good one and what it is likely to achieve. Structuring your service model in this way also conveys that your thinking is clear, sets boundaries, and helps prevent nasty surprises during implementation.
There are many great (and free) resources available online to help develop program logic models. Some examples are:
Australian Institute of Family Studies How to develop a program logic for planning and evaluation
We support a range of organisations to develop project logic models for their existing or future services. If you need tailored support or assistance to develop an implementation model for your organisation, we would be happy to hear from you.
In wrapping up, by no means are we dismissing the importance of demonstrating strong capability, governance and community engagement when pitching for funding - these are still critical to show you can deliver! However, we encourage organisations to spend a little more time on developing a clear project/service logic. In our opinion, this is make or break when it comes to getting your idea across the line with funders.