Write your Audacious Goal in cell H3, based on your Intended Impact. Make sure you include a percentage as well as a number, like the example.

In cell L6, input the total number of priority constituents who are affected by the societal problem in your Problem Definition.

Now it’s time to imagine a future when you are achieving your intended impact. In this future, what percentage of the population affected by the societal problem will you reach? Input this percentage in cell K7.

Example: There may be millions of people who are affected by a societal problem, but not all of them know about your solution. At scale, what percentage of these people will learn about your solution?

Remember: This tool is meant to be edited as you play around with different scenarios and see what feels realistic. So start with a number and after you complete steps 3-6, you may need to repeat until you get an impact rate that meets your Intended Impact.

Next, what percentage of those reached will choose your solution? Input this percentage in K8.

Example: Millions of people may hear about your solution through an online ad, but only some of those people will actually sign up for it. At scale, what percentage will actively choose to participate in your solution?

Next, what percentage of those who choose your solution will engage with it? Input this percentage in K9.

Example: Millions of people may sign up for your solution online, but only hundreds of thousands will actually complete the classes, read the content, engage with the mentors, or however else you define “engagement”.

Next, what percentage of those who engage with your solution will experience your intended impact? Input this percentage in K10.

Example: Hundreds of thousands of people complete the online classes in your curriculum, but only tens of thousands change their behaviour after the classes and experience better social outcomes.

Note: This exercise may be related to your Theory of Change as an organisation.

Note: Sometimes organisations define their Impact as Engagement. For example, an organisation might define getting access to the internet as impact, even though there are many other positive outcomes that are likely to come from getting access to the internet. If that is the case for your organisation, you can input 100% for your impact rate.

Time for a reality check. With all of those inputs, look at your overall impact rate in K11 and your overall impact number in L10. Does it meet your Intended Impact? If yes, continue to the Rough Costs tab. If not, you either need to reconsider your goal or adjust the numbers in steps 3-6 until you reach your intended impact.

Note: At this stage, you don’t need to know how you will achieve any of these rates. That’s what Lean testing is for. The rates just need to be believable enough that you can envision a future where you can achieve these through some combination of strategies.

Great job with your Critical Rates! You can add your critical rates into the Storyboard you previously completed.

Write your Audacious Goal again in cell H3.

Think about the solution you just mapped out in your Storyboard and in the Critical Rates calculator. What would it take to operate this solution at scale? Think about how many staff might be needed and how much those staff might get paid (including benefits). Input numbers in cells J7:K9.

Now think about any unit costs per person that might be required to get people to accept your offer.

Example: You may have to pay for online ads to drive traffic to your website for people to sign up for your solution. Or you might have to do a number of Zoom calls to share about your solution with different stakeholders before they sign up. If there are any unit costs that scale with the number of people who accept your offer, input those in cell J10.

Now think about any unit costs that might be required to get people to engage with your offer.

Example: You might have to pay for travel costs for people to come to live trainings. Or you might have to pay for software or servers for people to engage with a digital solution at scale. If you have any unit costs that scale with the number of people who engage with your offer, input those in cell J11.

Now think about any fixed costs associated with your solution. Perhaps you need to pay for office space to house your programme. Perhaps you need to pay engineers for the initial development of your online solution. If you have any fixed costs associated with your solution at scale, input those in cell J12:K12.

Costs are usually more than we can itemize in this quick exercise. We recommend including an additional  20% Admin/Misc cost but if you anticipate more or less costs, you can edit the multiplier in K13.

Now you have a total cost estimate for your solution in L14. Are you ready to think about how you might sustainably fund this solution? Let’s go to the next step.

Usually, there are a few different ways to think about sustainable funding for a solution. You can have your constituents pay, you can get funding from external stakeholders (for example, if you do job training, you might be able to get the employers to pay instead of the trainees). Or you might be able to get a government contract.

If you anticipate funding your solution at scale through any of these, input the unit income in J19:21. 

Give yourself a pat on the back! You’ve now thought through the costs and income for your solution at scale. In cells L24:L25, you can see how your totals tally up and what your net income might look like.

You can add your cost per person at scale into the bottom left corner of your Storyboard.