Section 2. Creating and Gathering a Group to Guide Your Initiative

Adolescent violence, HIV prevention, adult literacy, housing, food access, or any other community issue may reach a point where people decide coordinated action is needed. At that point, you may need to bring together a group to help understand the issue, identify community strengths and priorities, develop possible approaches, and guide an initiative from planning into action. Few complex community issues can be addressed effectively by one person working alone.

But what should that group look like? Who should participate, and where might you connect with them? What authority should the group have? How should it function? What should it actually do? This section will help you think about how to form a group that can help develop and guide an initiative designed to address a community need.

Why would you want to create and gather a group to guide your initiative?

Assembling a group to help guide an organization or initiative in its beginning stages has several advantages over trying to do the same work as an individual:

• It can strengthen credibility, relationships, and shared ownership. When people directly affected by the issue and people from relevant organizations, communities, and sectors have meaningful influence over the work, the initiative is more likely to reflect a broader range of community knowledge and priorities. Diversity by itself does not guarantee community ownership; people also need meaningful roles in discussion and decision-making.
• It allows more ideas and perspectives to come into play. A group can bring together lived experience, professional knowledge, community history, organizational expertise, and different ways of understanding an issue. Sorting through different views may take time, and complete consensus may not always be possible, but the process can lead to better-informed decisions.
• It creates opportunities for mutual learning. Community members, professionals, organizational representatives, and others may know different parts of an issue. For example, people working on adult literacy may understand service systems and research, while adults who have experienced literacy barriers can explain how those barriers affect daily life and which services or approaches are actually useful. Participants can learn from one another and share accurate information through their own networks.
• It gives new organizations and initiatives the benefit of others' experience. Participants may have helped start organizations, managed programs, served on boards or committees, organized community efforts, raised funds, delivered services, advocated for policy change, or lived through earlier efforts addressing the same issue. That experience can help a new initiative identify opportunities and avoid repeating previous mistakes.
• It can broaden relationships, participation, and resources. Group members may have connections with residents, organizations, funders, public agencies, businesses, schools, faith communities, or other networks that can strengthen the initiative. These relationships can help extend outreach and identify possible partners, while still respecting people's choice about whether and how they want to participate.
• It can provide mutual support. Community work can be difficult, particularly when progress is slow or the issue is emotionally demanding. A group can distribute responsibility, provide encouragement, help solve problems, and reduce dependence on one person carrying the initiative alone.

When starting a new organization, the people involved may not yet know what leadership, governance, or operating structure will work best. There may still be substantial groundwork to complete before a permanent structure is established. An initial group can help with tasks such as:

• Clarifying the initial direction of the organization
• Developing a vision and mission through an inclusive process
• Identifying and inviting potential partners and participants
• Creating an action plan
• Clarifying responsibilities and selecting or inviting people to coordinate particular committees, projects, or tasks
• Determining what longer-term governance, advisory, staffing, or coordinating structure the initiative will need

A group can also be useful when an initiative has many responsibilities but little or no paid staff. In some volunteer-led initiatives, a coordinating group may carry out responsibilities that staff would otherwise handle. If that happens, be clear about who has decision-making authority, distinguish governance from day-to-day operations, distribute work realistically, and avoid depending indefinitely on a few volunteers to perform the equivalent of full-time staff roles.

What kinds of groups might foster the development of an initiative?

This question has several possible answers. One consideration is whether the group is composed mainly of individuals, representatives of organizations, or a combination of both. Another is what authority and responsibilities the group will have. Let's begin by looking at some common ways initiatives and their initial groups are formed.

Ways groups can be formed

Organizations and initiatives get started in many ways, and the origins of an effort often influence the type of group that initially guides it.

One person recognizes a community issue and decides to take action. An initial group may begin with friends, neighbors, colleagues, or other people who share concern about the issue. As the effort develops, broaden participation beyond the founder's immediate network so that people directly affected by the issue and people with other relevant perspectives have opportunities to help shape the work.

After her adolescent son was assaulted on the way home from school, a resident of a small town became concerned about youth violence and safety. She contacted other community members and helped organize an initial meeting that included young people and parents. The effort grew into a community initiative involving youth, families, schools, community organizations, and other partners in discussions, prevention activities, and creative programs. With support from a local agency, the group obtained funding and continued its work to improve youth and community safety.

An organization, community institution, faith community, or local government agency takes the lead in addressing a community issue. In this situation, the group may include both organizational representatives and individual community members. Be clear about whether organizational representatives are authorized to speak or make commitments for their organizations and whether community members are participating as individuals or in another defined role.

