Community Engagement Toolkit
This section of the toolkit is focused on activities that will help you with planning how to establish, stabilize, and evolve sustainable community engagement for your program. It is designed to help you structure discussions and gain consensus about next steps for sustainable community engagement for your OSS program. It is not a toolkit for day to day community engagement.
Click here to download a PDF of ALL Community Engagement activities.
Facet Description
The Community Engagement facet reflects efforts to facilitate and foster involvement within a community. It is focused on encouraging users to become stakeholders. Those who have a sense of investment and ownership become champions who want the program to grow and succeed. A component of this facet also includes communication and outreach efforts to the community itself as well as the wider world of decision makers, potential users, funding agencies, and others.
Getting Started
Review the activities and goals below to select ones you want to use for sustainability planning. These activities are designed to help you move from one phase to the next and can be used in any order. You can use any or all of them.
Click on the icons below to download a DOC or PDF version of each Activity.
Click on the Activity name or more button (…) for additional resources or provide feedback.
Use the "contact" page to ask questions.
Community Engagement Pre-Work
Activities that may be helpful if your program hasn't already done strategic planning.
Goals: To enable program governance to consider and create a Mission and Vision Statement if you do not already have one. Having a Mission and Vision Statement is helpful for many of the ITAV activities.
Click here to download a PDF of all Phase 1 activities.
Goals: Identify community stakeholders; Consider goals for each stakeholder group; Prioritize community stakeholders
Related Objectives: Involve a wider group of stakeholders; Formulate and implement a communication and engagement strategy
Goals: Create explicit personas for community stakeholders; Enable checking future plans against persona goals
Related Objectives: Involve a wider group of stakeholders; Formulate and implement a communication and engagement strategy
Goal: Create goals, identify gaps, determine timeline; and Create mission/vision for Committee
Related Objective: Create an outreach committee
Goal: Create charter to clarify roles and purpose
Related Objective: Create an outreach committee
Goals: Understand the communication needs and preferences of stakeholders; Match stakeholders to engagement tools
Related Objectives: Involve a wider group of stakeholders; Formulate and implement a communication and engagement strategy
Goals: Understand plan components; Fill out and share plan
Related Objective: Formulate and implement a communication and engagement strategy
Goals: Evaluate implementation; Determine gaps and identify how to improve
Related Objective: Formulate and implement a communication and engagement strategy
Goals: Determine what kind of engagement is right for your community; Map stakeholder groups to activities you want to support
Related Objective: Set up processes and infrastructure to facilitate engagement
Goal: Identify the processes and infrastructure you need for engagement
Related Objective: Set up processes and infrastructure to facilitate engagement
Goal: Assess non-technical documentation for clarity and usefulness
Related Objectives: Clear communication practices and Policies; Increase transparency
Goal: Ensure your community finds accurate and consistent information across platforms
Related Objective: Clear communication practices and policies
Goals: Understand the current level of transparency; Determine transparency goals
Related Objective: Increase transparency
Goal: Create value propositions for new program positions
Related Objective: Dedicated staffing
Goals: Increase active representatives; Encourage non-directed community activities
Related Objectives: Set Up Processes and Infrastructure to Facilitate Engagement; Increase Non-Directed Community Activities
Goals: Help identify barriers and spark creative solutions
Related Objective: Set Up Processes and Infrastructure to Facilitate Engagement
Goals: Identify skill gaps; Better understand barriers for participation
Related Objectives: Engage a More Diverse Set of Engaged Participants; Engage with New Communities
Goal: Consider the context and cultural norms; Consider how to adjust engagement to better fit other needs
Related Objectives: Engage a More Diverse Set of Engaged Participants; Engage with New Communities
Goals: Identify gaps in community stakeholders; Improve understanding of barriers
Related Objectives: Engage a More Diverse Set of Engaged Participants; Engage with New Communities
Goal: Identify key influencers in new communities
Related Objectives: Engage a More Diverse Set of Engaged Participants; Engage with New Communities
Goals: Identify activities that need to evolve or be retired; Developing a plan and communicate changes
Related Objectives: Work Across Communities; Empower the Community Supporting Each Other; Establish Ways to Continually Evaluate Community Engagement
Goals: Consider landscape for community engagement; Anticipate future needs
Related Objective: Empower the Community Supporting Each Other
Goals: Revisit infrastructure to evaluate how it can support non directed community activities
Related Objective: Establish Ways to Continually Evaluate Community Engagement