How do you align your community needs with your mission?

2 Why do you need a community needs assessment?

A CNA is essential for aligning your programs with your mission and your community. It can validate or refine a mission statement and vision, define or update the target population and geographic area, prioritize goals and objectives, develop or improve programs and services, evaluate outcomes and impact, as well as communicate value and relevance to funders and supporters. All of these factors are important for creating a successful program.

3 How do you conduct a community needs assessment?

Conducting a CNA is not a straightforward process; it depends on your context, scope, resources, and purpose. Nevertheless, there are some general steps to follow when planning and implementing a CNA. You should define the purpose and scope of your CNA, review existing data and literature on your community and issue, collect primary data from your community using various tools and methods, analyze and interpret the data using qualitative and quantitative methods, and report and share the results of your CNA with stakeholders. Additionally, it is important to be mindful of how you present and communicate your results in a clear, concise, and compelling way.

4 What are some community needs assessment tools?

When collecting and analyzing data for your CNA, there are many tools and methods that you can use. Surveys are questionnaires that can be distributed to measure the level of need, satisfaction, awareness, or preference of your community members. Interviews are one-on-one conversations to collect in-depth and nuanced data. Focus groups are group discussions to generate ideas, feedback, or solutions from your community members. Observations are a way to watch and record behavior, interactions, or environment of your community. Participatory activities are creative and interactive ways of engaging your community in the data collection and analysis process. Examples include mapping, ranking, storytelling, or visioning; these activities can empower and involve your community members.

5 How do you apply the results of your community needs assessment?

The results of your CNA can be used in many ways, such as to align your programs with your mission and community needs, set SMART goals and objectives, create a logic model or theory of change, develop a monitoring and evaluation plan, and seek funding and support. This is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process that requires constant learning, adaptation, and communication. By using the results of your CNA in program development, you can create more effective and impactful programs for your community.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?