An organization decides to pursue available funding for an issue that requires a coordinated community response. A funding opportunity may lead organizations and community members to form a coalition or planning group. Avoid allowing the funding opportunity alone to define the problem or strategy. People affected by the issue should have meaningful opportunities to shape the proposal and the work whenever circumstances permit.

For example, a community action agency might respond to a request for proposals for services supporting families with young children who face particular barriers or need additional support. If the funding requires a community coordinating body, the agency could bring together parents and caregivers, community health and human service organizations, schools, early childhood providers, and other relevant partners. If funding is awarded, the group might continue as a coordinating or advisory body with clearly defined responsibilities.

An existing coalition identifies an issue and decides to address it. The coalition itself may guide the new effort or may establish a task force, committee, or separate organization with a more focused purpose.

For example, an existing community coalition concerned about child sexual abuse could establish a task force that brings together survivors or survivor advocates, families, schools, health professionals, youth-serving organizations, public agencies, and other relevant partners. The task force might focus on prevention education, child and family support, professional training, coordinated response, and access to appropriate services. As the work grows, the initiative might remain a task force or develop into a separate organization, depending on community needs and available resources.

A coalition of organizations often operates differently from a group composed primarily of individuals. Organizational representatives may need to consider their employer's mission, policies, funding requirements, legal responsibilities, decision-making authority, and staff time. Some representatives may be participating as part of their paid work, while community members may be volunteering unpaid time. Recognizing those differences can help the group design meetings, responsibilities, and decision-making processes that are fair and realistic.

Ways your group can function

Groups that help guide initiatives go by many names, and the same term may mean different things in different organizations. What matters most is not the title but the group's actual purpose, authority, responsibilities, membership, and relationship to other parts of the organization.

Steering committee

A steering committee usually guides an initiative during its early development. It might help create the vision and mission, develop an initial action plan, identify partners and resources, consider policy and community implications, establish an initial organizational structure, and prepare for funding or longer-term governance.

Steering committees are often temporary. Rather than assuming they should dissolve after a fixed number of months, determine what should happen when the initial development work is complete. The committee might dissolve, transition into a coordinating body, become an advisory group, or transfer authority to a governing board or another permanent structure.

Coordinating council

A coordinating council helps connect different parts of an initiative and maintain progress across activities, committees, organizations, or workgroups. Depending on its formally assigned authority, it may coordinate implementation, monitor progress, resolve operational issues, recommend changes, or make specified decisions.

For example, if an initiative organizes a public event or demonstration, a coordinating council might make sure responsibilities are assigned, permits and accessibility needs are addressed, participants know where to go, volunteers are prepared, public information is accurate, media contacts receive appropriate information, safety plans are in place, and necessary facilities and supplies are available.

Advisory or supporting committee (or council or board)

An advisory group provides guidance, expertise, community knowledge, lived experience, relationships, or other perspectives to an organization or initiative. It is different from a governing board unless the organization has formally delegated particular authority to it.

Be explicit about what an advisory group can and cannot influence. Advisory participation should not be used simply to make an initiative appear inclusive or to borrow members' names or status. If people are invited to provide advice, explain how their recommendations will be considered and communicate what happens as a result.

Board of Directors

A board of directors is the governing body of many nonprofit organizations. Its responsibilities may include safeguarding the organization's mission, providing strategic and financial oversight, meeting legal and ethical responsibilities, establishing major policies, ensuring adequate resources, and selecting, supporting, and evaluating the chief executive when the organization has one. Day-to-day coordination is generally delegated to staff or other operating structures rather than performed by the full board.

Other possibilities

Many other arrangements are possible. A small core group might convene a larger planning body. A membership organization might reserve major decisions for its members. A coalition may use rotating leadership. An executive committee may be delegated limited responsibilities by a governing board. A network may distribute leadership among several organizations. There is no single correct way to start or structure a community initiative.

If you hope eventually to hire staff, an initial steering committee may help establish the organization and prepare for the transition to a staff-led operating structure with appropriate governance. If an initiative expects to remain volunteer-led, a coordinating council or another shared leadership structure may provide continuity. If you are creating an incorporated nonprofit, you may need a governing board earlier in the process. Choose the structure based on the organization's legal responsibilities, purpose, size, resources, decision-making needs, and expected duration rather than on a fixed sequence.

As you decide what type of group will best serve your organization or initiative, consider the needs and responsibilities of participants, how much authority the group will have, how much time participation requires, what resources are available, and what work the group actually needs to accomplish.

