While traditional philanthropy focused on funding immediate needs and short-term goals, the practice of philanthropy is taking a turn towards social change. Funders desire to fund change, not charity. In this way, philanthropy can more effectively address issues at their root causes.

Theories of change provide an opportunity for funding organizations to develop and articulate the underlying beliefs and assumptions that guide their philanthropic giving. By connecting to your field’s theory of change, organizations that apply for funding can examine their service delivery and share how these services are critical for producing social change.

In this webinar, presenter Julie Assel, GPC, CGMS, guides participants through the essential elements of theories of change, strategies for tailoring the theories of change to the funders’ missions, and specific questions to guide an organization’s development of a theory of change.

What you will learn:

  • What theories of change are;
  • How they are similar to and different from logic models;
  • How and why funders are using logic models and theories of change;
  • How grant writers can and should be looking at funders’ theories of change; and
  • How organizations and grant writers should be creating theories of change for their organizations and large collaborative community projects.


Presented by:
Julie Assel, GPC, CGMS

Course curriculum

    1. Welcome: Let's Get Started

    2. Video: Logic Models and Theories of Change

    3. Session Evaluation

    4. Quiz: Logic Models and Theory of Change

About this course

  • $50.00
  • 4 lessons
  • 1 hour of video content

The trainers for these sessions are all credentialed grant professionals (GPCs) through the Grant Professional Certification Institute, Approved Trainers with the Grant Professionals Association, and/or credentialed Certified Grant Management Specialists (CGMS) through the National Grant Management Association. All of the trainings in this series align with the CGMS exam classification system and the Grant Professionals Certification Institute’s competencies and skills, and are approved for Continuing Education Units (CEU) by GPCI and CFRE International.