Section 6. Involving Key Influentials in the Initiative

• What do we mean by people with influence?

• Why involve people with influence?

• How do you identify and meet people with influence in a community?

• When do you involve people with influence?

• How do you involve people with influence?

Much of community work involves helping people understand issues, consider new ideas, participate in community decisions, volunteer their time, contribute resources, or adopt practices that support individual and community well-being. Influence can play an important part in that work. Influence may come from formal authority, trusted relationships, professional expertise, lived experience, community involvement, or a long record of service.

Every community has people whose ideas, decisions, relationships, or actions affect what happens. They may include elected officials, business and nonprofit leaders, faith leaders, educators, advocates, neighborhood leaders, young people, older adults, or other community members who have earned trust. Building respectful relationships with people who have different kinds of influence can strengthen a community initiative, but their involvement should complement -- not replace -- participation by people directly affected by the issue.

What do we mean by people with influence?

People with influence are individuals whose roles, expertise, relationships, or standing in the community give them opportunities to shape decisions, connect people and resources, share information, or help others understand an issue. Their influence may be formal, such as the authority of an elected official or agency director, or informal, such as the trust earned by a neighborhood organizer, youth leader, longtime volunteer, local business owner, or respected community elder.

Influence doesn't mean that one person can speak for an entire community. A trusted community member can share their own experience, knowledge, and what they hear through their relationships, but communities contain many different perspectives. When you need to understand what a particular community thinks or needs, involve multiple people and organizations rather than depending on one influential person to represent everyone.

Why involve people with influence?

So what are some advantages of involving people with relevant influence, knowledge, or community relationships?

• People with trusted community relationships may help you identify concerns, questions, and priorities that your organization has not yet considered.
• They may help you understand how different parts of the community could interpret or respond to an initiative, while recognizing that no one person can predict everyone's reaction.
• They may know community history, previous efforts, relationships, or conflicts that could affect the work.
• They may help introduce the initiative to people or organizations that would otherwise be difficult to reach and may encourage meaningful participation when they genuinely support the effort.
• Their participation may increase confidence in the initiative when community members know and trust them, especially when the relationship is transparent and they understand the work well enough to support it honestly.
• They may help address specific community problems by contributing knowledge, relationships, authority, or other resources.
• They may help create dialogue with people who have questions, concerns, or different perspectives about your initiative.
• They may have access to resources such as people, space, equipment, expertise, funding opportunities, communication channels, or meeting places that could support the work.

How do you identify and meet people with influence in a community?

Some people with relevant influence are easy to identify because of their formal roles -- elected officials, agency directors, school leaders, board members, or other people with decision-making responsibilities. Others may have influence because people trust them, turn to them for information, or rely on them to bring people together. Influence can also vary by issue. Someone who is highly influential in business development may have little influence on youth programs, while a student organizer or parent leader may be highly influential on an education issue.

Instead of separating community members into "players" and "bystanders," ask who has relevant knowledge, trusted relationships, decision-making responsibility, lived experience, or connections to the people most affected by the issue.

People who may help you understand where different forms of influence and leadership exist include, in no particular order:

• Directors and staff of human service and government agencies
• Legislative and public-policy staff
• Grassroots organizers and community advocates
• Faith and religious leaders
• Business, labor, economic-development, and civic leaders, including people active in chambers of commerce, service organizations, professional associations, and other community networks
• Community foundation, United Way, nonprofit, and philanthropic leaders and board members
• Older adult leaders, advocates, and community members
• Youth leaders and student organizers
• Neighborhood and resident leaders
• People with lived experience related to the issue

Relationships matter at every stage of this process, but personal contact is not the only way to build them. Participate in community meetings, events, advisory groups, professional networks, online forums, and other places where relevant people and organizations already connect. Ask trusted contacts, "Who else should we be talking with?" and "Whose perspective is missing?" These questions can help you identify people and communities that aren't already part of your usual network.

