Logframe Template for Google Sheets (Free, With Worked Example)
Most “logframe templates” online are dead Google Docs: a grid with no definitions, no means of verification, and a worked example that never arrives. This one is a real, editable spreadsheet — with a tool to work in, a worked example, and the prompts to draft it safely with AI.
Download the free template
Editable Google Sheets / Excel, plus a CSV and a redacted worked example. No sign-up.
What a logframe is (30 seconds)
A logical framework — a logframe — is a one-page grid that shows how a programme's activities lead to outputs, outcomes and impact, and how each level will be measured. Donors use it to see the logic; M&E teams use it to know what to collect. The template below has the eleven columns a reviewer actually checks.
The eleven columns
| Column | What to put in it |
|---|---|
| Level | Impact / Outcome / Output / Activity |
| Result statement | What changes, in one sentence |
| Indicator | How you will know |
| Definition / unit | The formula and the unit |
| Baseline | The value today, with the year and source |
| Target | The value you commit to, by when |
| Disaggregation | Sex, age, disability, geography |
| Means of verification | The named document or system that proves it |
| Frequency | How often it is measured |
| Responsible | Who owns the number |
| Assumptions & risks | What must hold true |
A worked example (livelihoods)
The fastest way to learn a logframe is to see a filled one. This is a redacted example from a livelihoods programme:
| Level | Result | Indicator | Baseline | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Impact | Rural households have higher, more stable incomes | % households above the poverty line | 12% (2025, national survey) | 20% (2028) |
| Outcome 1 | Smallholders adopt improved seed and agronomy | % farmers using improved seed | 12% (2025, baseline) | 40% (2027) |
| Output 1.1 | Farmers trained in improved practices | # farmers trained | 0 (2025) | 500 (2026) |
| Output 1.2 | Demonstration plots established | # demonstration plots | 0 | 20 (2026) |
Note what is honest here: the baseline is sourced and dated, and nothing claims causation. If a baseline doesn't exist, write “to collect” — never invent a number.
How to fill it in
- Start from the problem, not the activity. One sentence, with a source.
- Write the impact, then 2–4 outcomes, then the outputs under each.
- For every level, add one indicator with a definition and a unit.
- Name a means of verification for each — a real document or system, never “reports”.
- Fill the baseline from data you can prove; otherwise write “to collect”.
- List the assumptions that could break the logic — those become your evaluation questions.
Bonus: drafts it with AI, safely
The free LLM prompt pack gives you four prompts that follow the verification method — generate → verify → log:
- The brief — the AI interviews you first, one question at a time, and records “TBD” instead of inventing.
- Generate — produces the logframe table and a CSV for Google Sheets, labelling evidence vs inference.
- Verify — acts as a hostile donor reviewer, auditing every number and source.
- Log — writes the provenance trail you can show a donor.
Rule zero: the AI drafts, a human signs off. If you cannot trace a number to a source, it does not go to the donor.
Related frameworks it fits into
- Theory of change — the narrative; the logframe is its tabular form.
- Results framework / RBM — results chain with indicators and baselines.
- OECD-DAC criteria — relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability (for evaluation, not the logframe itself).
- Donor variants — FCDO (results + VfM), EU (intervention logic), UN (agency frameworks), World Bank (results chain).
When one logframe isn't enough
The free template gets you one logframe. The $19 Template Vault adds the theory-of-change canvas, the results framework, the indicator tracking table (with live attainment %) and the M&E plan — all editable, with worked examples.
Get the $19 Template Vault