After research has been properly conducted (research occurs through the life cycle of the Engagement process. Click here to see our blog post on conducting the proper research), then you and your organization should consider the following key elements to help you decide on a specific CE project or program:

Educate yourself. What are the major social causes in human society today? Which causes are you discovering, is not getting enough attention paid to it? While this could be done by the owners and key Principals of the business (as is much of strategic planning is done), this is a great opportunity to involve employees within the process. Ask employees of your organization about causes that might best connect with the vision/mission of your business and provoke participation right from the start.  To display community and team playing internally within the organization, will make External Community Engagement activities much easier for your team to adapt to. 

Know your role. What key role could your organization play? Some causes are too large for any one organization to confront on its own. So what role would your organization play in this cause? Is the cause local enough where you and your organization can be a key role player, or would you prefer your Community Engagement strategy to connect with a larger, global issue, in which your role may be more manageable from an organizational standpoint, at the beginning of this process? 

The bottom line. How will this cause help to improvebottom line figures? While this may seem like a touchy subject, it’s one that should not be ignored. While Community Engagement is a time to “Pay it forward,” and “Give Back,” it should not hinder the daily operations of the business. There are plenty of examples of Community Engagement projects that not only have a social impact, but also can build trust for your organization. This trust for your brand, can have a positive impact on the demand for your product or service. Customers begin to trust that the dollars they spend with your organization is not just for the general operations of the business, but customers can be a vital part in your Community Engagement strategy as well. Customers understand that when they help to fund your business, they are helping to fund the cause your business is connected to. It’s a win, win situation. 

Be sensitive. What are the views of key stakeholders? Let’s face it, there are several causes that carry more controversial weight than others and might be considered less safe by your customers and other stakeholders. So before deciding, weigh the social views of all stakeholders (customers, employees, board members, community partnerships, etc.) before you engage within a specific cause. While getting involved with a social cause might “feel good,” key stakeholders might not agree with the views and this could impact your business negatively. So stay in tune with opposing views to the cause (if any). It’s most advantageous to discover as many apposing views during the initial research phase. 

Don’t over promise. It’s important to help set the expectations up front with your organization, and the external stakeholders (such as the community) that are expecting you to engage. The community that you choose to engage may expect you to give more than what you can offer at the moment. So be clear as to what your organization can provide towards the cause and don’t over promise. If not, then what you intended to be a positive experience for your organization as well as the community, could end up being something that becomes difficult to manage and influence the community to lose their trust for your organization. 

Empowerment. The key difference with Community Engagement is the ability to empower the community to continue the engagement practices necessary without completely relying on your company’s resources. CE is about bringing solutions to the challenges that the social cause is presenting. CE shares the responsibility of solving problems through sustainable practices along side the community. 

Keeping these key points in consideration is important for every organization that is looking to engage properly with its community. 

You don’t have to look far before finding communities that are troubled by a variety of challenges and problems. From Economical, to Environmental, to Health, the list goes on and on. Our Mission is to help Organizations identify these troubled areas and utilize their current resources to help bring solutions to a given community. If your organization is still discovering a pathway to successfully engage their community, here are a few tips that will help:

Surf — Conduct research on the internet, in regards to how organizations are giving back and to what issues they are giving back to. You can also use the internet to see what issues are being talked about in articles, blogs, and news feeds.  The Chronicle of Philanthropy, TED Talks, and Social Innovations Conversations, are great places for an organization to start research.

Observe — Observational research is extremely important and tends to be overlooked. Sometimes there are issues that you see happening or that your organization would like to prevent rather than cure. Observing a specific community and assessing what the needs are is also an effective way of discovering key social/environmental patterns and needs.

Ask — Speak with the local community about what the challenges are and how your organization can help.  Most people are usually ready and willing to speak about the “pains” of human society. Does your business help to solve some of these “pains”?  A survey can be created and handed out to willing participants, or you can send one via email which is much more efficient.  Surveys can simply be created through Google Apps, or Survey Monkey (for example).  Using these platforms allows your organization to generate quicker responses and create additional analytical data such as percentage breakdowns, and pie charts.

Social Media platforms in which you can ask these questions, while collecting feedback through your followers, is also a useful tool.  Make use of your Organization’s social pages to ask these specific questions to the online community. If your organization does not have one then perhaps you can suggest that one be created. 

In addition, ask other organizations within your community or industry, what they have done to reach their “Community Engagement Objectives” or Social Responsibility goals. Getting ideas from other organizations that are willing to share them, can be extremely helpful.  You may be able to pick up some great tips before launching into a specific cause as well.  Click here to see one of our clients, Marc Ecko’s Unlimited Justice campaign!

