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Support the OMLC

During ten years the Outcome Mapping Learning Community was financed by IDRC as a project of ODI. That grant funding has ended and now we are wholly self-financed by stakeholders like you who value the OMLC network's services. If you are benefiting from your membership or from the resources at this website, please make a contribution. Donation transactions are managed securely by PayPal, which charges a small fee per transaction.

Frequently asked questions

Why should I donate to the OMLC?

The OMLC has always been an open network with no membership fee and we intend to stay that way. We are pursuing a diversified funding strategy to fund our activities and part of this relies on your donation as a user of the services. Your donation will help us keep the community fee-free and available to everyone.

How much should I donate?

This depends who you are. If you are an organisation using the OMLC to support implementation of OM then we suggest an annual donation of $1000 - the typical cost of sending one member of staff on a training workshop. If you are an organisation whose staff follows the OMLC email discussions and uses the resources of the website, then we suggest $500 a year. If you are an individual, then consider contributing a smaller amount: $50 - the cost of a good text book - or $5 each time you download a resource, which are all free. Of course, anyone can donate any amount at any time.

How do I make a donation?

Use the donation button above to make your donation through PayPal. The PayPal account is registered to the Outcome Mapping Learning Community bank account in Belgium. You do not have to have a PayPal account to donate but you do need to have a credit card or bank account registered in one of PayPal's 203 authorised countries.

Is my donation secure?

Yes. PayPal protects your financial information with industry-leading security and fraud prevention systems. When you use PayPal, your financial information is not shared with the OMLC. Once your payment is complete, you will be emailed a receipt for this transaction.

What will my donation used for?

See below for a summary of the activities and budget of the OMLC.

How much of my donation will go to the OMLC?

Pay Pal charges a flat fee of $0.30 USD plus a percentage ranging from 1.7% to 5.5%, depending on the fees for the country from which you make the payment. Thus, you know that from a $100 donation, the OMLC will receive at least $94.20 and as much as $98.00.

What other ways are there to support the OMLC?

You can contribute in-kind by volunteering your time. Stewards, for example, volunteer on average 2 days per month. Please contact us to express your interest. Typical activities include translation, summarising email discussions, editing or reviewing outputs, and writing think-pieces about your OM practice.

About our work

The Outcome Mapping Learning Community provides four core services to members:

Online facilitation: Email discussions and webinars on topics relevant to OM practice.Read more

Members of the community mostly engage virtually; through the website, the email list-serve and forum and more recently through webinars. Last year we received 325 posts on the discussion forum across 103 topics ranging from specific elements of Outcome Mapping to more general evaluation queries, with the most active discussion thread receiving 48 posts. 19% of our members have posted at some time and 10% have posted more than once. For an online community this is high, demonstrating the cohesiveness of the community as well as the value of the email discussion list. Maintaining this level of activity takes effort. Without regular attention a discussion list will quickly dry up, reverting to broadcast announcements and advertisements rather than personal contributions of ideas and experiences. The OMLC Coordinator works behind the scenes to moderate the list and ensure the posts are as clear and appropriate as they can be, they prompt people to respond to relevant questions and they diligently link to previous discussions and useful resources on the website. There is also a Spanish speaking forum which is essential for the Latin American regional community.

In addition to email discussions the OMLC has more recently experimented with webinars. After a few one off webinars in 2011 to test the software capabilities, the OMLC launched a series of five webinars in 2012. For each webinar we had a member present their work – two of them were presentations of research commissioned by the OMLC and three were case studies of OM use. Over the five webinars we had 217 attendees and over 600 views of the recordings.Read less

Knowledge management and communication: Resource library, databases and dissemination.Read more

As a community of practice, the OMLC relies on constant and consistent knowledge management practices in order to capture, codify and store the shared knowledge and experiences of members so that all can benefit. The website is the primary store of knowledge for the community and with regular attention, it remains up-to-date and useful. The resource library, events listing, OM applications database and members database are regularly maintained by the OMLC Coordinator to keep them clean and ordered so that users can find what they need quickly and easily. As well as the website, the OMLC has developed additional practices to share knowledge, including the ‘OM ideas’ paper series which features short case studies and new tools and techniques; discussion summaries, which are a popular way to ensure useful advice is captured and archived; and newsletters, which share stories from around the community and keep members up-to-date with community activities.

While these outputs primarily serve an internal communication function for members, they are also an important part of the external communication function that is important for maintaining interest in Outcome Mapping and promoting the services of the OMLC. The Secretariat disseminates knowledge products from within the community to external audiences predominantly through other thematic and regional networks. The Secretariat also facilitates collaboration among members to present at various conferences to engage with development and evaluation communities. But it is the members themselves who form the core of the external communication strategy, as they engage in their networks, with their partners, clients and donors, and embed the principles of OM in whatever they are involved in.Read less

Research and development: Commissioning and publishing research and new tools for OM practice.Read more

The OMLC publishes case studies, discussion syntheses, research studies, new tools, new workshop techniques and a database of OM applications; all of which provide significant additions to the original OM literature published in 2001. We have found that these products are crucial for the mission of the OMLC, enabling deeper exploration into the use of the methodology, supporting practitioner learning and formalising the development of the methodology. They also don’t emerge without support – either financial support or coordination support to create the opportunities for members to get involved and collaborate with others. Without support for producing these products the community would likely run dry as members are less able to codify their experience and learn from one another. Regular and fresh R&D outputs keep members engaged as they challenge each other to improve, but they also serve to attract new members and they see the fruit of the community and the principles of OM put into practice.

Very soon the OMLC will be launching a new OM Practitioner Guide which will bring together up to date know-how on how OM is practised into an accompaniment to the original OM facilitation manual.Read less

Face-to-face events: Annual events for training and knowledge sharing.Read more

The OMLC has proven that virtual learning is possible with strong facilitation and a dedicated core of members. But we have found time and again that getting together face-to-face is priceless for building community, sharing our experiences and furthering our agenda. To this end, the OMLC has been hosting annual events since 2012 with the third event in September 2014 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, the OM Lab 2014.Read less

Our finances

The OMLC is a registered not-for-profit organisation in Belgium. The OMLC contracts the Overseas Development Institute to host the network and coordinate the work of the OMLC.

The fixed costs of the OMLC include a part time coordinator, administrative support and website hosting. Variable costs include subcontracts for research and development work, event management and the Stewards annual meeting.

The budget breakdown opposite shows how the target income of $120,000 is split across the four work areas described above plus management and oversight.

We aim to raise $120,000 per year through member donations, consultant membership fees and workshop advertising services to members, event registration fees and donor funding and grants.


Latin America & Carribean Sub-Saharan Africa North Africa & Middle East South Asia South East Asia & Pacific Far-East Asia Eastern Europe & CIS (ex USSR) Western Europe North America & Canada Australasia