When in the process should the group be formed?

If the group is intended to help shape the initiative, form it early enough for its participation to matter. Ideally, people who will be directly affected by the work and people who will play important implementation or governance roles should have opportunities to influence the vision, mission, priorities, and initial strategies rather than being asked only to approve a completed plan.

Not every idea needs to be completely open for reconsideration. Funding requirements, laws, organizational missions, or previous decisions may establish some boundaries. Be transparent about what has already been decided and what remains open to influence.

Forming the group early can also help prepare the initiative for implementation. Members can identify resources, partnerships, barriers, responsibilities, and staffing needs while the plan is being developed. If the group is expected to coordinate the initiative until staff are hired -- or to continue coordinating an initiative that will remain volunteer-led -- define that responsibility explicitly.

Who should be involved, and where do you find them?

You need enough people to bring the necessary perspectives, knowledge, relationships, and capacity to the work, but not so many that the group becomes difficult to coordinate. There is no ideal number for every group. Size should reflect the group's responsibilities, facilitation capacity, decision-making method, and the range of perspectives that need to be included.

Consider involving:

• People who care about the issue and can make a realistic commitment to the work
• People who can participate consistently enough to fulfill the responsibilities of the particular group. Expectations may differ for a coordinating council, governing body, advisory group, or short-term task force.
• People from different parts of the community whose experiences and perspectives are relevant to the issue, including variation in race, ethnicity, culture, income, geography, age, disability, language, and other circumstances where relevant
• People and communities directly affected by the issue
• Other stakeholders with relevant responsibilities, services, authority, or expertise. For example, a substance-use initiative might involve people with lived experience, treatment and recovery organizations, harm-reduction programs, public health, health care, families, schools, community organizations, behavioral-health providers, and public safety partners when their roles are relevant.
• People who are trusted in relevant communities or who have useful relationships, institutional responsibilities, or decision-making authority
• Emerging leaders and people who may not hold formal titles but bring valuable knowledge, relationships, lived experience, or community trust
• People who have been involved in earlier efforts addressing the issue and can help the group understand what was tried, what worked, what did not work, and what community concerns or relationships still matter
• Young people when the issue affects them or when their knowledge, leadership, and perspectives are relevant to the work
• People with skills the group will need, such as facilitation, writing, budgeting, grant development, evaluation, communications, organizing, legal or policy knowledge, or project coordination

Learn the history of the issue in your community. If you're starting an organization serving people experiencing homelessness, for example, find out what programs, advocacy efforts, partnerships, and policies have been tried before. Talk with people who used those services as well as people who helped provide or organize them. Identify successes, failures, harms, unresolved concerns, and lessons learned.

Previous participants should not automatically be included or excluded based on reputation alone. Consider what knowledge they bring, whether trust has been maintained or can be rebuilt, whether accountability concerns exist, and whether their current participation would strengthen the work. Understanding history can help the new initiative build on what worked and avoid repeating problems.

People may also have very different levels of familiarity with a particular organization's meeting culture, terminology, technology, or decision-making procedures. That does not mean some participants lack the ability to contribute. Explain processes clearly for everyone, establish shared meeting agreements, avoid unnecessary jargon, and provide orientation, mentoring, interpretation, accessibility support, or other assistance when useful.

Pairing participants for mutual support can be helpful, as can offering an orientation to the initiative and its decision-making process. The goal is to make the group's way of working understandable and accessible rather than expecting newcomers to already know unwritten rules.

Where can you connect with potential steering committee, coordinating council, or advisory-group members? Possibilities include:

• Local colleges and universities, schools, libraries, and educational programs
• Local, tribal, county, state, or other relevant government offices and agencies
• Economic-development, workforce, labor, and business organizations
• Civic and community organizations
• Community centers, neighborhood associations, cultural organizations, recreational groups, sports organizations, and other local networks
• Chambers of commerce, business associations, employers, and professional organizations
• Health, behavioral-health, social-service, and human-service organizations
• Youth-led groups and youth-serving organizations
• Churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, interfaith networks, and other faith communities or religious organizations
• Trusted community locations and communication channels used by the people you hope to reach, such as neighborhood events, markets, community organizations, newsletters, email lists, social media groups, community websites, and other appropriate networks

Personal relationships and referrals can also help you identify potential participants. Ask people you trust, "Who else should be part of this conversation?" and "Whose perspective are we missing?" Use introductions thoughtfully and don't assume that someone wants to participate simply because another person provided their name.

