The Theory of Change is a methodology that is concerned with the deconstructing of the societal change that an organization is trying to instill. This means working backwards from the long-term goals of the company and creating smaller measurable objectives which can help track the progress of the organization.

            As is the same with many different non-profits, and as was mentioned previously, the Patient and Family Support field relies heavily on their Theory of Change and those larger organizational goals they have. This is due to the fact that the role that it plays in helping these organizations determine their respective measurements of success is key to the creation of a measurable pathway towards the change that they are trying to make within society.

Due to the diversity present with the Patient and Family Support field I have applied the Theory of Change to the case (Make-a-Wish foundation) being used in this assignment. It is as follows:

Theory of change:

• Who is the population?
  • Children (Age 2 ½ and 18) and their families who are eligible due to a terminal condition
• What are the intended outcomes?
  • Provide life-changing experiences wishes for children with critical illnesses, provide a memorable experience for both the child and their parents.
• How will the outcomes affect the population?
  • When patients (along with their family members) have their wishes fulfilled it is the hope of the foundation that such experiences will have a lasting positive impact on the patient as well as the family. 
  • In addition to this it is the hope of the organization that the fulfillment of these children’s wishes will inspire the community around them.
• How will the population effects be measured over time?
  • The amount of wishes that the organization is able to give over time, feedback received over time, improved psychological symptoms of patients and their families, fundraising, volunteer and partnership numbers

Logical model:

The logic model is another incredibly useful tool for non-profit organizations as it helps to present the activities of the organization in relation to their long-term goals. This articulation of desired outcomes as well as their relationships with the organizations activities and inputs required provides an outline for the firms measuring of success.

• What outputs, and how many need to be generated to reach those outcomes?
  • The outputs are the number of wishes granted to children
  • There is no set number of outputs that needs to be generated as ‘customers’ who pay for the services are not the same as those that are ‘consuming’ the services of the foundation
    • According to the vision statement of the Make-a-Wish foundation however the goal number of outputs is the number of children that ‘qualify’ for making a wish which is 27,000 children each year
• What activities are required to generate those outputs? What is the production process?
  • The raising of sufficient funds is essential, attracting enough volunteers to help with service of wish fulfillment, partnering with hospitals and doctors so as to be able to reach those children that ‘qualify’, partnering with other organizations and people that can help fulfil some of these wishes
    • According to the goal of 27,000 children and with an average cost of a wish being $11,161 the funds required for such a goal would be $301,347,000 a year
• What inputs will those activities consume? How will they be obtained?
  • Money raised by the organization
    • To be collected through fundraising
    • Donations
  • Volunteers
    • Gained through the communicating a need for staff to the public
  • Partnering organizations and relevant celebrities to wishes
    • Gained through the organizations networking

Business model:

• Who are the consumers or clients that experience the outputs?
  • The terminally ill children and their families
• Who are the customers who pay for the services? Are they the same as the consumers?
  • The customers and consumers are not the same
  • The customers that pay for wish fulfillment are larger people donating to help aid the organization in their service of wish fulfillment
  • The consumers are (as mentioned) the critically ill children and their families
• What is the customer value proposition that persuades customers to pay for services?
  • That “Together, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.”
  • Essentially this value proposition offered is a way for people (those who donate) to play a role in providing experiences of a lifetime to these children that would otherwise not have the chance to have them
• What is the operating scale to reach sustainable profitability?
  • Foundation relies primarily on donations/fundraising, which must be equal to or greater than the organizations total expenses

Performance measurement:

• How are individual activities and programs measured for performance?
  • Feedback from families, children’s psychology ‘symptoms’ improving (although not regularly measured), surveys, reviews
• How are organizations evaluated for overall effectiveness?
  • Number of wishes granted, percentage of money that goes directly to patients, reputation, feedback, ability raise funds for wishes