Outcome Thinking: Characteristics and Applications in a Changing Landscape

This paper, the second in a series, explores the essential concepts, terms and parameters of Outcome Thinking, as applied to nonprofit, governmental and philanthropic organizations. The authors’ previous paper, Outcome Thinking: Roots and Meanings, traced the development of today’s outcome-based models to origins in early management and evaluation theory. Forthcoming papers will discuss challenges to the application of outcome thinking to governmental and nonprofit organizations, and will offer insights into the future of the outcome discipline.