Building a Clear Path Forward: Landmarks for Families’ Theory of Change
Overview
Landmarks for Families provides intensive, trauma-informed, and evidence-based support for young people and families facing significant challenges. Their work focuses on family reunification whenever possible, while also preparing families and transitioning (foster) youth with the life skills needed to achieve long-term stability and independence.
Their service model is both robust and nuanced, grounded in trauma-informed principles and a thoughtful systems approach. Their existing logic model relied on technical language and assumed familiarity with their approach, making it difficult, making it difficult to quickly capture the heart of what they do for community members, partners, and funders.
Organizational leadership sought support to visualize their model and communicate their impact in a way that sparks curiosity and invites engagement, without flattening the nuance that makes their work effective and distinct.
Project Objectives
Simplify complex, technical descriptions of services into a format accessible to community members, partners, and funders.
Highlight the unique focus on disconnected young people, while still reflecting the range of populations served.
Create a visual model that sparks curiosity and invites engagement.
Preserve the depth and sophistication of Landmarks for Families’ trauma-informed, systems-based approach.
The Solution
Understand Needs & Current State
We hosted a kick-off meeting to hear directly from the client about the challenges they faced and how a limited consulting scope could be right-sized to fit the time allotted and still create value for Landmarks for Families.
Document Review & Benchmarking
We examined how Landmarks for Families’ service delivery model links activities to outputs and outcomes across distinct audiences.
In parallel, we scanned how peer organizations articulate and visualize their work, focusing on how they convey complexity without sacrificing clarity.
Recommendations & Strategic Direction
We facilitated a workshop with the Executive Director, Director of Quality Improvement, and Communications Director to guide a decision-making process between two potential paths forward.
Audience-Focused: Highlighted who Landmarks for Families serves and how services are tailored based on varying levels of need and the intended outcomes for each group.
This approach highlighted the organization’s primary focus on disconnected young people while also acknowledging the broader range of populations they support.
Service Delivery-Focused: Emphasized the depth and breadth of Landmarks’ model by illustrating how services are designed and implemented across the organization.
This approach captured the increasing levels of intensity, frequency, and organizational involvement required to meet diverse needs.
Design a new visual theory of change
We brainstormed with the team to define what should be included in the design to align with the product goals and the selected path forward.
The proposed approach would use a bulls-eye visual structure, combined with light, a core element of the brand, to:
Shine brightest at the center, highlighting the depth of services and intentional investment in disconnected young people.
Extend outward, signifying the attention paid and lighter-touch services provided to other audiences.
The design would emphasize how the organization is equipping young people and families with the tools they need to succeed, reinforcing a message of empowerment and long-term impact.
The Result
Landmarks for Families gained a clear, audience-focused Theory of Change that makes their work easier to understand while preserving its depth and complexity. The new framework allows them to:
Highlight their primary focus on disconnected young people while acknowledging the broader range of populations they support.
Communicate how services are tailored to meet distinct needs and the value created for families and youth.
Use language that resonates with both internal and external audiences, creating opportunities for more engaging conversations with partners, funders, and the community.
Client Feedback
“Project Evident assigned us to work with Dana Benjamin and her team at Back of the Napkin, and we are having the best experience.
After hearing her talk on Theories of Change and Logic Models, we asked her to help us drill our logic model down into a Theory of Change that can be easily and effectively communicated. After an initial consultation with a couple of members of our team and review of some of our materials, they wera able to present the fresh perspective we needed to lift us out of the temptation to rely on “industry jargon” and help us communicate our value and impact in a way that I believe will help us resonate with a much broader audience.
This is just what we needed! Now that we have an approach nailed down, we are working to see if they can help us craft a visual representation, and I am excited to see what happens next.”
— Beverly Hardin, Chief Executive Officer, Landmarks for Families
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