Section 1. Developing a Plan for Increasing Participation in Community Action

 

So you want to involve more people in your club or organization? Why? Are a few people trying to do too much? Does your organization need new skills, perspectives, connections, or energy? Whatever the reason, it helps to have a plan.

Developing a plan for increasing participation will make your work more focused and manageable. This section will show you how.

What is a plan for increasing participation in community action?

Planning is a way to organize actions that can help you achieve a goal. In this case, your goal is increasing meaningful participation so your organization can better carry out its purposes. How? By identifying what kinds of participation are needed, who should be involved, what may make participation easier or harder, and how you will invite and support people along the way.

Developing a plan for increasing participation will cause you to ask yourself some fundamental questions. These questions are essential to just about any recruitment or engagement effort, and your answers will be the building blocks for your plan. They are:

• Why do you want or need more members or participants?
• How many people or organizations do you need?
• What kinds of skills, experiences, perspectives, or connections are needed?
• Who is going to identify and invite potential members or partners?
• Where might you connect with people and organizations who could be interested?
• When is a good time to invite new participation?
• How should you approach potential members or partners?
• What happens if you get a yes, a maybe, or a no?
• What barriers to participation may arise, and how can you address them?

Example:  An organization in need of increasing participation in community action

My neighborhood organization wants to clean up the area around an abandoned building in our neighborhood. We hope to improve the area and make it cleaner, safer, and more welcoming, but we don't yet know how to involve enough people. We are very busy and have never organized a project like this before.

Also, this may just be the beginning. We want to build enough community participation to support beautification projects in other parts of the city. Wouldn't that be amazing? But that would certainly take more people and resources than our organization can provide by itself. Maybe we should build a coalition or partnership. Then different organizations, residents, and volunteers could contribute their own strengths and resources. But how can we do that?

Here's the key point: Regardless of whether we are inviting individual community members or authorized representatives of partner organizations, it would help to have a plan to bring people together around a shared purpose. Answering the questions above will save us time in the long run and increase the chances of accomplishing the goals we set together.

Why should you develop a plan for increasing participation in community action?

• To make accomplishing your goals easier.
• To help you get from point A -- an organization or coalition that needs greater participation -- to point B -- one with enough people, partners, skills, and perspectives to carry out its work. Organizations and alliances will often need new participants, members, partners, and emerging leaders over time.
• To make your outreach more focused, inclusive, and effective. A plan helps identify the steps you will take, the people you hope to involve, and the barriers you may need to address.

Most of the time, organizers will have better results if they take time to plan how they will invite and support participation rather than simply jumping in. Planning can also help you avoid repeatedly approaching the same people, overlooking important community perspectives, or inviting people without having meaningful roles for them.

Writing things down is very important to the planning process because it gives everyone a shared record of what has been decided. It can also help you track responsibilities, timelines, outreach efforts, and what you learn along the way.

How do you develop a plan for increasing participation in community action?

Let's come back to the fundamental questions mentioned above and go through them one at a time.

Why do you want or need members?

It isn't enough simply to want more members for your organization. Think about why additional participation is needed. What work needs to be done? What voices or experiences are missing? What relationships or skills would strengthen the effort? Your organization may be inviting individual members, community participants, or representatives who have been authorized to participate on behalf of other organizations.

Your organization may need members of a partnership or coalition who:

• Bring connections with local government, school systems, faith communities, youth organizations, businesses, human service organizations, older adults, public safety agencies, parent and family groups, colleges and universities, neighborhood organizations, and other parts of the community.
• Can coordinate the efforts of participating organizations to achieve shared goals -- for example, a city-wide event in which several organizations take responsibility for different beautification projects.
• Can build support for goals that participating organizations and communities have identified as important.

Remember that an individual community member should not automatically be expected to speak for an entire racial, cultural, age, disability, neighborhood, or other group. People can contribute their own lived experience and perspective. When formal representation is needed, be clear about how representatives are selected, whom they are authorized to represent, and how they will stay connected with those constituencies.

Your organization may need individual members to:

• Help distribute information through flyers, email, social media, community networks, or other outreach
• Help with a specific project -- for example, helping to clean the area around an abandoned building
• Help organize activities and invite other people to participate
• Provide ongoing support, knowledge, relationships, or leadership
• Contribute in many other ways that fit their interests, strengths, and availability

You must have something in mind. Otherwise, you wouldn't have decided you need more participation to begin with. Think… Then write it down!

How many members do you need?

Once you have listed the reasons you are looking for new participation, you should have a better idea of how many individual participants, organizational partners, or other contributors you may need.

For example:  Starting a plan for increasing participation in community action

Let's think about the abandoned building example. How many people do we need to clean up the area? It's a big yard, and there is a lot of work to do. We'd like to get it done in one day, so our best estimate is that it will take at least 15 people, along with the right tools, supplies, and safety planning.

There are five active members of my organization, and a few other neighbors have offered to help if a project comes up. Well, now we have something.