What should your steering committee or coordinating council do?

Once you've formed a group to help develop or coordinate the organization or initiative, its responsibilities should be clearly defined. The group may do much of the early work required to move an idea into an operating initiative, but not every group will need to perform every task below.

• Develop or help develop the vision and mission for the organization. The group should create meaningful opportunities for people affected by the work and other relevant community members to influence these statements. Vision and mission define the future the initiative hopes to help create and the role the organization will play in pursuing it.
• Help determine the initial direction of the organization. Decide how the initiative will contribute to its mission. It may provide services, organize community members, advocate for policy change, conduct public education, coordinate existing resources, support research, build partnerships, or use several approaches together. People directly affected by the issue should have meaningful input into these choices.
• Create an action plan. Determine the steps required to move from planning to implementation. A service initiative may need funding, staff, volunteers, facilities, technology, policies, partnerships, training, insurance, or equipment. An advocacy initiative may need research, communications capacity, community organizing, policy expertise, and relationships with affected communities and decision-makers. Clarify what needs to happen, who is responsible, when it should happen, and what resources or approvals are required.

During planning, also decide whether the initial group is intended to be temporary or continuing. Don't assume that a steering committee must disappear or that it should remain indefinitely. Ask what governance, advisory, coordination, and community-participation functions will be needed once the initiative is operating and which structure is best suited to each function.

If a governing board, paid staff, or another permanent structure will eventually take over some responsibilities, clarify how authority, records, relationships, and unfinished work will be transferred. Different bodies may also continue to coexist -- for example, a governing board and a community advisory council -- as long as their roles and authority are clearly distinguished.

• Build partnerships. Identify organizations, communities, and individuals whose missions, responsibilities, resources, or experience connect with the initiative. Develop partnerships around clear shared purposes rather than simply trying to increase the number of organizations attached to the effort.
• Establish and oversee committees or workgroups when necessary. These might focus on finance, governance, communications, evaluation, programs, partnerships, fundraising, policy, or another area of work. Create a committee only when there is a clear reason for it, and define its authority, responsibilities, membership, and relationship to the larger group.
• Hire staff if that is part of the plan. Determine which responsibilities require paid staff, what authority staff will have, who will supervise them, and how governance will remain distinct from day-to-day management.
• Coordinate the initiative if no staff structure is planned. When volunteers are responsible for continuing operations, distribute work realistically, establish clear accountability, and periodically reassess whether the workload remains sustainable.

Whether to hire staff depends on the amount and type of work involved, available funding, legal and administrative responsibilities, the reliability of volunteer capacity, and how long the initiative expects to operate. Some advocacy, organizing, mutual-aid, or short-term efforts may remain volunteer-led. Programs delivering ongoing services, managing significant funding, supervising workers, maintaining confidential records, or operating continuously may require paid staff or another stable operating arrangement.

• Seek appropriate funding and other resources. This may include grants, donations, contracts, in-kind contributions, partnerships, or other support. Fundraising responsibilities may initially belong to the founding group and later shift to staff, a governing board, or a development committee.
• Establish longer-term governance when needed. If the organization will have a board of directors or another permanent governing body, determine the competencies, lived experience, community perspectives, and governance capacity the board needs. Establish clear responsibilities and a thoughtful transition from the founding group. The existence of a board does not automatically require an advisory or coordinating group to dissolve if those groups continue to serve distinct and useful purposes.

In Summary

When starting a new organization or community initiative, it often makes sense to bring together a group that can help shape its development and guide at least its initial work. Forming that group early can make it possible for people directly affected by the issue, implementation partners, community organizations, and others with relevant knowledge or responsibilities to influence the initiative before major decisions are fixed.

The group should not be assembled simply to provide names, prestige, or the appearance of community representation. Its members should have meaningful roles appropriate to the authority they have been given. Be clear about whether the group governs, advises, coordinates, plans, implements, or performs some combination of these functions.

A strong founding group brings together relevant lived experience, community knowledge, organizational capacity, relationships, and practical skills. It also makes participation understandable and accessible, acknowledges differences in power and resources, and creates clear processes for decision-making and accountability.

As the initiative develops, continue asking whether the original structure still fits the work. A steering committee may dissolve, transition into another body, or continue in a new role. A governing board, advisory council, staff structure, or coordinating group may emerge. The goal is not to preserve a particular organizational form, but to create a structure that supports the mission, reflects the community, distributes responsibility effectively, and allows people to work together with clarity and accountability.