For many non-profits, engaging with your community is the key to success. This can mean the community you’re trying to serve or in which you are located. Either way, it is important to understand their ideas, get feedback, and make sure they’re aware of your efforts. Here are four great, creative ideas to engage your community, build trust, and locate supporters.

Hold a Community Roundtable Discussion

Start off by hosting a small group meeting focussed on a single question. Invite a mix of diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and create rules to ensure a productive discussion. If you’re in the early stages of your enterprise, you can get guidance and advice from leaders and experts. You can later use roundtables to discuss progress and opportunities. Take extensive notes during the meeting, or arrange for a transcript to be made. After the meeting, circulate the notes to all involved. These notes could include a set of action items taken from the suggestions within your community, as well as ideas you’re going to follow up on improve your non-profit’s mission.

Open Your Doors To Engage Your Community

Sometimes people need to see what you’re doing to understand it and believe in the value. Host an open house where community members can come in, interact with your staff, and try their hand at certain activities. You can use this to organise volunteers to tackle a bigger project. Bringing together people interested in your cause forms bonds, helps you meet potential stakeholders, and gives the community a way to be involved. At the end of the day, everyone leaves feeling good about themselves and invested in your organisation’s success.

Join in Community Events

There are probably many pre-planned events already happening within your neighbourhood. Source festivals, information sessions, sidewalk sales, and other related programs to join with. This may mean setting up an information table, volunteering to help, or even being a sponsor. Since NFPs always need to raise and maintain awareness, these are fantastic platforms to connect with new people and perhaps promote fundraising options. Regional events are ideal opportunities to show your successes, so individuals realise how useful your organisation is. Furthermore, assisting others gives you a reputation for being helpful; a wonderful trait to have associated with any non-profit!

Find Local Workers and Volunteers

Your local staff have a depth of knowledge about an area and connections into the existing infrastructure that can be incredibly profitable. They can encourage their friends and colleagues to support your NFP and participate in events just by being there themselves. They also have valuable insight into what a community wants, and needs, to get everyone engaged and motivated.