Bloomberg Philanthropies is interested in understanding the impact your idea will generate and how far that benefit will reach — as well as the rationale behind the idea. As part of the review and selection process, we will assess what drives your idea, why it's important, and how you know it'll work. What are the assumptions that enable you to say with confidence that taking Actions A and B will result in the desired outcomes? What's the logic behind those statements? And does it hold up?
The first part of this tool provides a great way to test the assumptions behind your idea. It offers a methodical way to lay out all of the elements that go into your idea (e.g., resources, activities) and map how, together, they will create the desired change. It pushes you to identify the evidence that supports your idea, as well as how the intended change emerges in the short and long term.
As the application itself gets at some of these very questions, doing all of this thinking up front, and organizing your thoughts in one place, should enable you to put your best foot forward when you submit your application online.
Building on the mantra that "you can't manage what you can't measure," Bloomberg Philanthropies believes that successful innovations start with a clear plan for generating impact and measuring progress along the way. The table below offers some thought starters for thinking about measuring outputs (the direct results of your proposed activities) and outcomes (the change you wish to see in the world) across the four types of impact.
In order to move into the finals, each city will need to have a compelling argument for why its idea will produce the intended impact.
