Our Theory of Change: Defining Our Approach to Impact

What good do we want to do in the world? The question was the start of a one-year conversation with more than 50 organizations for the team at the John Henry Eldred Jr. Foundation.

It was an intensive period of talks with stakeholders across Northwest Ohio that resulted in the foundation’s Theory of Change. Created in partnership with the surrounding community, it’s a roadmap for the Foundation’s work that defines three areas of focus: housing stability, food security and youth education. 

“John was trying to help families like his own, families that were experiencing poverty and trying to look for a way to improve their situation,” said Kate Blake, the Foundation’s board president. “That was, at John’s heart, what he was looking to give people: the tools to thrive. Our Theory of Change is our framework for doing that.”

Here, we learn from Blake, as well as Mike Deetsch, executive director, and Maria Iafelice, community impact officer, on what the Theory of Change is and how it came together. This is the first of a three-part series of Q&As about the foundation’s approach to investing in a thriving Northwest Ohio.

What is the Theory of Change? 

Mike: We have set out to create the Foundation that we always wish existed, and the theory of change documents that roadmap.We have serious challenges in this community, whether that’s housing, food, education, poverty, jobs. The challenges are real and they’re in front of us all the time. And I think that part of the ethos of this Foundation is we are going to address the problems and solutions differently than we have perceived it being done. 

How is it different?

Maria: Developing a theory of change is a pretty common practice for foundations, but ours differentiated because we involved the nonprofits and community members in the process of developing it. We know the leaders of the nonprofits we fund are the experts on food and youth education and housing, so we need tolisten and learn from them and develop our goals around reality.

Mike: The donor-driven way of doing work, and I would put the Foundation as a donor in this way, hasn’t yielded the results that we would like to see for this community. We are a privileged group that we get to deploy these resources, but we want to turn to the experts. Our work is to build trust, with them and theirexpertise, and let them lead the way. 

Maria: Our aim is not to jump in and make a huge splash. It’s to be intentional and have a multi-year, multi-decade ripple effect. 

What was the reaction from the community when you invited them into this process of defining your priorities and approach?

Maria: A lot of them had never had a seat at a table to have that kind of conversation with a foundation. By and large, close to 100 different organizations were represented across all the listening sessions that we did. I think it was just kind of refreshing for the organizations to be able to be in that kind of dialogue with the Foundation, versus a top-down approach.  

What time frame do you see the Theory of Change defining?

Kate: We’re an iterative organization, and this is the theory of change today in 2026 in the landscape that we have. We hope to keep ourselves humble enough that we can go back with the same level of curiosity, and not become so dogmatic that we’re inattentive to opportunities or challenges. We are talking in the midst of severe federal budget cuts. Things are changing all the time. So it has to evolve with our community.

What emerged as one of the most important pieces of feedback from the sessions?

Mike: Nonprofits said it over and over again: funding is so restricted in this community; how do we get off this hamster wheel of just fundraising all the time? It doesn’t mean we as a Foundation give our money away thoughtlessly, but we are establishing relationships to build together, with the community, not to dictate what needs to happen to show improvement. We’ve defined ourselves as a “Flexible Funder,” meaning we want the grantee to be part of the decision-making process about the way the money could best be leveraged. 

Another of the approaches you’ve defined in the Theory of Change is that the JHEFoundation will be a “catalyst and convener.” What does that mean?

Maria: I think that was a direct and perhaps unanticipated development in our listening sessions. So many nonprofits said being brought together was something sodifferent, and that as a funder you have the power and privilege to bring people together. That’s something we’ll be doing as a convener, community ally andadvocate.