So we know that we need to invite at least ten more people to participate in this project. Some may want to become long-term members, while others may only want to help with this particular activity. Both kinds of participation can be valuable.

Okay, now we know why we want greater participation, and we know roughly how many people we need. We're already starting to have a plan. Now let's think bigger and go back to the city-wide beautification effort.

Even if our organization has enough people for the first cleanup, a larger city-wide effort would probably need additional organizations, residents, and community partners. Different participants could coordinate different parts of the work and contribute resources, knowledge, relationships, or other strengths.

Even thinking big becomes more manageable when you break the plan into specific needs. What's next?

What kind of members do you need?

It usually isn't helpful to sort people into rigid categories, but it is useful to identify the skills, experiences, perspectives, relationships, and levels of involvement your organization needs.

Organizations need many different kinds of participation. This can be especially important when deciding whether your organization is building individual membership, inviting people into short-term projects, developing leadership, or forming a coalition with other organizations.

Some participants may be authorized to represent organizations. Others participate as individual community members and bring their own experiences and perspectives. Some people may take formal leadership roles, while others may prefer to contribute in less visible ways.

People also participate at different levels and at different times. Some may attend nearly every meeting; others may contribute to a particular project, provide occasional advice, or help when their schedule allows. Work, caregiving, transportation, health, school, cost, accessibility, and other circumstances may affect how much time someone can contribute. Different forms of participation can all be valuable.

People with strong relationships across a community can also help the organization connect with others, but don't treat one person as automatically representing everyone in a group. Build relationships with multiple community members and organizations and create ways for a range of perspectives to be heard.

Organizations will often be looking for participants with varied skills. Sometimes a project will also require particular knowledge, equipment, professional expertise, or other resources.

If there is a specific skill your organization needs, you may wish to invite individuals who have that skill or partner with organizations that can contribute it.

As you develop your plan, decide what kinds of participation and perspectives would strengthen the effort. Then it will be easier to focus your outreach.

Who is going to find and get them?

Who is available to help with outreach? If it is you alone, you certainly have your work cut out for you. Even with several people helping, increasing participation takes coordination. By now, you should know whom you hope to involve, what kinds of roles are available, and roughly how many people or organizations you need.

Determining who will identify and invite potential participants is essential to your planning. You and your helpers can coordinate the approaches you will use and decide who already has relationships with the people or organizations you hope to reach.

Don't be shy about delegating responsibility. Assign specific outreach tasks to different people rather than telling everyone simply to "go recruit members." Coordinated outreach saves time, reduces duplication, and helps prevent community members from receiving repeated requests from several people in the same organization.

Getting back to the cleanup example, we may have decided that some particular skills, tools, relationships, or other assets could help with the project and with the neighborhood organization more generally.

Divide up the outreach task. We know that we need some neighbors with yard tools, and access to a pickup truck or another way to transport materials would certainly be helpful.

Make sure you coordinate who is approaching whom. Tom, with the pickup truck, probably won't appreciate all five members of the group separately asking for the same help. You want to invite participation respectfully and show that your organization is organized.

So figure out who will contact whom, what they will ask, and what information they need to provide.

In the case of the city-wide beautification initiative, your organization may also wish to approach organizations that can contribute relevant skills or resources. For example, a hardware store, gardening association, art group, neighborhood association, environmental organization, or local business might be helpful.

Where are new members to be found?

Truthfully, everywhere. But now you can focus your outreach. Make a list of the places, organizations, networks, events, and communication channels where people with relevant interests, skills, experiences, or community connections are likely to be.

Example: You are looking to build a new clubhouse for neighborhood children, and nobody currently involved has much building experience. What skills would be useful? Construction, carpentry, design, safety, project management, and related skills may all be helpful.

Now that you have this information, use it. Find out where people with those skills or interests may be. Look at local business and community directories, professional and trade associations, labor organizations, neighborhood networks, community colleges or technical programs, local businesses, volunteer networks, websites, social media groups, and partner referrals. Think about other clubs, agencies, and organizations in your community that may have relevant experience.

Example: Let's think big again. Perhaps your organization started out wishing to build a clubhouse for a group of neighborhood children. Then, everyone became so enthusiastic about the project that your organization decided to form a coalition to promote youth club activities.

Now you may want to involve not only people with building skills but also youth and families, community organizations, labor organizations, service providers, schools, local businesses, and others with an interest in youth opportunities. Each may contribute something different to the effort.

Don't forget: You won't know who is interested in getting involved unless you invite them and create a meaningful way for them to participate.

So figure out whom your organization would like to involve. Then...

Make a list and write it down!

When is a good time to look for new members?

Any organization can benefit from creating ongoing opportunities for new people to become involved. Some times, however, are especially useful. Participation may be easier to build when there is a clear, timely project, issue, decision, or opportunity that gives people a concrete reason to get involved.

