Community Relations

A comprehensive and sincere community relations plan and strategy can easily mean the difference between success and failure for your organization. This is especially true for smaller nonprofit organizations that are often more reliant upon local support and volunteers to achieve their stated mission.

There are many components to consider when mapping out a strategy and no single way to achieve success, but it's important that you assess your current situation and then take small, but meaningful steps towards your end goal. How visible is your organization in your local community? Similarly, but an important difference, how visible are your people in your local community? Every interaction within the community is a networking opportunity.

Each member of your team, when out in the community, whether for work or on their own, presents an opportunity for networking. You and they always need to be looking and listening, the opportunities to serve will present themselves at unexpected moments and often in non-traditional ways. It's also important that you look at this as a long-term, sustained effort, not a quick-fix or singular to-do list item to check off your list.

A sound community relations strategy will involve service, advocacy, research, strategic alliances, possibly some targeted grant writing, and a host of other activities. I welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss, please contact me at your convenience so we can get the process started.