What is the Impact Model that True Impact uses?

Your program's impact model (also known as your logic model or theory of change) is a step-by-step illustration of how your program creates value.

You may be familiar with a logic model, and while this is a common tool, it tends to be pretty process heavy. At True Impact, our impact models are a refined version of logic models, focused on the end outcomes

Our Approach

We break inputs, outputs, and outcomes into a five stage impact model, which can be seen below.

	Impact Model Stage	What it Captures
	Program Development Inputs	The number of improvements in infrastructure, operating practices, systems, or staff used to deliver a program’s services. (optional)
	Reach Outputs	The number of people served by the program.
	Learn Interim Outcomes	The number of people who then gain the skills, knowledge, motivation, or access to resources that will enable them to achieve success. (optional)
	Act Interim Outcomes	The number of people who then take action or change behavior in order to achieve success. (optional)
	Succeed (Social Impacts) Outcomes	The number of people who improve their well-being by achieving the program's end goal.

Reach and Succeed are required. Learn, Act, and Program Development are optional. Most models work well starting with just Reach and Succeed.

Translated to Inputs, outputs, and outcomes

Inputs are what you invest: funding, staff time, equipment = Program Development
Outputs are what you deliver: meals served, trainings held, students taught = Reach
Outcomes are what changed: improved health, higher income, better grades = Succeed

True Impact is focused on outcomes. A helpful way to get there: keep asking "And then what?" until you reach a real change in someone's life.

When you build your model, you will select indicators from True Impact's standard library. These are pre-defined outcome measures organized by cause area and stage.

Building Your Model: Key Things to Know

One program, one model

Your impact model should focus on one intervention and one primary beneficiary group. This keeps your report clear, accurate, and useful to funders.

If your organization runs multiple distinct programs, each with its own activities and outcomes, consider creating a separate report for each one. A report that tries to capture everything at once often ends up capturing nothing well.

Not sure if your work counts as one program or many? Ask: Do these activities share the same theory of change and serve the same group of people? If yes, one report works. If not, split them.

Start with what you already track

You do not need perfect data to build a model. Most organizations are already capturing more than they realize.

A good starting point: Reach. If you know how many people participated in your program, you have your Reach number. From there, think about what changed for those people and whether you have any data, even estimates, to support it.

Work outward from what you know. Use your best available data for each stage and note how you measured it. A focused model with honest data is more valuable than a comprehensive model built on guesses.

Moving from activities to outcomes

A helpful way to find your outcomes: keep asking "And then what?" until you reach a real change in someone's life.

Reach captures people served: 120 students enrolled in tutoring
Learn captures knowledge or skill gains: 95 students improve understanding of core subjects
Act captures behavior change: 80 students complete all assigned coursework
Succeed captures the end outcome: 75 students improve grades by at least one letter grade

Improved health, food security, and income are Succeed outcomes. They do not belong in Learn or Act.

Direct service vs. intermediary models

Direct service: You work directly with the people whose lives you are improving. The same group appears across all four stages.

Intermediary model: You work through someone else first. For example, you train caregivers who then improve children's health. In this case:

Reach, Learn, and Act follow the intermediary (caregivers)
Succeed shifts to the end beneficiary (children)

Your end beneficiary is the person whose life ultimately improves because of your program, not necessarily the person you work with directly.

For a full walkthrough, see Helping the Helpers.