There are also many important times for an organization to invite new members or for a coalition to seek new partner organizations. Some of them include when you are:

• Taking on a new initiative
• Strengthening your organization's capacity, reach, representation, or influence in the community
• Starting a publicity or fund-raising campaign
• Replacing departing members or developing new leadership

If your organization does not have an immediate membership need, don't create an issue simply to recruit people. Instead, look for genuine projects, concerns, opportunities, or decisions that connect with your mission and that community members have reason to care about. Common areas of concern may include:

• Children and young people
• Fairness and opportunity
• Health and well-being
• Safety
• Jobs and economic opportunity

Are any of these issues related to your project? What other concerns or opportunities have community members identified?

For your plan, decide when you will begin actively inviting new participation. Developing a timeline can be helpful -- set realistic goals and responsibilities.

You may also need to know how soon new participants or partners are needed. You might have a major event, project, fundraiser, or public decision coming up that requires additional help. In that case, create a timeline that gives people enough time to understand the opportunity, decide whether they want to participate, and prepare for their role.

For example, our group would like to involve 30 additional people before putting on our annual dance in January. It is September now. We'll begin outreach immediately and aim to have at least 15 people involved by mid-October. We'll also review whether our goals are realistic and whether new participants are finding meaningful ways to stay involved. Our group met together and created the following timeline:

September	October	November	December
Develop a participation and outreach plan	Review outreach and participation goals and identify any communities or organizations that are still missing.	Meet with participants and representatives of partner organizations	Continue inviting participation where useful and prepare people for the January event
Begin inviting individual participants and potential coalition partners. Aim to have at least 15 people involved by mid-October.	Meet with new participants, explain roles, listen to their ideas, and address barriers to participation	Continue meeting, supporting participation, and inviting additional help where needed. Remember, our goal is meaningful participation, not simply reaching a number.
If we are having trouble, ask community members what barriers they are encountering and review our approach.	Continue outreach and follow-up with people who have expressed interest

 

Remember to develop your plan before you start doing the work. You don't want to spend time switching randomly from tactic to tactic or inviting people into roles that aren't clear. Organize your outreach, track what you're learning, and adjust the plan when community feedback or changing circumstances show that something needs to change.

How should you approach potential members?

Ahh, the approach. Your group may feel very strongly about its project -- in this case, cleaning up a neglected area -- but people outside the group may not immediately understand why they should take part. A respectful invitation should explain the purpose, what participation involves, and why the project may matter to the person or community.

It's crucial to design an approach carefully. Look at this example:

"Hey, do you want to come out Sunday to pick up trash and scrub graffiti off walls with some people you barely know?"

That may not give someone enough reason or information to participate. Maybe this one is a little better:

"A group of neighbors is getting together Sunday to clean up the area around the old building on our block. We'd like to make the space cleaner and more welcoming, and we're having a potluck afterward. We're looking for people who can help for any amount of time. Would you be interested?"

When you know the person you're inviting, you can explain the opportunity in a way that connects naturally with their interests or experience. That doesn't mean manipulating the message; it means helping people understand where their interests and the project's goals genuinely overlap.

Be clear about what participation involves and what people may find meaningful about it. They may value improving their neighborhood, meeting neighbors, learning new skills, contributing expertise, supporting a cause they care about, or simply helping with a concrete task. Don't promise benefits that aren't realistic, and don't assume everyone is motivated by the same thing.

Coalitions that wish to involve partner organizations should be careful to give them compelling reasons to join. Explain the shared purpose, expected responsibilities, decision-making process, and what each organization can contribute or gain from working together. Organizations are less likely to participate in an effort that appears disorganized, tokenizing, or unclear about how their involvement will matter.

What to do if you get a yes, a maybe, or a no.

Suppose you get a yes. Great! Make sure the new participant or partner knows what the next step is, what is expected, when and where activities will take place, whom to contact with questions, and what support or accommodations are available. Then make sure they have a meaningful opportunity to contribute rather than simply adding their name to a membership list.

A maybe can mean many things. The person or organization may be interested but need more information, may have scheduling or resource concerns, or may prefer a different kind of involvement. Ask whether there is anything they need in order to decide, and whether they would like you to follow up later. If they do, respect the timing and method they prefer.

A no is also useful information. Thank the person for considering the invitation and respect the answer. Don't pressure them to explain or continue asking after a clear refusal. If they specifically indicate that the timing is the problem or invite you to contact them about future opportunities, you can do so later.

Whatever someone says, be prepared to respond respectfully. The goal is not simply to secure a yes; it is to build relationships and create participation that people freely choose and can sustain.

Obstacles

Anticipate barriers that may occur. Participation can be affected by work schedules, caregiving responsibilities, transportation, cost, language, disability access, safety concerns, previous negative experiences, lack of trust, unclear roles, meeting times, technology access, or simply not having enough time. Instead of assuming people lack commitment, ask what is making participation difficult and address barriers where you reasonably can. A strong participation plan doesn't simply recruit people; it creates conditions that make meaningful involvement possible.