5 things we learned when we developed our theory of change
21 August 2025
At the Motability Foundation, we recently developed our new five-year strategy. As part of this, we worked with NPC to develop an organisational theory of change.
The ideal scenario when developing an organisational theory of change is to start with a blank page, build in plenty of time and involve as many people as possible. We didn’t have this luxury; the strategy review process had already begun, parameters had been established and time was tight.
At the beginning, I wasn’t sure where to start or whether I could make it a meaningful exercise. In the end, we made it work and our theory of change truly underpins our new strategy in the way it should.
Here are five things I learned along the way.
It doesn’t have to be the first thing you do
Our strategy development process had various stages and many were driven by practical considerations. Our theory of change work began after we had already completed our context analyses, carried out a large-scale consultation with disabled people and agreed some parameters with the Board. Regardless, the theory of change work was still able to influence our strategy.
You don’t have to start from scratch
Given the constraints we were working in, starting with the problem and working backwards seemed like an impossible task. We had a limited timeframe and getting time with key internal stakeholders was a challenge.
But we realised we already had a huge amount at our fingertips that NPC could use to inform the draft organisational theory of change — over the years my team had worked with programme staff to develop logical models, frameworks and theories of change that had explored the problems and existing evidence, and mapped the various changes required.
By Natascha Dekkers
Natascha Dekkers is the Head of Impact and Evaluation at The Motability Foundation.
We worked with the communications team on a simplified version of our theory of change to make it easier for staff to understand. It's tempting to feel it’s important for everyone in the organisation to understand the detail, but in reality not everyone needs to.
There’s a balance when it comes to involving people in the process
The theory of change development process should include as broad a range of people as possible, but timescales and other commitments made this a real challenge. I had to take a more targeted approach and involve people in the most effective and efficient way possible.
Input from disabled people was critical. In the early stages we used recent research, to which 4,500 disabled people had contributed, to shape our outcomes and impact statements. Later we consulted with an expert by experience panel on the clarity and wording.
In lieu of workshops with staff from across the organisation, we worked intensively with both the programme managers and the executive team. We developed the draft in consultation with key programme staff members, then took it to the executive team who refined it over two workshops, before we presented it back to key staff for further comment.
Your theory of change will get simplified by your comms team – and that’s ok
We haven’t had an organisational theory of change before and our past strategy was organised along functional areas. The concept of a theory of change was unfamiliar and we worked with the communications team on a simplified version, to make it easier for staff to understand.
It’s tempting in my role to feel it’s important for everyone in the organisation to understand the detail, but the reality is not everyone needs to.
The simpler version gave all staff the basics without devaluing our full organisational theory of change, which is used extensively by programme staff. My team — Insight and Evaluation — also uses the full version to plan more strategic evaluation and insight generation, and as a framework for our strategic reporting and mid-term review.
Getting comfortable with the idea of our theory of change being simplified meant more staff could understand what it was and why it mattered.
The diagram is not the end of it
As a result of articulating our organisational theory of change, we are making changes to our delivery model, shifting our operational focus to transport outcomes (i.e. improving access to transport for disabled people) rather than being organised around activities (e.g. giving grants).
Our theory of change also helped us to articulate our impact measures more clearly. This helps us to measure the impact we are having on disabled people’s lives more consistently. We are also embedding our theory of change further by using it as a framework for our strategy reporting, and to shape more strategic evaluation research and insight generation.
Read more about our strategy here: Our strategy | About Us | Motability Foundation
To find out more about developing a theory of change, read NPC’s Theory of change in ten steps.
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Event
Theory of change in ten steps
On 27 November 2025, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm at Zoom
This seminar will run through how to develop a theory of change, based on our guidance 'Theory of change in ten steps'.
