How do you know if your community organizing campaign is working?

1 Define your goals

Before you start your campaign, you need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and how you will know if you are successful. Your goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, instead of saying "we want to improve public transportation", you could say "we want to increase bus frequency by 20% in our neighborhood by the end of the year". Having SMART goals will help you track your progress and communicate your results.

2 Choose your indicators

Once you have your goals, you need to choose indicators that will measure your progress and impact. Indicators are quantitative or qualitative data that show how well you are doing in relation to your goals. For example, if your goal is to increase bus frequency, your indicators could be the number of buses per hour, the average waiting time, or the satisfaction rate of riders. You should choose indicators that are relevant, reliable, and realistic to collect and analyze.

3 Collect and analyze data

To measure your indicators, you need to collect and analyze data from various sources and methods. You can use surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, or existing data to gather information from your target audience, stakeholders, and allies. You should collect data regularly and systematically, using tools and techniques that suit your needs and resources. You should also analyze your data to identify patterns, trends, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.

4 Report and communicate your findings

After you collect and analyze your data, you need to report and communicate your findings to your team, supporters, funders, and the public. You should use clear and compelling formats and channels to share your story, such as reports, infographics, videos, or social media. You should highlight your achievements, challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations for future action. You should also acknowledge your sources, limitations, and feedback.

5 Reflect and adapt your strategies

Finally, you need to reflect and adapt your strategies based on your findings and feedback. You should ask yourself and your team questions such as: What worked well and what didn't? What did we learn and what can we do better? How can we celebrate our successes and address our shortcomings? How can we sustain and scale up our impact? You should use your reflection and learning to adjust your goals, indicators, methods, and actions as needed.

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?