Narrative Logic Model in Grant Writing

What do you mean by narrative logic model?

Most simply put a logic model is an articulation of how your program / project / business works, what inputs there are, what happens, and what the results are. So a narrative logic model is taking a logic model and putting into a narrative format to provide the information and clear articulation of a logic model in a way that is more readable and approachable than a technical document like a fully developed logic model.

Developing a Logic Model

The first step is to develop and clear and comprehensive logic model. The depth and complexity of this will depend on your individual program / project and the requirements of the grant application. Putting together a logic model will provide the opportunity to clearly think through the activities and theory of your program along with what results you can reasonably expect and the evidence you are using to draw your conclusions. There are three components to a logic model, inputs, activities, and outcomes.

Inputs: The resources that go into supporting and operating the program such as staff, materials, funding, curricula, equipment, etc.

Activities: The actions that will be taken and products / services that will be produced using the resources that you have identified. This will be things like serving 25 lunches per day at a soup kitchen, hosting a twice per week youth activity group, funding a documentary on local history, etc. This doesn’t have to be extremely detailed but it should clearly separate key, distinct activities, especially if you are operating a more complex project.

Outcomes: Remember that outcomes are typically distinct from outputs, especially if you are operating a more involved project / program. Ideally you want to list outcomes that you can actually / reasonably assess. This is not the place for wild speculation on how your project / program ‘may’ save the world. The outcomes you list should be directly influenced by your use of resources (inputs) to engage in action / produce products or services (activities). It should be logically clear, and ideally able to demonstrated through evidence, how your activities will produce / influence the outcomes you target.

Creating a Narrative

A key item to remember is that you are not creating a nice story or idealized vision of what your project is or will / may accomplish if it receives funding. This is not a marketing spiel to be dressed up with action language and the latest buzzwords in your industry. This is taking the hard facts of what you have, what you’re planning to do, and what you reasonably expect the results to be and writing it in a way that makes the story of your project / program very clear from start to finish. It is fine to include some of the human element in your narrative but it should come through in very clear and concrete terms.

Let’s look at an example. If your organization is operating an after school sports program for adolescents you want to be very clear about exactly what you’ll be doing. Let’s say you’re applying for $15,000 to purchase new soccer goals and equipment for your program where you anticipate participation by 60+ youth during a three month period from September – October. Your resources include the people working / volunteering at your organization, use of a park / field being provided by the city parks department, and maybe a promise of an in-kind contribution from a local business if you’re able to get this grant to cover the cost of uniforms. Your activities are hosting twice a week soccer practices and once a week games. Some grant writers readily jump into listing nebulous or fantastic outcomes, like “our youth soccer league will transform kids into future stars and productive members of the community” or “we will reduce youth drug use and depression through our amazing soccer league”, be diligent to avoid this trap. Unless you’re planning to do a longitudinal study and survey or collect data in a scientifically valid framework to assess substance use and depression before and after soccer league participation while controlling for confounding variables then don’t list something like that.

In this case a narrative logic model would sound something like this:

Youth in the community of Townville do not have many structured opportunities for engaging in pro-social activities. There are limited sports options available through the schools and the costs of participation make joining the teams out of reach for many families. The average cost for one child to be on the basketball team is around $500 per season if costs for shoes, fees, and travel are all considered. Kids learn many valuable lessons through playing sports and being a part of a team and organization is working to make these kinds of opportunities more readily available to the youth in our community. To that end we are planning to establish a youth soccer league that will be open to kids 10 – 12 during the fall at low or no cost to the families. This league will not involve traveling and will provide a great opportunity for many different kids in the area to make friends as they all practice and play together. We are planning for twice weekly practices and matches once per week to ensure sufficient chance for participation while not placing heavy demands on families choosing to participate. The support and engagement of the community is important to us and we have already secured an agreement from the city to allow free use of a local park area through the fall season and promises from local businesses to help match grant funding to support the league. The support of this grant will allow us to purchase soccer goals and equipment for facilitating the games while private contributions can enable us to provide some kind of uniforms. We have already heard from many parents that they are excited about the possibility and the local paper will gladly publish an article if we are able to get the league going. These kinds of programs make a big difference in small communities like ours. We plan to track enrollment and participation and are aiming for at least 30 kids to join this first year and to participate in 60% of practices and games.

This tells the story of the small town and what this project would mean to the people in the area and the human element of providing a low / no cost sports option for youth while clearly stating what is to be done and what the target goals are. Keeping things clear and realistic has far more impact than embellished claims that any keen grant reviewer can easily spot as hype.