Logic Model Builder Calculator
Quantify your program's inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes with cost-per-outcome metrics for defensible grant proposals.
About this calculator
This calculator turns the standard nonprofit logic-model chain — inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes — into a set of concrete numbers a funder can hold you accountable to. Inputs are your staff (FTEs times average fully-loaded salary) plus a non-personnel budget for supplies, travel, and equipment, summed into a total program budget. Activities are capacity: clients-per-week times program duration in weeks gives total clients served, and multiplying that by sessions-per-client gives total service sessions delivered — a measure of throughput, not success. Outputs are the first accountability layer: the completion rate you enter is applied to total clients served to estimate how many actually finish the program, since not everyone who enrolls completes it.
Outcomes are the second, stricter layer: the outcome rate is applied only to those completers, not to everyone served, reflecting that measurable positive outcomes are a subset of program completion, not enrollment. From there the tool derives three cost-efficiency metrics funders increasingly expect in proposal narratives — cost per client, cost per service session, and, most importantly, cost per outcome (total budget divided by projected positive outcomes) — plus a staff-to-client ratio as a capacity sanity check. The main thing to get right on the input side is treating completion and outcome rates as sequential filters rather than independent percentages of the whole population; conflating them will overstate your projected outcomes and understate your true cost per outcome.
Inputs
Results
Total Program Budget
$120,000.00
≈ 8 used cars
Total Clients Served
520
Projected Positive Outcomes
218
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter your program's resources: Staff FTEs, Average Salary, and Non-Personnel Budget (supplies, travel, equipment, etc.).
- Enter Program Duration in weeks and the New Clients per Week and Sessions per Client you expect to deliver.
- Enter your Expected Completion Rate and Expected Outcome Rate to model dropout and success.
- Review Total Program Budget, Total Clients Served, Program Completers, and Projected Positive Outcomes.
- Use Cost per Client, Cost per Outcome, and Cost per Session as the defensible efficiency metrics funders expect in a budget narrative.
How the result changes with Staff FTEs
| Staff FTEs | Total Program Budget | Total Clients Served | Projected Positive Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $70,000.00 | 520 | 218 |
| 1.5 | $95,000.00 | 520 | 218 |
| 3 | $170,000.00 | 520 | 218 |
| 5 | $270,000.00 | 520 | 218 |
What each input means
- Staff FTEs
- Full-time equivalent staff dedicated to the program.
- Average Salary ($)
- Average annual salary per FTE (including fringe).
- Non-Personnel Budget ($)
- All non-personnel costs: supplies, travel, equipment, etc.
- Program Duration (weeks)
- Number of weeks the program operates per year.
- New Clients per Week
- Average number of new clients/participants enrolled per week.
- Sessions per Client
- Number of service sessions each client receives.
- Expected Completion Rate (%)
- Percentage of enrolled clients expected to complete the program.
- Expected Outcome Rate (%)
- Percentage of completers expected to achieve the target outcome.
What each result means
- Total Program Budget
- Personnel plus non-personnel costs.
- Total Clients Served
- Total clients enrolled over the program period.
- Projected Positive Outcomes
- Clients expected to achieve measurable positive outcomes.
- Program Completers
- Clients expected to complete the full program.
- Total Service Sessions
- Total number of sessions delivered.
- Cost per Client
- Total budget divided by clients served.
- Cost per Outcome
- Total budget divided by positive outcomes — key funder metric.
- Cost per Session
- Total budget divided by service sessions.
- Clients per FTE
- Total clients divided by staff FTEs.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters4 parametersStaff FTEs = 2, Average Salary ($) = 50000, Non-Personnel Budget ($) = 20000, Program Duration (weeks) = 52 = 8 input(s) provided
- Calculate Total Program BudgetTotal Program Budget = totalPersonnelCost + nonPersonnelBudget120000 = $120,000
- Calculate Total Clients ServedTotal Clients Served = clientsPerWeek * programWeeks520 = 520
- Calculate Projected Positive OutcomesProjected Positive Outcomes = round(completingClients * (expectedOutcomePct / 100))218 = 218
- Calculate Program CompletersProgram Completers = round(totalClientsServed * (expectedCompletionPct / 100))364 = 364
- Calculate Total Service SessionsTotal Service Sessions = totalClientsServed * sessionsPerClient4160 = 4160
Engine last updated . Checked against 3 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between program completers and positive outcomes in this calculator?
Program completers apply your Expected Completion Rate to total clients served — it's the count of clients who finish the program at all. Positive outcomes then apply your Expected Outcome Rate only to that completer count, not to everyone originally served, since achieving a measurable positive outcome is treated as a subset of finishing the program, not of simply enrolling. Applying the outcome rate to total clients served instead of completers would overstate your projected outcomes.
Why are cost per client and cost per outcome so different?
Both divide the same total program budget, but by different denominators: cost per client divides by total clients served (everyone enrolled), while cost per outcome divides by projected positive outcomes (only those who both completed the program and achieved the target outcome). Since positive outcomes is always a smaller number than total clients served, cost per outcome is always higher, and it's the stricter, more funder-relevant efficiency metric of the two.
How is total service sessions different from total clients served?
Total clients served is clients-per-week times program duration in weeks — a headcount. Total service sessions multiplies that headcount by sessions-per-client, giving the total number of individual service touchpoints delivered across the program. It's a measure of activity throughput, not a measure of how many people actually completed or benefited from the program.
What does the staff-to-client ratio (clients per FTE) tell me?
It's total clients served divided by staff FTEs, giving a simple capacity sanity check — how many clients each full-time-equivalent staff member is responsible for over the program period. It doesn't factor in sessions per client or program duration directly into the ratio itself, so a very high number relative to your sessions-per-client figure may signal the caseload is unrealistic for the service intensity you've described.
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