Once you've begun identifying people you may want to contact, look for an appropriate way to introduce yourself. A trusted mutual contact may be willing to make an introduction. Public officials and their staff often have established processes for requesting meetings or providing public comment. Community organizations may have public contact information, meetings, events, or office hours. Use the approach that fits the relationship and setting rather than assuming every contact requires a personal introduction.

When asking for an introduction, explain why you believe the conversation would be useful. Avoid exaggerating the person's importance simply to flatter them. A respectful, specific request is usually stronger: "Jordan suggested I speak with you because of your work on neighborhood transportation and your experience with the residents most affected by this issue."

Ultimately, involving people with influence depends on building credible relationships, providing accurate information, listening to their perspectives, and giving them enough information to decide whether and how they want to participate.

When do you involve people with influence?

This depends largely on the role you're inviting them to play, but when someone's knowledge, relationships, authority, or lived experience is important to the work, it is usually better to involve them early enough for their input to matter. People are more likely to contribute meaningfully when they are included in shaping the work rather than asked only to endorse decisions that have already been made.

If your initiative is already well underway, however, don't assume it's too late. People can still contribute useful knowledge, relationships, resources, advocacy, or other forms of support. Be honest about what has already been decided and what remains open to change.

Some particularly appropriate points to encourage involvement are:

Special events

Community forums, public meetings, fundraising events, awareness events, conferences, neighborhood activities, and visits with policymakers can all provide opportunities to involve people with relevant influence or expertise. Their role should be clear. They might speak, participate in a panel, make introductions, provide resources, attend as a community member, or help connect the event with other networks.

Don't assume someone's presence automatically communicates endorsement. If you publicly identify a participant as a supporter, spokesperson, sponsor, or organizational partner, make sure that description accurately reflects the role they agreed to play.

Critical points for your organization or issue

At times when a great deal is at stake, people with decision-making authority, trusted relationships, specialized knowledge, or access to resources may be particularly useful. They may communicate with policymakers, explain the issue to their networks, help solve organizational problems, identify resources, or contribute to a coordinated response.

Concentrated campaigns, either for public awareness of the issue, or for funds

People with trusted relationships may help extend accurate information to communities you have difficulty reaching, introduce you to additional partners, or explain why they personally believe the work is worth supporting. Their participation should be genuine and transparent rather than treated simply as a way to borrow their reputation.

How do you involve people with influence?

Consider which people with influence may be relevant to your work

Think about people who are already involved, people who have shown interest in your work, and people whose roles, experience, or community relationships could add perspectives or resources that are currently missing. Also consider people directly affected by the issue who may have influence within their own communities even if they do not hold formal titles.

One useful method is sometimes called the "snowball" technique: ask people you already know to suggest others you should consider talking with. Don't ask only, "Who has influence?" Also ask, "Who understands this issue?" "Who do people trust?" "Who is directly affected?" and "Who are we overlooking?"

Some people you may consider include:

• Local agency board members
• Public safety, legal-system, violence-prevention, or community-safety leaders when relevant to the issue
• Faith and religious leaders
• Local government officials, public-agency staff, and other policymakers
• School administrators, teachers, students, family and caregiver leaders, school board members, and other education partners, especially when your work involves young people or education
• People involved in civic engagement, campaigns, voting access, and public policy
• Directors, staff members, participants, and leaders of health and human service organizations
• Journalists, community media leaders, and other trusted information networks
• Local business owners, employers, labor leaders, economic-development organizations, and other people involved in the local economy
• Neighborhood leaders, tenant and resident leaders, cultural organizations, disability advocates, youth leaders, and others with trusted relationships in communities directly affected by the issue

Learn what matters to them and identify genuine areas of alignment

Find out what issues, responsibilities, and goals matter to the people or organizations you're considering involving. The simplest and usually most reliable way is to ask them. You can also learn from their publicly available work, previous community involvement, organizational mission, or public statements.

Avoid assuming that people who share a race, profession, religion, political affiliation, neighborhood, or other characteristic automatically share the same priorities. For example, if you are working to make a school curriculum more culturally inclusive, you might speak with students, families, educators, cultural organizations, civil-rights organizations, faith communities, and others who have experience with the issue. No one organization or leader should automatically be treated as speaking for an entire racial or cultural community.

