Benefit Map

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Visually map and evaluate direct and shared benefits generated across proposed projects.

Use it when: Use when a team or community group needs to review multiple project proposals, compare their intended outcomes, and identify shared impacts before prioritizing actions.

Skip it when: Skip when evaluating a single project in isolation or when projects lack defined scopes and problems to solve.

Group arrangement: For groups of 4 to 8, work as a single plenary group. For 9 to 24, form working groups of 4 to 6 people (for example, 9 splits into 4 and 5; 13 splits into 4, 4, and 5; 23 splits into 5, 6, 6, and 6).

Timing: Source specifies 25 to 120 minutes depending on projects and group size; UWT sets a practical 45-minute baseline calibrated for 3 to 5 projects per working group.

Materials and tools

• 1 large poster paper or whiteboard per working group
• Sticky notes in two distinct colors (for example, yellow for projects, blue for benefits), at least 20 per color per group
• Bold felt-tip markers (1 per person)
• Masking tape or drafting tape
• Yarn strands, colored markers, or drawn arrows for connection lines

Before participants arrive

1. Before the session, draw a large circle in the center of each poster sheet labeled 'Projects' and leave the wide outer ring labeled 'Benefits'.
2. Have participants identify candidate projects in advance. Each working group will map 3 to 5 distinct projects.

Say this to open

Welcome. Today we will build a Benefit Map to link our proposed projects to concrete community impacts. We will place 3 to 5 projects in the center, generate specific benefits around the perimeter, and draw connecting lines between them. This will show us which projects drive the widest results and where multiple initiatives support the exact same outcome.

How to run it

1. Introduce purpose and post projects 7 minutes

   Explain the visual layout: projects sit in the center circle; outcomes sit on the outer perimeter. Subgroups select 3 to 5 candidate projects from their prepared proposals. Write each chosen project name on a center sticky note and post it in the middle. For each project selected, a proponent or volunteer takes 45 to 60 seconds to state what the project does and which core problem it addresses. Not every participant needs to be the primary author of a project.

2. Brainstorm and post benefits 10 minutes

   Working silently for 4 minutes, participants write concrete benefits on outer-ring sticky notes (one benefit per note). Consider social, economic, environmental, or educational outcomes. For example, instead of writing 'good program', write 'reduces after-school transit barriers for youth'. Then take turns reading benefit notes aloud, keeping each person's read-out under 30 seconds. Post the notes around the outer perimeter, clustering identical or overlapping benefits together.

3. Link projects to benefits 13 minutes

   As a subgroup, draw connecting lines or tape yarn strands from center projects to the specific outer benefits they generate. Keep justifications brief: speak one rapid sentence explaining how the project directly produces that outcome. Focus only on direct, tangible links rather than distant possibilities to finish connections within the time limit. If an existing benefit applies to multiple projects, run lines from each relevant project to that single benefit card.

4. Analyze and synthesize 10 minutes

   Subgroups examine their visual network and answer three questions: Which projects generate the most benefits? Which benefits receive links from multiple projects? Are there unique, high-priority benefits tied to only one project? Each group records their two most important patterns on a spare sticky note.

5. Debrief and document 5 minutes

   Call the room back together. Invite 2 or 3 volunteers from different tables to share one unexpected combined benefit or critical finding from their board. Facilitator takes a photo of each completed map to preserve the data for implementation planning.

Debrief questions

• Which benefits had the most lines converging on them, and why are those outcomes central to the group?
• Did any project show fewer direct connections than expected, and does that suggest reshaping the proposal?
• How will these visual connections change which projects you choose to fund or implement first?

Finished output: A documented visual network diagram displaying 3 to 5 projects linked to concrete benefits, showing multi-project synergies and high-impact initiatives.

Remote

Use an online collaborative whiteboard (such as Miro or Mural). Set up a central circle labeled 'Projects' and an outer zone labeled 'Benefits' for each breakout group. Participants post digital sticky notes and use line connector tools to draw relationships. Spokespersons take spoken turns using room microphones.

Hybrid

Organize hybrid squads where remote and in-person members share a single canvas. The preferred setup is having all participants access the same digital whiteboard simultaneously from individual screens while sharing room audio. Alternatively, assign one in-person scribe per table to mirror the physical board's stickies and drawn lines onto a camera-shared workspace.

Access and participation choices

• Offer color-neutral distinction between projects and benefits by using different shapes (rectangular cards for projects, circular cards for benefits) alongside distinct colors.
• Participants may pass on presenting projects or benefits aloud, instead passing their written card to a peer or facilitator to read and post.

If the session gets stuck

Participants write overly vague benefits such as 'better community' or 'success'.

Ask: 'Who specifically experiences that change, and what can they do tomorrow that they cannot do today?' Help them revise the note before sticking it up.

A subgroup connects every project to every benefit, creating an unreadable web with no distinction.

Remind participants to draw only direct, primary causal connections. Prompt them to remove speculative, secondary lines.

Terms used here

• Combined benefit: An interaction where two or more distinct projects reinforce each other to produce a shared benefit.