Prompt: draft a theory of change

A theory of change explains how your activities lead to the difference you want to make. This prompt turns your work into a clear first draft — inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and long-term change — and names the assumptions the logic depends on. You test the links and the evidence before relying on it.

What to paste in

Give the AI your main activities, who you work with, the change you ultimately want, and any evidence your approach works. It produces a step-by-step logic and flags untested assumptions for you to check.

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What to check afterwards

Test each “if we do this, then that changes” link honestly — the value is in exposing weak leaps, not hiding them. Keep the assumption flags, mark aspiration apart from proven evidence, and discuss the draft with your team and trustees rather than adopting an AI’s version wholesale.

The point of a theory of change is to expose the weak links in your logic before a funder does — so keep the untested assumptions visible rather than smoothing them over.

Worked example

The illustrative example maps a bike-refurbishment charity from activities to long-term change and names three assumptions it would need to test.

CharityIQ can build a theory of change grounded in your activities and any evidence you hold, keeping assumptions explicit.