What is an outcome?

An outcome is the change you expect to see as a result of your charity’s project – it’s the difference you will have made.

It is essentially your “why” for delivering your work. Imagine you are running an interview skills workshop at a youth club. The purpose of the project is not that 25 young people attend the workshop – that’s the output. 25 young people could attend the workshop and leave, and no difference has been made. The outcome is the difference you want to see as a result of that workshop. It might be that young people feel more confident in interviews. It might be that young people have greater understanding of the interview format. You might want to think longer term, that the young people have greater success in job interviews (understanding that your workshop is a contributing factor, not the primary cause).

A quick note on the difference between outputs and outcomes. Outputs tend to focus on statistics, e.g. 30 people attend, 15 people sign up, 40 people engage. Outcomes are more concerned with the difference as a result, and some of those changes will be harder to evidence than merely using an attendance list. You can’t meet outcomes without outputs – you need to do the work to make the difference. However, there’s no point in meetings outputs without having any outcomes – there needs to be a reason why having 20 people turn up is a good thing.

Often settling on 3 outcomes works well for a project. Not every beneficiary may achieve every outcome, and some may be hoping to get different things from the project than others. Having 3 outcomes rather than 1 makes it more likely you will address the different aspirations of the group. If you have too many outcomes (more than 5), they become hard to track, and it also suggests that the project could do with further focus and refining.

Outcomes are normally written as though the change has already happened. So imagine your project 6 months down the line – what difference do you expect / hope to see in your beneficiaries? You want to use phrases like “Young carers feel a greater level of support …” rather than “Young carers will feel more supported.” It’s like a snapshot in time, looking at the changes the project has helped bring about.

Outcome writing is vital for fundraising and for strategic planning. But it doesn’t need to be daunting – it comes down to asking yourself why you are doing this work, and then putting that into a clear sentence. If you are finding this challenging, I would love to support you in making your outcomes as clear and relevant as they can be.

February 2021 special offer – 1.5hr online session to help you plan your charity’s outcomes, with feedback provided on final outcome document – £100