Community engagement is vital for any nonprofit that wants to achieve its mission, build trust, and mobilize support. But how can you ensure that your community stays engaged for the long term, not just for one-off events or campaigns? In this article, you will learn some strategies to sustainably engage your community and foster a culture of collaboration, learning, and impact.
The first step to sustainable engagement is to define who your community is and what they care about. Your community may include your beneficiaries, donors, volunteers, staff, partners, and other stakeholders. You need to understand their needs, interests, values, and motivations, as well as how they prefer to communicate and interact with you. You can use surveys, interviews, focus groups, or other methods to gather feedback and insights from your community members.
Be approachable, set the tone in your organization for the importance of engagement in the community at all levels and then make engagement easy, by bringing it to the people in multiple ways. We have more opportunities to do so now than ever before, use them.
In my experience building sustainable community engagement hinges on intimately knowing and valuing each stakeholder. From beneficiaries to donors, volunteers, and partners, understanding their unique needs, values, and preferred communication styles is the bedrock. I've found surveys, interviews, and ongoing feedback sessions vital for gaining insights. Sustainability isn't a static goal; it's about continuously adapting strategies as the community evolves. To me, the essence lies in cultivating genuine connections, aligning organizational goals with community interests, and consistently showcasing the impact of collective efforts. This approach establishes trust and loyalty, fostering a resilient community that stands the test of time.
Building long term means thinking long term. Building an intergenerational and multigenerational strategy can provide another perspective. In youth organizing our cycles are short, maybe 2-4 year. We had to figure out how to get our campaigns to cross cohorts, get youth to get their siblings, and eventually their kids involved. To stay involved themselves as donors and volunteers. Youth organizing within the community is a way of building long-term sustainability. This not only nurtures a culture of activism within communities but also ensures that the communities campaigns and power building span generations. By engaging multiple generations, we can lay the groundwork for resilient powerful communities that adapt and thrive over time.
The interesting thing about the communities I work with are that they are constantly evolving. That is, after all, the nature of cooperative boards. Part of my job is to help them retain their culture and norms throughout constant evolution with board members leaving and joining their boards. I have found that encouraging easily accessible record keeping along with a mission based mindset for decision making helps the boards to evolve over time in as smooth a way as possible.
It always comes down to providing value. What that specific value is depends on the vertical you operate in, but usually it boils down to a few things: 1. Knowledge 2. Skills 3. Friendship If you want to sustain your community ask yourself if you’re sharing facts and information that will allow them to grow, skills or tools that will allow them to succeed, and fun or connections that provide value through their continued engagement with the community.
The next step is to involve your community in co-creating your vision and goals for the future. This means inviting them to share their ideas, perspectives, and expectations, and incorporating them into your strategic planning and decision making. By co-creating your vision and goals, you can align your community around a common purpose, increase their sense of ownership and commitment, and foster a culture of trust and transparency.
I really try to focus on identifying the community's goals and then help them to refine those goals. My hope is to help them create clear goals that are easy to decide a course of action to achieve. In this work I also find I am often spending time helping boards to realize that, while you may not personally agree with the chosen course, it is your job to carry out the board's chosen actions to the best of your ability to benefit the cooperative. Co-creating does not always mean working towards your personal goals, but sometimes requires putting your talents towards someone else's vision.
In my view, sustainable community engagement requires a collaborative approach in crafting the organization's vision and goals. Actively involving the community in sharing ideas and expectations fosters a sense of ownership and commitment. Co-creating not only aligns everyone around a common purpose but also instills a culture of trust and transparency. This inclusive process ensures that the organization's direction resonates with the community it serves, establishing a solid foundation for long-term engagement and meaningful impact.
Designing for community looks like: Finding out what people need Listening to what matters to them Showing up as our full selves in every space. When we do this, we create opportunities for the people we are serving to tell us what they actually need, versus creating from a place of self- service or assumption.
This ties in beautifully with the first point of value add and contribution. Once you know who your community is for, talk to them! Get to know their needs, wants, their problems and what excites them. Take all this knowledge into consideration when creating your vision and goals for the community to ensure that they align. Or better still, ask your early/potential members back for feedback once your vision and goals are a bit more fleshed out. Let it be a continual dance between your vision, goals and direction and the input, needs and desires from your community members.
The third step is to provide meaningful opportunities for your community to engage with you and each other. This means offering them various ways to contribute, learn, connect, and grow, depending on their preferences and capacities. For example, you can provide opportunities for your community to volunteer, donate, advocate, mentor, network, or participate in events, workshops, or online platforms. You should also recognize and appreciate their contributions and celebrate their achievements.
