Antworks Community

Argh, what are you on about?!

You know that feeling when someone at a networking event starts talking about your “Theory of Change?” and your brain freezes? You might think it’s some complicated consultant-speak that you need a degree to understand, or you might just be heartily sick of consultant-speak that makes simple things sound complicated (we know, we are!).

Here’s the truth: you probably already have a theory of change. You might just call it something else. Like “how we think this works” or “why we do what we do” or even just “the plan.”

A Theory of Change (or Story of Change, which honestly sounds friendlier) is simply your best guess at how the thing you do leads to the thing you want to happen. That’s it.

Why bother writing it down?

Good question. You’re busy enough, right? But here’s the thing – writing it down helps you:

• Check whether what you’re doing actually connects to what you’re trying to achieve
• Explain your work and the impact it has to funders, trustees, volunteers and the people you serve
• Spot the gaps in your thinking (the bits where you’ve made a leap without realising)
• Notice when you need to change direction because something isn’t working
• Remember why you’re doing this on the hard days

The basic shape of it

The Story of Change for your group or organisation should have a few key parts. Think of them like stepping stones across a stream.

Where you want to get to → What changes in the longer term → What changes in the short term → What you do → What you need → Where you start

Doing your steps in the order we suggest here might feel like starting at the end. You can do them the other way around if that works better for you. But we think it’s really important to imagine (and agree about) the situation you are trying to create right at the start. The practicalities of how to get there can come after you decide where you want to go.

Let’s break that down with a real example. Imagine you run a community garden project:

Where you want to get to: A neighbourhood where people know and support each other, where everyone has access to green space and fresh food, where people feel they belong.

What changes in the longer term: People feel less lonely. They’ve made friends in their neighbourhood. They’re eating more fresh veg. Some are volunteering to help run sessions. The garden has become a community hub.

What changes in the short term: People start showing up regularly. They’re learning gardening skills. They’re chatting to each other while they weed. They’re taking home food they’ve grown.

What you do: You run weekly gardening sessions where anyone can drop in, learn, and grow vegetables together.

What you need: A piece of land, some tools and seeds, people willing to give it a go.

Where you start: People in your neighbourhood feel isolated and disconnected. There’s nowhere local to meet others or grow food.

The bit people often forget: assumptions

In between each of those stepping stones, there’s an invisible assumption – something you believe to be true that makes the connection work. These assumptions are really important because they’re where things can go wrong.

For example, you might assume that:

• People will feel comfortable coming to an outdoor space
• Learning a practical skill together helps people connect
• Having a regular weekly time works for most people
• People actually want to grow vegetables

These assumptions need checking. And that’s where your monitoring comes in (but that’s a story for another day).

Drawing it out

Some people like to draw their Story of Change as a flow diagram with boxes and arrows. Some prefer to write it as a story in paragraphs. Some make a simple table. There’s no wrong way – use whatever makes sense to your collective brains, you could even present it in a few different ways if that helps.

The fancy version uses words like “inputs” (what you need), “activities” (what you do), “outputs” (the immediate results like number of sessions), “outcomes” (the changes that happen), and “impact” (the bigger, longer-term change). But honestly? You can just describe the journey from A to B in your own words.

A template to get you started

If you like a bit of structure, try filling in these sentences (in any order that suits you!):

The problem we’re trying to address is: [Describe what’s wrong or missing]

We believe this happens because: [What causes this problem?]

The people most affected are: [Who experiences this problem?]

We will address it by: [What will you actually do?]

We think this will work because: [Why should your approach help?]

In the short term (3-6 months) we expect: [What will change first?]

In the medium term (6-18 months) we expect: [What should change next?]

In the longer term (beyond 18 months) we hope: [What’s the bigger change you’re working towards?]

Our assumptions are: [What needs to be true for this to work?]

We’ll know it’s working when: [What will you see, hear, or measure?]

What if you’re not sure?

That’s absolutely fine. In fact, it’s honest. Your Story of Change doesn’t have to be set in stone. It’s allowed to start as a rough sketch. It’s allowed to change as you learn more. Real life is messier than any flow chart, and that’s okay.

The point isn’t to get it perfect. The point is to pause and think: does what we’re doing actually connect to what we’re trying to achieve? Are we just busy, or are we moving in the right direction?

A final thought

Your Story of Change is really just your best current understanding of how your work creates change. It’s a working document, not a sacred text. It should evolve as you learn from the people you work with, from what succeeds, and from what doesn’t work as you expected.

The best Stories of Change we’ve seen are co-created with the people who the work is intended to change things for, with volunteers and staff together. Because different people can see connections and assumptions that you might miss from one perspective alone.

You don’t need expensive consultants or complex software to create a Story of Change. You need honesty about what you’re doing, humility about what you don’t yet know, and a willingness to keep learning.

And if you get stuck? That’s what we’re here for.

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Need support thinking through your Story of Change? Get in touch with Antworks Community. Sometimes talking it through with someone who asks good questions is all it takes.