HAYLOWHow to Show a Funder Your Program Is Working
You can feel the sessions landing. Here is how to make a funder see it too.
Most program directors do not have an impact problem. They have a proof problem. The distance between the change your program creates and what an outside funder can see and verify is the proof gap — and closing it is a craft you can learn.
Outputs vs. outcomes: what a funder is actually asking for
Outputs are what you did. Outcomes are what changed because you did it. Funders fund outcomes.
| Output (activity) | Outcome (change) |
|---|---|
| 48 mentoring sessions delivered | Mentees set goals they could not name before, and met them |
| 30 youth enrolled | Attendance and school engagement rose across the cohort |
The four things that turn work into proof
- A rubric — decide what a good session looks like before you run it.
- A record — capture what actually happened, session by session.
- A review — turn each record into a judgment against the rubric.
- A report — assemble those judgments into the case a funder can read.
Where to go next. Run Signal for a thirty-second read on your weakest layer. The book The Proof Is In The Work walks the full method, and CALIBR runs the review layer for you — scoring every session so the report writes itself.
A funder cannot reward what they cannot see. Make the work visible.