Develop a Real Non Profit Project. Learn more about program fees and how to enroll here:

6 weeks. Courses are offered every two months. Current dates are in the column to the right.

OL 202 Project Architecture: Planning for Impact. PDF
Prerequisite for this course: OL 201: From the Ground Up
Why are there prerequisites?

Project Architecture: Imbed impact into your project design with a set of powerful management tools: Logframes, budgets, compelling fact sheets. They will communicate to donors & stakeholders exactly what you are going to accomplish and can be used for effective management of the project once funded.

To learn about course fees and to register please go to the bottom of page.

Project Architecture is a course in international development where you will each complete the development of your project—hopefully a real one—that was started in 201, From the Ground Up. Each one of the assignments will be a concrete step in preparing your project for a donor presentation.

The classes are designed to be fun and interactive: you will be collaborating with colleagues from around the globe. You have the opportunity of creating your own personal field course by taking your assignments into the field; we will encourage you to collaborate with colleagues and donors during your project’s development.

This course will take your needs assessment and project concept developed in OL 201, and build a Logframe matrix. This Logframe will provide the basis for developing a detailed budget, a schedule, and a compelling project fact sheet—transforming the project into one that can be presented to donors—and used for leading the effective management of the project once funded.

Some of the assignments below suggest doing them in a community. This is not a requirement if it impractical for you, but this is where partnering with someone in the field can add depth to your experience. There are no books to buy—all course materials can be linked to, or downloaded from the course site.

If you have a question don’t hesitate to contact us at: Online.Learning@csd-i.org.

Course Syllabus for OL 202
Week 1. We will take the project challenge, proposed solution, and activities that you developed in OL 201, and transform them into a simplified logframe.
Week 2.
1. The focus will be on outcomes and impact, how the current world of development sees them. We will see how we can use them to improve the logframe.
2. We will incorporate outcome and impact statements into the logframe, and begin adding indicators and means of verification in preparation for developing a monitoring and evaluation plan.
Week 3.  We will take the activity list from the logframe and create a budget, and then apply costs to each of the different activities.
Week 4. 
We will take our detailed budget and transform it into a visual timeline/schedule.
Week 5.
1. You will each write a compelling project fact sheet for presentation to donors that is no longer than 2 pages. This concise, quick-to-read document can present a focused message to a donor.
2. Make a list of 2 colleagues, 2 potential non profit partners, and two donors that you can share this working project proposal with. Make an appointment with 1 of them.
Week 6.
1. Share your project informally with a donor, your boss, your professor, someone in the development world for feedback. We will discuss why it is a good idea to visit a donor at this preliminary stage, and why you should wait on writing an actual proposal.
2. We will polish this family of documents by including the constructive feedback, and by making sure that the docs are absolutely parallel to each other. We will then carefully print them out and make an appointment with a donor to present your project.

In Summary
This course will take the project concept developed in OL 201 and transform it with a powerful set of management tools into a project for presenting to donors. Logframes, detailed budgets, and compelling fact sheets: these tools will communicate to donors, staff, and stakeholders exactly what you are going to accomplish, and lead the effective management of the project once funded.

Course Fees:
The 6-week course is $150.00.

When you are ready to enroll, click ‘Enroll Now’ at the bottom of the page.

You will be sent your Login username and password, and instructions for starting the course on the Monday before the course begins. We look forward to meeting you online!

The online course will be led by Tim Magee, CSD’s Executive Director, who has over 30 years experience in both working with nonprofits and leading training workshops.

If you have a question don’t hesitate to contact us at: Online.Learning@csd-i.org .

Registration closes on the day the course begins.