2 Business Model Canvas elements

Look at the Business Model Canvas template now; you will see nine key elements. Take a few moments to read them through and think about your understanding of each one.

Using the table below, let’s explore them in greater detail.

Element		Key question	Comments
	Key partners	Who will help you?	This is a particularly significant element of the Business Model Canvas within the development and social sectors, in which organisations rarely work in isolation. Think about all the organisational relationships that are essential to your value proposition. For example, it might be that you have a key relationship that you tend to regard more as a supplier than a partner. The template uses the terminology of partner, when what it means is anyone you work with that is essential to delivering what you deliver.
	Key activities	How do you do it?	As with all the elements in the Business Model Canvas, the key thing here is to focus on the most important examples of how you do what you do, rather than defining every activity within your business. Expand your thinking from the value proposition you identified: what are the essential activities to achieving your value proposition?
	Value proposition	What do you do?	This question should always be at the centre of your business model – it helps you to define your value proposition. ‘Value proposition’ is a term that is widely used in business to describe the thing that makes that business different from others and therefore offers distinctive value to customers. The answer to this question addresses what you do, why you do it and what makes you unique. In the development sector, of course, your customers won’t be the same as those of different sectors; however, you will still have donors and beneficiaries. You should therefore think about the specific problem you want to address, and how your solution, be it a product or service, is valuable to the beneficiary. Then think about the donor: why should they fund you for this service rather than anyone else? What makes your solution the most attractive one available? If you can answer these questions then you can describe your value proposition in terms that make it unique. There is no maximum length to a value proposition statement, but keeping it short and succinct is a really good way to help you focus on the most important elements.
	Audience relationship	How do you interact?	For this element, you will need to think about your two different audiences: beneficiaries and donor. What sort of relationship do you need to establish with them? What will their expectations be and how will you manage these?
	Audience segments	Who do you help?	Your most important audience will be your beneficiaries because, if you’re getting it right for them, then the donor should also be happy. Within this beneficiary group, for whom are you creating the most value? For example, your intervention might be to support teachers by enhancing their classroom skills, in which case you would be creating value for both teachers and students. However, the teachers are the direct beneficiaries with whom you will be interacting and therefore, from this perspective, they are the more important of the two groups.
	Distribution channels	How do you reach them?	Continuing with the example above, you might engage with teachers through face-to-face workshops, phone texts, email, website, phone, classroom mentoring, etc. You should consider which of these methods of engagement would be most appropriate according to the teachers’ needs and the resources available to the project.
	Key resources	What do you need?	What key resources do you need in place to support the activities you have identified above, and the process of bringing your value proposition to the beneficiary?
	Cost structure	What will it cost?	You will incur costs in order to deliver the business, product or service, so it is important to prepare a budget. Creating a detailed budget is very time consuming so, unless you are already at that stage of planning, at this point you should focus on the greatest and most significant costs of key activities. Good estimates will be sufficient for most situations.
	Revenue stream	How much will you make?	For a commercial business this is the element within which to consider profit. The closest equivalent for the not-for-profit sector would be to consider how you are maximising your donor’s (or potential donor’s) value for money. You might be able to demonstrate shared resources, matched funding, additional revenue streams and any other measures that will help to make your project stable and its impact sustainable.