Teaching Paper: Practitioner Checklist for Analyzing Change Mechanisms

This Teaching Paper introduces a structured, practitioner-oriented checklist for analyzing change mechanisms in non-profit organizations. Built upon frameworks from strategic planning, evaluation, and systems thinking, it offers a five-step process encompassing resources, processes, structures, outputs and outcomes, and impact and risks. Each step encourages organizations to link their internal capacities with long-term systemic change, while remaining vigilant about challenges such as dependency, mission drift, exclusion, or elite capture. By transforming theoretical models into an accessible diagnostic tool, this paper bridges academic insight and applied practice, providing a roadmap for reflection, evaluation, and adaptive learning in non-profit strategy.