In my perspective, sustaining community engagement hinges on creating meaningful opportunities. Offering diverse ways for individuals to contribute, learn, and connect, tailored to their preferences, builds a dynamic community. Whether through volunteering, donating, advocating, mentoring, or participating in events, providing avenues for involvement is key. Recognition and celebration of contributions further reinforce a sense of belonging and shared achievement, fostering a robust and enduring community commitment over the long term. Ultimately, it's about empowering each community member to play a vital role in the collective journey toward shared goals.
In my work I have seven cooperative boards that I support. In this role, I try to meet board leadership where they are in terms of time and bandwidth. If someone needs more help and I am able to provide it, I will always do so and then, after achieving the goal, we will discuss the need for board members to commit to their own tasks. The teachable moment comes after the crisis when we have the ability to analyze and learn from the experience and not during the moment of crisis. I encourage all boards to utilize their communities and learn to delegate work to others to ensure that all volunteers get a chance to contribute and grow as leaders. I invest time teaching about succession planning and leadership transition mindest.
Our networks and our communities are the well that we draw from in our personal and professional lives. These connections can strengthen the knowledge we currently have - and also give us insights on things outside of our personal scope. Opportunity sharing comes directly from our networks. We share jobs, mentor, donate and participate with people we trust. By strengthening our networks, we give ourselves exposure, and increase our visibility in the professional space.
To engage your community long-term, identify and meet its needs through active listening. Foster partnerships and nurture local leadership, championing community ambassadorship. Offer educational opportunities and support the local economy. Promote sustainable practices and cultural inclusivity. Maintain transparent communication and adapt to feedback, creating regular events to solidify community bonds.
The fourth step is to communicate effectively and consistently with your community. This means using clear, relevant, and engaging messages and stories that highlight your impact, challenges, and opportunities. You should also use multiple channels and formats to reach your community, such as email, social media, newsletters, blogs, podcasts, or videos. You should also encourage feedback and dialogue, and respond to their questions and concerns promptly and respectfully.
In my experience, sustaining long-term community engagement hinges on effective and consistent communication. Clear, compelling messages showcasing impact, challenges, and opportunities foster connection. Utilizing diverse channels like email, social media, newsletters, and podcasts ensures broad reach. Encouraging open dialogue and promptly addressing questions and concerns builds trust. It's not just about broadcasting information but creating a two-way conversation, making community members feel heard and valued. This ongoing, transparent communication strategy is fundamental to maintaining a strong and enduring connection with the community.
One of the most important things when it comes to community communication is to understand how your community prefers to communicate. This might sound extremely basic but know which social media platforms your community members are on, how often they prefer to receive newsletters, how long or short the communication should be, do they prefer video or written content etc. Know your members and then find that sweet spot in the venn diagram between content and ways of communicating that 1) works for them, 2) that excites you, 3) and that you will be able to commit to and stay consistent with. Because consistency is immensely important when building out those channels of communication in your community.
The fifth step is to monitor and evaluate your engagement with your community. This means using data and indicators to measure and track your engagement levels, outcomes, and impacts. You should also use qualitative methods to capture and analyze your community's experiences, perceptions, and satisfaction. You should use the results to identify what works well and what needs improvement, and to adjust your strategies and actions accordingly.
In my view, sustaining long-term community engagement requires a commitment to continuous improvement through monitoring and evaluation. Utilizing data and qualitative insights to measure engagement levels and outcomes is essential. Understanding community experiences and satisfaction enables adjustments for effectiveness. Regular evaluation not only identifies successful strategies but also highlights areas for improvement, fostering adaptability. This iterative process ensures that engagement remains relevant, impactful, and responsive to the evolving needs of the community, fostering a resilient and enduring connection over time.
The final step is to learn and improve continuously from your engagement with your community. This means creating a culture of learning and innovation that values feedback, reflection, and experimentation. You should also share your learning and best practices with your community and other nonprofits, and seek new opportunities and partnerships to enhance your engagement. By learning and improving continuously, you can keep your community engaged and motivated for the long term.
Try to utilize automations to make engagement sustainable. You can use Zapier to set up automatic email messages, reminders to drop notes in the mail, and more.
Connect people and establish a heart of justice values around which a compassionate community can emerge and be self-guided. Develop common language and understandings of group membership and decision-making practices. Take time to be in the moment. Reflect on oppotunities, risks and progress. Speak truth to power.
En nuestro proyecto social, era transversal, el liderazgo en nuestros jóvenes y sus familias ya que ellos serían voceros en su comunidad estudiantil y de barrio. Ellos tendrían la capacidad de crear emprendimientos sociales y ser voceros ante las entidades gubernamentales y así replicar el proceso aprendido.