CAPABILITY: GOVERNANCE, STRATEGY & PLANNING
Programme Strategy
The upstream work that determines everything downstream.
Theory of Change, programme design, and grant portfolio strategy.
A grant application problem is almost always a strategy problem upstream. Getting the foundations right before pursuing funding is not a delay: it is the most efficient thing an organisation can do.
Layer 1: Governance, Strategy & Planning: Strategy & Operating Model · Programme Strategy (here)
In 30 Seconds
Most organisations pursue grants before they have answered the questions that funders will ask first: What change are you trying to create? How does your programme produce that change? How will you know if it is working?
Programme strategy is the work that answers those questions, not for funders: but for the organisation itself. A strong Theory of Change, coherent programme design, and a realistic funding strategy make every subsequent step easier: proposals are clearer, reporting is more straightforward, and delivery stays on track.
Once the foundation is in place: the next question is how to access and manage funding effectively. Grants & Programmes →
The Challenge
For Programme-Delivery Organisations
The team knows what they do and why it matters. But articulating that clearly (in a Theory of Change, a programme logic, an impact framework) proves surprisingly difficult. Different people describe the work differently. Funders get inconsistent answers. Reporting feels disconnected from what actually happens on the ground.
- • We have a strong programme but struggle to explain how it creates impact
- • Our Theory of Change was written for a funder, not to guide delivery
- • Staff understand the work differently across the organisation
- • Funders ask for evidence we have not designed our programmes to collect
For Foundations Making Grants
Assessing grantee applications well requires understanding whether the programme logic is sound, not just whether the narrative is compelling. Foundations increasingly need to think strategically about their own grant portfolio: what they fund, why, and whether the mix of grants adds up to meaningful change at scale.
- • Grantee ToCs are hard to assess consistently across the portfolio
- • Our grant portfolio has grown but lacks a coherent strategic logic
- • We fund good organisations but are not sure whether the portfolio adds up to change
- • We want to understand impact across grants, not just within them
The pattern: Weak programme strategy does not just make grant-winning harder. It creates problems all the way through delivery: unclear objectives, inconsistent measurement, reporting that cannot demonstrate impact, and difficulty learning from what worked and what did not.
How We Help
Five service areas covering the strategic foundation that effective programmes (and effective grant-making) are built on.
Theory of Change
From assumptions to a testable change pathway
A good Theory of Change is not a diagram for funders: it is a working tool for the organisation. It should articulate the pathway from activities to outcomes to impact, name the assumptions that need to hold for the change to happen, and be specific enough to guide both delivery and measurement.
- •ToC development: working with teams to build a shared, evidence-informed change pathway from the ground up
- •ToC review and strengthening: assessing an existing ToC for logical coherence, evidence base, and testability
- •Grantee ToC assessment: reviewing applicant ToCs from a funder's perspective: is the programme logic sound?
- •Funder-facing articulation: adapting the ToC for different funder audiences without losing its substance
Programme Design
Turning strategy into a deliverable programme
- •Logic models: linking activities, outputs, outcomes, and impact in a structure that guides delivery and reporting
- •Programme structure: designing the components, phasing, and stakeholder roles that make delivery workable
- •Multi-year planning: building programme logic that holds across a multi-year funded period
Programme design should be done before budgets are written, not after.
Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning
Knowing whether the programme is working, and using that knowledge
- •MEL framework design: indicators, data sources, collection methods, and review cadence, built around the programme logic, not imposed on top of it
- •Indicator development: selecting indicators that are meaningful, measurable, and proportionate to programme scale
- •Funder reporting alignment: ensuring MEL systems produce the evidence funders need without generating unnecessary reporting burden
Grant Portfolio Strategy
For foundations: what to fund, and why
- •Portfolio design: what mix of grants (by sector, geography, organisational stage, and grant type) that adds up to meaningful change at scale
- •Funding strategy review: assessing whether the current portfolio aligns with the foundation's theory of change
- •Portfolio learning: drawing strategic insight from what the portfolio is showing: across grantees, not just within them
Organisational Readiness
Before pursuing capital: are you ready for it?
- •Grant readiness assessment: does the organisation have the governance, programme clarity, financial systems, and track record that funders at this level expect?
- •Gap identification: what needs to be in place before approaching a particular funder or funding type
- •Sequencing: which funding to pursue now, which to build towards, based on realistic assessment of where the organisation is
PANDION VIEW
A Theory of Change written for funders is not a Theory of Change.
Most organisations have a ToC. Fewer have one that actually guides delivery, informs measurement, and holds up under scrutiny. A ToC written to satisfy a funder requirement tends to be aspirational, circular, and disconnected from how the work actually happens.
The test of a good ToC is not whether funders find it compelling: it is whether the programme team can use it to make decisions, whether it names the assumptions that need to hold, and whether the indicators it implies are ones the organisation can actually collect. We build ToCs that pass that test.
Who We Help
NGOs and Social Enterprises
Organisations that do strong work but need to articulate it more clearly, for funders, for boards, and for their own teams. Often at a growth stage where informal programme knowledge needs to become structured organisational strategy.
How we help:
- • Theory of Change development
- • Programme design and logic models
- • MEL framework design
- • Grant readiness assessment
Foundations and Grant-Making Bodies
Foundations wanting to think more clearly about their grant portfolio strategy: what they fund and why, how to assess grantee ToCs consistently, and how to draw strategic learning from across their portfolio rather than grant by grant.
How we help:
- • Grant portfolio strategy
- • Grantee ToC assessment frameworks
- • Portfolio-level learning and review
- • Funding strategy alignment
Landscape and Conservation Programmes
Multi-stakeholder programmes and landscape initiatives that need a coherent programme logic to sit beneath the complexity, connecting landscape-level goals to on-the-ground activities and the evidence needed to demonstrate change.
How we help:
- • Landscape programme design
- • Multi-stakeholder Theory of Change
- • MEL for complex adaptive programmes
- • Funding strategy for landscape-scale work
Organisations at Inflection Points
Organisations scaling their programmes, entering new funding markets, or repositioning their work. Strategy needs to be revisited when the context changes, and getting it right before the next funding round saves significant time and effort.
How we help:
- • Strategic review and refresh
- • Programme redesign
- • New funding market entry
- • Organisational readiness assessment
What Comes Next
From Strategy to Funding
Once the strategic foundation is in place (Theory of Change, programme design, readiness assessment); the next step is identifying and pursuing the right funding, and managing it well once awarded.
Grants & Programmes →From Strategy to Operations
A strong programme strategy needs an operating model to deliver it: clear roles, decision rights, systems, and processes that translate strategy into daily action.
Strategy & Operating Model →Start with the Strategy
Whether you are developing a Theory of Change for the first time, reviewing your programme logic ahead of a funding round, or thinking about your grant portfolio as a foundation, let's have a conversation.
No commitment. Just a clear conversation about where the gaps are.
Pandion is a member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIoF) and the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Practitioners (ISEP).