Look for real connections between your goals and theirs. If those connections exist, explain them clearly. What shared problem are you trying to address? What responsibility or interest connects them to the issue? What role are you inviting them to consider? This is more useful than developing a "sales pitch" designed to make the person agree.

Another important strategy is to become a reliable source of information about your issue. Provide accurate information, acknowledge uncertainty when it exists, and make it easy for people to find evidence and community perspectives. Policymakers, organizational leaders, journalists, and others are more likely to maintain a relationship with people who provide useful and trustworthy information.

Community members also have the right to communicate directly with elected officials and other decision-makers. If public policy affects your issue, provide accurate information about meetings, hearings, public comment opportunities, contact information, and other lawful ways people can make their views known. Don't claim that a few supporters represent "what the voters want" unless you actually have evidence to support that conclusion.

Don't assume the interests of business owners, bankers, elected officials, educators, faith leaders, or other groups. Ask how the issue relates to their responsibilities, organization, employees, families, customers, members, or community, and listen to their answer.

Contact people with influence and invite their participation

This can be as simple as a phone call or email when you already know the person. In other situations, you might request a meeting, send a formal invitation, attend a public meeting or community event, or ask a mutual contact for an introduction. The method should fit the relationship and the importance of the request.

Be prepared to explain or answer questions about:

• How the person or organization could become involved
• What responsibilities, decision-making authority, time commitment, and level of involvement the role would include
• Why you believe the issue connects with the person's or organization's responsibilities, goals, experience, or community relationships
• When participation would begin and what the next steps would be if they are interested

Give people enough time and information to make an informed decision. Don't assume that starting immediately is always best or that hesitation means they need more persuasion.

Explain the many ways in which they can become involved

There are a number of ways people with different kinds of influence, expertise, or community relationships may support an organization or cause. For example:

• They can become members of your Board of Directors or an advisory board when their experience and responsibilities are appropriate to that role
• They can serve as spokespersons or public supporters when they genuinely understand and agree with the message they are being asked to communicate
• They can help raise funds or connect the organization with appropriate funding opportunities
• They can contribute professional expertise or in-kind services, such as legal, accounting, communications, technical, or planning assistance, when they choose to do so
• They can help build relationships with communities, organizations, or sectors where they already have trusted connections. Don't ask one individual to represent an entire racial, cultural, economic, disability, neighborhood, or other population; instead, involve multiple people and organizations and clarify when someone has been formally authorized to represent a particular group.
• They can communicate with local and state government about funding, policy, or other forms of support
• They can participate in or help organize events related to the issue when that role fits their interests and availability

Maintain their involvement

Strong relationships require more than a successful first invitation. Keep people informed, involve them meaningfully, follow through on commitments, respect their time, and show appreciation for what they contribute. Public recognition may be appropriate in some cases, but not everyone wants public attention, so ask before highlighting someone's involvement.

Here are some other general tips for building and maintaining support:

• Be helpful to others because strong community work depends on reciprocal relationships. Share useful information, make appropriate introductions, support partners when you can, and collaborate in ways that benefit the broader community rather than keeping track of favors to collect later.
• Give participants useful feedback about the effects of their involvement. Let them know what happened, what progress has been made, and where additional help may be useful.
• Show that the work is needed and that your organization is learning from evidence, community experience, and results. People who invest their time or resources generally want to understand whether the work is making a meaningful difference. Share both accomplishments and challenges honestly, and continue involving affected communities in evaluating what is working and what needs to change.

In Summary

People with formal authority, trusted relationships, expertise, lived experience, and community connections can all contribute to community change. Their involvement may open doors, provide knowledge, connect resources, strengthen communication, and help organizations navigate systems that affect their work.

But lasting community change rarely comes from influential people alone. It also depends on meaningful participation by people directly affected by the issue and on relationships across different parts of the community. By identifying different forms of influence, involving people early enough for their perspectives to matter, communicating honestly about the roles you are offering, and building reciprocal relationships, you can strengthen both the initiative and the community connections that sustain it.