Someone has to be in charge - no matter how many or how good all the partners are, someone has to be mindful of what everyone can and should do; when it needs to be done; and, assess how it is working.
—Jim Nelson, Commissioner and State Librarian, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives
With a need in mind and a partnership established, it is time to focus on the design of the project. Design for Impact will help you conceptualize a project that does more than just produce a product or attract some users. Your project will create outcomes that impact the need you identified, and you will be able to show the impact with concrete, objective data about those results. You will also explore how your assets and resources will be connected to address the need.
Have you envisioned outcomes for your project? These are results that you hope to see when your audiences have participated in or used what you offered. Think back to your analysis of community needs. What gap did you choose to address between conditions (or skills, knowledge, capacities, behaviors, attitudes) that exist and those you want for your community or its members? What would tell you if your project made the difference that you hoped to make?
Consider this example:
Research at a public television station determined that asthma was widespread among children in its major market city. The station built a partnership to reduce asthma attacks through spots, library info sheets for parents and kids, and a traveling museum exhibit. Lowering asthma-related emergency room visits for target groups by 10% in late fall to early spring would mean terrific success. Three hospital emergency rooms with the highest rate of asthma visits agreed to provide statistics and offered to review scripts and program materials. What signals success? That is the outcome that the partnership aimed for.
Consider these guiding questions:
- If this need was addressed, how would things in the community be different?
- What will our community recognize as evidence that this need has been addressed?
- What overall result do we seek to achieve?
- How will we know when we have achieved it?
Notice that we did not begin by asking, What events can you sponsor to address the community need? or What programming could be developed to help the target population? Our initial emphasis in the design stage is squarely on outcomes. Define specific, observable, measurable markers for your success. Describe what people in your community would do differently if your project was successful; describe what they would say, or think, or feel that would show you that your partnership made the difference you hope to make.
Click here to view a complete list of partnering resources.
