How do you show the value of community outreach to your supporters?

From personal and professional experiences, learning what the community wants and needs are important. Getting them to buy into what you want to bring to their community so that they are more involved in the decision making efforts, after all it is their community.

It’s important to remember that having goals isn’t JUST for your organization, but it’s also for the people who desire to serve alongside your organization. When you create anything you become a facilitator for transformation. Our volunteers, donors, partners all decide to get involved because they long for transformation —> In their communities, in their neighbors and in their lives. Clear goals set the GUIDELINES for transformation to take place.

Goals and metrics should be based on the needs assessment of the communities that you are working with. Their participation in the decision making processes help accelerate program implementation and sustainable processes

In order to promote successful community involvement, it's crucial for members to establish a common set of values to guide their efforts. This will allow them to work collaboratively towards goals that align with those values. It's important to recognize that the impact of these values is perceived differently based on an individual's culture and personal values.

One thing that's very important when doing community outreach is being mindful of who is deciding what is important. Are you including actual community members in these conversations? Are you valuing input even if it deviates from that of your own expectations? Are you willing to measure what's important using what the community values? An example I've seen was with wheelchair donations, the importance for the community was making sure that after the chairs were no longer in use by those they were donated to that they would be returned in order to be used by others again and not sold off, lost or put in the trash. Prior to this input based on experience, this hadn't even crossed our minds. We were just thinking about getting the chairs out.

In order for the stories to be relevant to community members, they should answer the question "so what?" If the answer does not directly affect them, they may not feel motivated to react.

People often want to know, “what’s in it for me?”, or “how does this relate to me?” When what you have to share resonates with them, they can more fully engage with what you have to offer. That’s why compelling stories and photos/videos of the action captivate audiences much more than just talking about them, because then the audience can either feel like they were there, or they can relate to what is being shared.

I think the storytelling aspect can be extremely valuable here. It's not just about numbers and figures - while those are important, of course - many people have mistrust in organizations or "charity" work that is simply based on doing a good deed for the sake of doing it as opposed to it's actual impact. Especially in the modem day where we can easily curate a video demonstrating the impacts of community outreach, use that to everyone's advantage. The human aspect isn't going anywhere and that's because it is so powerful and something that can't be faked. Don't be afraid of emotion when it comes to this work. It's not just about how much you did, it's also about how and why you did it.

Sharing stories and testimonials also work well to acknowledge the contribution of the various stakeholders and appreciate their efforts. Sharing through various channels are a powerful tool to share impact with the larger audience

Community members are more likely to be interested in learning about the achievements and challenges of others when they have been consulted on the purpose, approach, and mechanism of the outreach. If they were not involved in the design process, they may not be inclined to participate in the review.

Data and evidence are critical to share your achievements and challenges from the various outreach activities and also demonstrate transparancy and showcase the scale of your work across various stakeholders.

I believe that it is crucial to begin by promoting a participatory approach and establishing ownership from the very beginning. This step should be prioritized as Step 1, rather than Step 4.

All flyers, emails or posts to stakeholders about events are important for engagement and need a call to action, else they feel these are for information only. Supporters especially volunteers that feel involved in the processes and activities are sure to contribute and these efforts must be recognised and appreciated to sustain their engagement.

I do all I can to advertise opportunities to get involved with our Employee Resource Groups internally as well as how to get involved in various Community Outreach opportunities. I try to emphasize the benefits of the outreach both for the volunteer as well as the organization as many ask “What’s in it for me?”. I try to use various internal and external social media platforms when sharing before and after the event. I also try to follow-up by recognizing those who participated and reinforce that we would not be successful without each and every one of them.

Inclusion is the most important aspect. Getting people to join in on major conversations that concern the organization or projects gives them ownership of the process and its progress.

You cannot over-communicate the importance of your cause. My practice is to provide at least three compelling reasons why this issue must be addressed and at least three viable steps that we can take to turn the situation around. One of the most important aspects of community outreach is bringing hope to those who need it the most. This practice accomplishes that effectively.

It would be beneficial to incorporate this information into the community consultation's awareness campaign. These meetings often provide a platform to educate community members on the particular issues that their leaders intend to address in the future.

In my experience, it is very helpful to have members participate in the outreach process. Gaudete Ministries encourages young people to use their musical gifts and talents to perform outreach concerts which inspire and encourage.

Feedback both positive and negative need to be considered, just asking for feedback is not sufficient. Taking into account the feedback helps improvise processes and also a collaborative approach with the stakeholders help reach scale.

Remember that feedback is a dynamic communication loop, that can allow intentional pivots in service and in focus of advocacy. It is important that feedback be gathered and shared with both internal and external supporters. Educating those involved in delivery of outreach services with summaries of the feedback is as important as educating and sharing feedback with the communities accepting the service. That approach also sets the tone for collaborative environments where all expertise (technical, academic, or community inspired) matters.