Theory of Change Workshop

Half-day, one day or multi-day · in person or online · for your team

Why build a Theory of Change together

You know what your programme is trying to achieve. You have objectives, activities, a team and a budget. But can you show, step by step, how the work you do every day connects to the change you’re working towards?

Sometimes the prompt to answer that question comes from outside - a funder has asked for a Theory of Change, or a bid needs one. Sometimes it comes from inside - you can feel the gap between the day-to-day work and the difference it’s meant to make. Both are good reasons to be here. A funder asking for a Theory of Change is really asking to see your thinking - and thinking that holds together on paper tends to hold together in practice.

This workshop is a structured day for doing that thinking properly - together, as a team, on your actual programme. If what you’re after is the model itself - what a Theory of Change is and how one is put together - our free Theory of Change tool covers that ground. This page is about building one.

What you’ll build in the workshop

Two things leave the room with you.

The first is a working Theory of Change for your programme. The problem you exist to address. Who the work is for. What you actually do. The outcomes that build along the way, the impact they add up to - and the assumptions connecting each step, made visible so they can be tested rather than quietly relied on.

The second is the method. Because your team builds the model rather than watching one being built, you learn the process from the inside - the questions to ask, the order to ask them in, where it usually gets sticky and how to get unstuck. When the next programme needs a Theory of Change, you’ll be able to run the process yourselves.

Theory of Change workshop formats and pricing

Three ways to run it, depending on what you’re mapping.

Every format runs in person at your place or online. Registered charities and social enterprises pay the nonprofit rate - same workshop, priced for the sector.

How the workshop works

Who the workshop is for

Programme and project teams - in charities, social enterprises, public sector teams, and any organisation that needs to show how its work creates change. Funders commission it for grantees too, sometimes as a cohort.

It tends to land at three moments: a funding application that asks for a Theory of Change, an evaluation of an existing programme, or the design of a new one. And it works best when the team attends together - the model you build collaboratively is the one everyone owns afterwards.

Start with the free Theory of Change tool

The best warm-up for the workshop is free. Our Theory of Change tool and template gives you the background and a structure to take a first pass with - plenty of teams arrive having roughed something out, which makes the day quicker because you bring questions rather than a blank page. There’s a fuller set of resources at toctoolkit.org if you want to go deeper before we meet.

Or we can run it for you

This workshop teaches your team to run the process - that’s the point of it. But sometimes the method isn’t what’s needed; what’s needed is the Theory of Change done well, with your leaders in the room and someone else holding the pen. That’s facilitation rather than training, and we do that too - working alongside you on the strategy itself. Different kind of day, same care.

What makes this workshop different

The most useful Theories of Change are the ones teams keep using. And what keeps a model in use, in our experience, is the connective thinking: assumptions made explicit rather than implied, the space between activities and outcomes treated as the interesting part rather than the awkward gap. That’s where we spend the day’s energy.

We also help you place the model in its wider context - what’s around your programme that could help or hinder the pathway. A Theory of Change that knows its surroundings is more realistic on day one, and more resilient when things change around it.

One device we use throughout the day is the ceiling of accountability - the line between the change your work directly creates and the wider change you contribute to but can’t control. Every claim that ends up below the line is one you could defend to a funder; everything above it stays honest about being a contribution. Drawing that line tends to be the conversation teams remember.

Theory of Change workshop FAQs

Do we need anything prepared?

No - the day is designed to start from wherever you are. It helps if the people in the room know the programme well, and some teams like to rough out a first pass with the free template beforehand, but neither is required. For one-day and multi-day formats we can also run a short pre-workshop assessment with your team, so the day opens with an honest picture of where your current thinking stands.

Can one workshop cover several programmes?

Yes - that’s what the multi-day format is for. You map each programme properly, then build the connective layer that shows how they add up to one organisational story.

What about LogFrames?

They’re close cousins, and funders often ask for both. A Theory of Change shows the logic of your programme; a LogFrame organises it for monitoring and reporting. Build the first and the second gets considerably easier.

How does online delivery work?

The same workshop, run live over video with a shared digital whiteboard - same stages, same outputs. Multi-day formats can be spaced across weeks online, which some teams find easier to schedule.

How does the nonprofit rate work?

Registered charities and social enterprises pay the nonprofit rate - half the standard price for the half-day and one-day formats. Just mention it when you get in touch.

What if we want help with the whole strategy, not just the map?

Then you probably want us facilitating rather than training - working on the strategy with your leadership team. The fork is simple: learn the method here, or have us run the process with you there.