However you choose to “ask” allow the process to be simple and convenient.

Evaluate — From the research that you conduct, carefully evaluate the responses that you received from the community and document your findings. Within an organization there are several levels of accountability, whether you are the CEO or a middle manager, documentation will be useful.  Utilizing the limited resources of your organization to help solve community challenges should be a well thought out plan of action.  An opportunity to get involved means that you have conducted your research, and you are now able to show the need for the organization to get involved on some level, due to the data collected.

Decide — Based on the research, what challenges seem to be rising to the surface the most?  What resources does your current organization have that would be able to help solve at least one of those challenges? Does the cause at hand match your Organization’s goals and responsibilities?  The vision and mission?  If so how?  Are there organizations already working on solutions to your organization’s issue of choice, and if so would you be able to come along side them without reinventing the wheel?  Or will your organization have to pioneer a work that hasn’t been done before?

Although there are plenty of issues within a given community, your organization can start with ONE! If you have several that your organization would like to get involved in, get the feedback from other owners, staff, board members, etc., before making a final decision.  Involving these key stakeholders within the decision making process will create support for the cause throughout the organization.  

Author: David Hopkins, Business Development Consultant & Co-Author The Tactics of Hope: How Social Entrepreneurs Are Changing Our World /http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0t9Wvrl_a4

The concept of boundary-riding is integral to understanding the power of new career opportunities in social entrepreneurship and innovation.  In an interview, Greg Dees, faculty director at CASE of the Duke University’s Fuqua Business School, said that “when you hear the term ‘social entrepreneur,’ part of what it conveys is this blending of sectors – a mixture of social purpose we typically associate with nonprofits and the kind of entrepreneurial orientation we associate with business.” Whether a web designer, teacher, student, retiree, business person, engineer, nurse, medical professional, attorney, architect, musician, filmmaker, or banker, individuals of all backgrounds can be social entrepreneurs, for the sole reason that boundaries are blurring.  The work a student does studying abroad in Tanzania, for example, can now be connected to an internship in which the student also teaches HIV/AIDS awareness to local villagers.  The business that a CEO makes from buying and selling fair trade coffee in South America can be both profitable and socially responsible.  The innovative engineering of energy sources, such as solar or wind-generated power, can supply a trained professional an excellent personal salary while also supplying an indigenous family in Tibet with self-sufficient electricity.  

In essence, social entrepreneurs see career opportunities as boundary-riding opportunities, because in the interconnected world of globalization, one can do ‘well’ and do ‘good’ at the same time.  Former President Clinton has termed this “the movement of private individuals doing public good.” Others have called this the movement of making markets work for people, not people for markets. In his evocative book, The World Is Flat, best-selling author and NY Times journalist, Tom Friedman, argues that in this age of flattening, a new kind of world is possible where global systems of production, consumption, and collaboration replace old models of national self-sufficiency and seclusion. Friedman has tied the movement into what he calls “the flat world” or the “age of flatness,” as individuals become increasingly aware of the impact of their actions in a new order of global interdependence. Navigating between the various career paradigms, social entrepreneurs are path-breaking visionaries who can tackle social and environmental issues on a scale that has never before been possible. Friedman writes that this is a transition during which “the world starts to shift from a primarily vertical – command and control system for creating value to a more horizontal – connect and collaborate value-creation model,” a process that will blow away the “frictions, barriers, and boundaries that are mere sources of waste and inefficiency.”

Globalization will occur, for better or worse, whether we like it or not.  New career opportunities in social entrepreneurship, however, are converging as a powerful force that can direct opportunities in the world for the better.  They also offer an alternative model to the kind of negative globalization that is associated with destructive business ethics and practices. Boundary-riding social entrepreneurs break down barrier forms that have historically stood in the way of more effective social progress. If you want to begin to become a social entrepreneur, you will be most successful by the creative ways that you can “boundary-ride” differences that have traditionally divided people. These might include differences between young people and adults, for profit and not-for-profits, or private versus public sector leaders. Your success will depend on the extent to which you can create, collaborate, and connect networks of people across borders, sectors, faiths, age groups, or ethnicities.

Cross-boundary learning will influence how you can think and take action in your work and civic life. Many have already identified the limitations of traditional career paths in the existing system. Others are working tirelessly to offer new solutions that seek to benefit people not currently served by the existing model.  It seems only a matter of time before the successes of social entrepreneurs become more widely recognized in public discourse as a map for others to learn from and emulate in pursuing new and meaningful career opportunities.

Learn more about David Hopkins